guitarist and composer
Marek’s latest composition „Four Pieces” for violin and piano won FIRST PRIZE at the Grumo Festival Call for Scores 2011! The winning workwill be performed at the Grumo Festival on July 1, 2011. This work is dedicated to Japanese artist, teacher, lecturer and concert organizer Angie Masako Kitagawa.
American Suite (tribute to Pat METHENY) world premiere recording!
score AVAILABLE NOW!!! here
Pasieczny’s newest works are going to be premiered by world-renowned pianists during the Scottish International Piano Festival – „Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin’s Birth” in Glasgow / U.K.
June, 13th; 11:30am – AcademyConcert Hall; RSAMD
Aaron Shorr and Jonathan Plowright (piano I),
Fali Pavri and Sinae Lee (piano II)
“Suite Polonaise – celebration du 200e anniversaire de la naissance de Frederic Chopin” (for two pianos – eight hands)
I. „Polonaise”
II. „Scherzo”
III. „Berceuse”
IV. „Impromptu (fanstasie)” V. „Nocturne”
VI. „Mazurka (Oberek)”
June, 12th; 7:30pm – AcademyConcert Hall; RSAMD
[inspic=231,left,,300]Duncan Maxwell Strachan (cello) and Sylvia Sze-Hua Jen (piano)
‘Six Songs inspired by Wieslawa Szymborska’s poetry’ (for piano and cello)
1.’Jeszcze’ / ‘Still’
2.’Allegro ma non troppo’
3.Chmury/Clouds
4.’Upamietnienie’ / ‘Commemoration’
5. ‘Trzy slowa najdziwniejsze’ / ‘Three oddest words’
6.’Oboz glodowy pod Jaslem’ / ‘Starvation Camp near Jaslo’
more info/booking tickets here and here
[inspic=190,left,,250] Another new work by Pasieczny. This time composition for piano solo:
“Ballade : Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin’s Birth” – dedicated to Sylvia Sze-Hua Jen and The IInd Scottish International Piano Festival in Glasgow, Scotland.
[inspic=186,left,,300] Pasieczny’s newest work, composed for a 13-course baroque lute, is going to be premiered in the Spring of 2010 during the International Baroque Music Festival in Grodkow (Grottkau) / Poland. It is commissioned by Prof.Jerzy Zak and dedicated to the city of Grodkow (Grottkau).
“Le Parnasse Silesienne ou une Nouvelle Apothéose composé à la mémoire immortelle de l’incomparable Monsieur de Silvius L Weiss”Grande Suonata ou une Suite de danses:
1.Overture
2.Toccata e Fuga
3.Air en Echo
4.La Sicilien
5.Sarabanda
6.Menuet
7.Gigue
[inspic=177,left,,0] World premiere of Marek Pasieczny’s new guitar concerto „Concerto Polacco” for guitar and orchestra (version for one guitar – based on double concerto for 'Duo Melis’) will be performed in Poland during „The 5th Warsaw Guitar Festival”:
10th of November 2009 ; 7 pm in Kielce/Poland – Concert Hall
13th of November 2009; 7 pm in Warsaw/Poland- W.Lutoslawski Polish Radio Concert Hall [inspic=169,left,fullscreen,0]
more info (in polish) here
about the festival here
tickets here
Recorded live in Scotland together with South African violinist Ian Watson. Including original works by Marek Pasieczny and arrangements of compositions by Bela Bartok and Niccolo Paganini.
'Furious POLKA’ from 'SIX FOLK MELODIES’
Homenaje a Joaquin Rodrigo
PAGANINIBARTOK
[inspic=144,left,,0]‘Mays’ (‘maze…’) for piano and tape (performed by Sylvia Sze-Hua Jen)
With the modern piano technology now available (specifically the Yamaha Disclavier system), it is possible to record, in addition to the acoustic piano performance itself, other information about the notes played to a computer simultaneously. This allows the addition and shaping of the orchestration that accompany the acoustic piano after the fact. These orchestrations contain a new set of sounds taken from the piano itself, sounds which are transformed into dramatic effects that retain an organic connection to their source. The result: piano composition of the moment, combined with an expansive extra layer of musical orchestration that derives almost exclusively from the notes and textures of the initial piano performance. This system inspired me to compose a piece for piano and tape, where the tape part is not used as a background but provides the harmonic basis and possesses equal rights as an element in the music space. This is also my tribute to one of the greatest contemporary jazz musicians in my opinion – pianist and composer Lyle Mays. watch VIDEO here
[inspic=143,left,,0]‘SEQUENZA’ for guitar solo (perforemd by Sean Shuji Tebble Shibe) dedicated to Riardo Jesus Gallen
This work is written in the avant-garde modern classical language and an innovative investigation into the dramatic and virtuosic possibilities of musical performance, and in compositional terms – investigation into a widely comprehended sonority of the instrument. Very unusual tuning (5th string to A flat and 6th down to E flat) at the beginning and re-tuning the instrument occur several times during the actual playing. A variety of guitar techniques are explored in this piece including different kinds of rasqueados, vibrato, tremolo, harmonics, glissandos, percussive effects (such as tambora, golpeado) as well as techniques from the electric guitar – such as tapping and hammering, making this piece very flashy but at the same time technically and musically very complex. Italian virtuoso guitarist Edoardo Catemario will give an English premiere of this work at the Wigmore Hall and record on the CD with contemporary music recordings aside Ginastera, Henze and Morales for DECCA in spring 2010.
[inspic=145,left,,0]‘ESSAY for 16 players’ (performed by the RSAMD chamber orchestra with Pasieczny on guitar, conducted by Alejandro De Palma Garrido)
The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, “to try” or “to attempt”. Like the novel, the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything, usually on a certain topic. By tradition, almost by definition, the essay is a short piece, and it is therefore impossible to give all things full play within the limits of a single essay. The explorers of this genre shows connection with the popular in the antiquity form of the dialogue. In this case, dialogue takes place in a more global meaning – between woodwinds and string instruments, but as well in smaller scales between guitar and harp; within the string quintet and among the percussion instruments etc. In terms of musical material, harmony as an element shapes the form and structure. Harmony has been for me the most important element in this work. I consider it an extremely essential factor in the process of composition, influencing greatly the shape of my works especially this one. It is harmony that is responsible for the so-called density of the music – the space and its control of the other elements i.e. rhythm, melody etc. is an indescribably interesting phenomenon for me. In October this year, I am going to perform an extended version of this piece with the ‘Swietokrzyska’ Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by J.Rogala in the W.Lutoslawski’s Hall in Warsaw.
when,where etc. HERE
[inspic=56,left,,0]The Festival Concerto for two guitars and symphony orchestra – commissioned by the 5th INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL in
[inspic=118,left,,0] I wrote this piece during December 2007. Each movement is very short and quite easy technically but effective due to a great deal of internal energy built into a small framework. They are similar in concept to Witold Lutoslawski’s “5 Folk Melodies for string orchestra”. The folk melodies used in my piece originate from my home town, a place in Poland called ‘Zamojszczyzna’. This work was premiered and awarded with violinist Ian Watson (
[inspic=96,left,,0]AMERICAN SUITE (sub-title ‘Tribute to Harmony’) click here for the score
I started to composed this piece in 2003 and re-composed it thought 2006I decided to write this piece because of the following innovative techniques (at least relating to classical guitar) such as tapping, hammering and percussive effects (2nd movement) and their infinite scale of colors to outputs on the guitar, to summarize – widely comprehended ‘sonorism’. I also wanted to write something very ‘spatial’ and impressionistic (3rd movement) and very rhythmical, loud virtuosic and fast. This work is sub-titled Tribute to Harmony’. Harmony has been for me the most important element in my work. I consider it an extremely essential factor in the process of composition, influencing greatly the shape of my works especially this one. It is harmony that is responsible for the so-called density of the music – the space and it’s controlling of the other elements, i.e. rhythm, melody, etc is an indescribably interesting phenomenon for me.
This piece was commissioned with funds made available by the ‘Scottish Arts Council’. cover by Jacek Pasieczny
[inspic=93,left,,0] ‘STRING QUARTET NO.I’ 1. Moderato Magnifico 2. Vasto Quieto 3. Presto con fuoco performed by Ian Watson, Alan John, Mary Ward and Christoff Johannes FourieThis is my first piece for string quartet. I started to write this quartet in 2007, but finally finished it a few weeks ago. It is in an adapted ‘small’ concerto form (fugato and cadenzas in 1st movement, impressionistic slow 2nd movement and ‘furious’ finale in 3rd movement). The atmosphere created by the music should pay tribute to some of the great string quartet writing done before me. For me, this starts with Haydn and Mozart and ends with Shostakovich and Bartok. Special thanks to Ian, Alan, Mery and Christoff. I am privileged as a composer to have such good instrumentalists/musicicians at my desposal.click here to listen
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’Awake’ (for electric guitar and laptop: Kaiser Looper and Guitar Rig2) performed by Marek Pasieczny and Bede Williams/New Zealand. Each year, over 21,000,000 people receive general anaesthesia. The vast majority go to sleep peacefully. They remember nothing. 3,000 of these patients are not so fortunate. They find themselves unable to sleep, trapped in the phenomenon of “Anaesthesia Awareness”. These victims are completely paralyzed and cannot scream for help. This is the story of one of them… I started playing and practicing the electric guitar just a few weeks ago. This is my first composition ever and first public performance for this instrument. It was a big challenge, and fun to compose this piece. Special thanks to Tom Stern and Bede Williams. click HERE to listen
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‘SIX FOLK MELODIES’ (version for trio – guitar, violin and cello): performed by Marek Pasieczny, Laura Sergeant and Paul Livingston.
1. 'A tam kolo mlyna rosnie jarzebina’/’Up there near the mill rowan grows’ 2. 'Pod zielono miedzo ptaszki owis jedzo’/’On the green boundary strip birds eat oats’ 3. 'Na suchej topoli ptaszek glowke zwiesil’/’On the dry poplar a bird sat down’ 4. 'A tam w polu przy drodze rosli jagody’/’ In the field grew berries’ 5. 'Oj lolysz mi si kolysz kolibejko lipowa’/’Oh swing swing linden cradle’ 6. Polka 'Wsciekla’/’The Furious Polka’ This work was originally written for trio (guitar, violin and cello). Each movement is short and easy technically but very effective due to a great deal of internal energy built into a small framework. They are similar in concept to Witold Lutoslawski’s “5 Folk Melodies for string orchestra”, based on Polish traditional folk melodies. But these folk melodies originate from my home town, a place in Poland called ‘Zamojszczyzna’. No one has ever used them before. I also arranged this work for guitar and violin duo and premiered it with my duo partner violinist Ian Watson in Lutoslawski’s Hall in Warsaw (Poland) this month. This set of melodies will be published by the Canadian publishing house Les Productions D’Oz.
’La Casa Donde Vive Miedo’ (The haunted house) for guitar and violin by Marek Pasieczny (b.1980)
I.”Miedo” („The Ghost”) II.”La Casa” („The House”) III.”El Juego con Miedo” („Ghost’s dance”)
This piece was composed in 2001 and recomposed throughout 2005-2006. Sub-titled 'Homenaje a Joaquin Rodrigo’, and dedicated to Rodrigo, I was largely inspired by his strongly recognizable unique harmony and individual mood of his works rather than any works in particular.
The idea for the title is not mine. Pepe Romero (guitarist and one of Rodrigo’s close friends) in an interview on Spanish TV talked about Rodrigo’s music as being „like an abounded old house with a ghost inside. His inside is very dark and grumpy. Only sometimes you can see there is some light…only sometimes…”
This piece is my understanding of Rodrigo’s music and a tribute to his art, a tribute to one of the best composers in XXth century. Commisioned in 2000 by my friend and great guitarist Lukasz Kuropaczewski (student of Manuel Barrueco in Peabody Institute, J.Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA).
click to buy click here to listen
[inspic=82,left,,0] Commisioned and dedicated to Marek Dlugosz and All-polish Festival in Swidnica/Poland. The title of the pice is: ’A vida e destino, uma necessidade irrevogavel de coincidencias’ (’Life is fate, nessecity irrevocable of coincidences’); in memory of great tenor sax jazz player Stan Getz.
click here to listen
Thuersday 13 March/1pm/RSAMD Glasgow, UK „String Festival”
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Sonata (solo cello) dedicated to Robert Irvine click here to listen
I have been fortunate on many occasions to receive commissions from particular musicians, institutions or festivals. This has resulted in many successful premiers by the musicians the pieces were commissioned by. My cello Sonata was not a commission. In 2005, only few days after I came to Scotland, I heard Robert Irvin’s performance on Lunchtime Concert series. I immediately felt Robert’s strong musical personality, I always admire performers who take a score and add a level of authorship. I was inspired to write a piece for solo cello and few months after asked Robert if he would be willing to give the premier. The piece is in an adapted sonata form, the atmosphere being a tribute to the lineage of great virtuoso solo cello sonatas. For me this starts with Bach and ends with Hindemith and Kodaly. I have also included eastern Polish folk music
Monday 28 January/1pm/RSAMD Glasgow,UK
Sonata “Eastern” (for viola and piano)
Jiri Kabat – viola and Graeme McNaught – piano
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I started to write this piece in July 2006 and finished in December 2007. The piece is based on main themes from my previous Sonata for cello solo, which I wrote for Robert Irvine in the beginning of 2006. Music, which appears in 'this’ moment, always in one indissoluble manner unites with spirit present of that moment. For me music is just 'specific recording of time.’ The subtitle of this work is ‘Eastern’ and originates from a personal dialogue throughout 2005/2006 in which I became interested in Polish history between the two world wars. Between the wars two cultures, Jewish and Polish, collided. Many very outstanding musicians and artists from the Middle East came and settled in Poland. This had a huge influence on almost all aspects of cultural life in Poland, including music.
I decided to write a piece in this very specific style, bridging these two large traditions.This sonata is for two soloists in that both parts contribute equally to the whole. It is the first time I have included piano in one of my compositions. Commissioned and dedicated to one of the best viola players in his generation- Czech musician Jiri Kabat.
Polish Composer Writes Williams Tribute
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Polish composer Marek Pasieczny was recently commissioned by one of the LSO players (who worked with John Williams in the Superman and Star Wars recordings) to write a Clarinet Concerto. Pasieczny, who describes the work as a kind of John Williams Tribute, will premiere the concerto in Spring 2008 in Glasgow (Scotland). Marek Pasieczny’s „Tribute to John T. Williams for Solo Clarinet” has been published by PWM.
Pierwsza z kulminacji dziesiątej edycji Wrocławskiego Festiwalu Gitarowego. Premiera koncertu podwójnego na gitarę i klarnet Marka Pasiecznego poderwała publiczność w Filharmonii Wrocławskiej do owacji na stojąco.
Pasieczny, 27-letni absolwent klasy gitary wrocławskiej Akademii Muzycznej i kompozytor samouk, od ponad dwóch lat student The Royal Scottish Academy of Music w Glasgow, jest na fali: jego utwory (nie tylko na gitarę, i nie tylko orkiestrowe) zamawiają muzycy w kilkunastu już krajach, niedawno wrócił z tournée po RPA, wkrótce wybiera się do Chin. Jego koncert podwójny na gitarę i klarnet, który w niedzielę zagrali Krzysztof Pełech, Jan Jakub Bokun i orkiestra kameralna Wratislavia pod dyr. Jana Staniendy, powstał specjalnie na zamówienie wrocławskiego festiwalu i zdążył już obrosnąć w środowiskową legendę. Był gotowy dawno temu, a wykonanie uniemożliwiały, mówiąc oględnie, kwestie techniczne. Wreszcie się udało. To dzieło – biorąc pod uwagę wiek Pasiecznego – w dobrym sensie młodzieńcze i może właśnie dlatego tak imponujące rozmachem oraz precyzją instrumentacji. A także rozsądnymi proporcjami między fragmentami filmowo-ilustracyjnymi (to ulubiona konwencja Pasiecznego), a tymi przywodzącymi na myśl abstrakcyjne dokonania kompozytorów ostatniego półwiecza (długi wstęp zagrany wyłącznie przez instrumenty perkusyjne, mroczne glissanda smyczków w trzeciej części). Znamienne, że w partyturze, napisanej przecież z myślą o solistach wirtuozach, bardzo dużo miejsca poświęcone zostało innym instrumentom: głównie perkusyjnym (łącznie z efektowną partią na – tak, tak – ogromny gong), ale też celeście i wiolonczeli. Solowe partie gitary i klarnetu Pasieczny wtopił w gęstą fakturę orkiestry i choć Pełech i Bokun, zamawiając ten koncert, marzyli pewnie o dużo dłuższych wirtuozowskich kadencjach, to narzekać na brak zajęcia nie mogą: ich partie są piekielnie trudne pod względem technicznym, często grane z maksimum ekspresji. Takim numerem – zwartym, rozpędzonym, dynamicznym – Pasieczny, Pełech i Bokun mogą podbić europejskie estrady. A że koncertów na ten skład instrumentalny w światowej literaturze historycznej i bieżącej jest jak na lekarstwo, ich szanse rosną.
Źródło: Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław
Obecnie Pasieczny pracuje nad ukończeniem koncertu na tubę i orkiestrę dla jednego z najlepszych tubistów na swiecie – szkota James’a Gourlay’a ( Gouraly współpracował z takimi muzykami jak Penderecki, Stockhausen, Horovitz, Werner-Henze czy John Williams – uczestniczył w nagraniu muzyki do takich fimów jak 'Star Wars’, 'Superman’ czy 'Batman’ ). Premiera brytyjska zaplanowana jest na wiosnę 2008.
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