SUSURRUS I (for 13-course baroque lute and guitar) by Marek PASIECZNY

Edition Type: Full Score + parts: 13-course baroque lute, guitar & composer’s program notes | Publishers: SLE London | Catalogue Number: SLE073 | Date Published: 2 August 2022

get your copy now contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

The premiere video recording of SUSURRUS I. It’s the very first version of this composition. The combination of 2 instruments born more than 200 years apart (classical guitar and 13-course baroque lute) is extremely unique. Thank you to my true friend and amazing musician Jerzy Zak

SUSURRUS I

Cantus Planus | Incantatio et Psalmus | Canticulum (2021)

The title – Susurrus (Lat.: susurrare), meaning a whispering, murmuring, or rustling sound – depicts the gentleness and humbleness of the compositional materials used to establish the three movements of this piece.

The first sketches were created without any specific instrumentation in mind. I started on the piano and wrote in polyphony (single voicing and multi-voicing techniques). The melody is meant to flow and intertwine with other voices, horizontally, not vertically.

I was largely inspired by my study of chants, psalms and Gregorian hymns. The purity, modesty, asceticism, and minimalism conveyed were a complete detachment from contemporary music. The greatest attention was given to the smallest change of interval, and there was a complexity within its simplicity that fascinated me.

It was, however, not my intention to copy the past. I wanted only to draw on the consolidation of the atmosphere, asceticism and extremely careful consonance of successive intervals, single voices and their layering. Furthermore, I did not wish to use any original chants, psalms or hymns. Instead, I wanted to create every interval, every melody, and every co-interaction from scratch.

Cantus Planus

Cantus Planus (plainchant) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive form of Christian church music until the ninth century, and the introduction of polyphony.

The monophonic chants of plainsong have a non-metric rhythm. Their rhythms are generally freer than the metered rhythm of later Western music, and they are sung without musical accompaniment (pure monody vs multi-layered monody). This inspired my decision to organize the time using an uneven but organic time signature.

I incorporated the essence of purity and asceticism through a very conscious choice of scales. The Chant in this movement is built on the aeolian pentatonic scale (A C D E F), which is a natural minor scale consisting only of 5 pure natural notes.

Incantatio et Psalmus

Incantatio et Psalmus is the supine form of incantō (“sing, recite, enchant”) integrated with psalm (a sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God). Continuing with the depiction of purity, the second movement is built on the aeolian mode in its entirety.

Canticulum

Canticulum (song or incantation)  is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics taken from biblical or holy texts other than the Psalms.

The third movement breaks free from the dominance of one (Aeolian) scale. The main theme of Canticulum appears not only in different tonal forms in the same key, but modulates through a variety of different keys and tonics. The form of polyphony is mainly shaped by a dependence on the interval of a 3^rd.

Number ‘3’:

The number 3 is of particular importance in Susurrus. It is one of the most important numbers in the Bible. It represents harmony, The Holy Trinity and God’s presence. In Susurrus, the number 3 is represented not only in the number of movements, but also in the interval of thirds, which shapes the monodic but also polyphonic compositional narrative of the whole three movements.

Instrumentation:

Susurrus can be orchestrated and adapted for many smaller or larger chamber ensembles. This is one possible version of the piece.

As its very first version, the combination of 2 instruments born more than 200 years apart (classical guitar and 13-course baroque lute) seemed extremely appropriate to the genesis of Susurrus.

I hope Susurrus will find many performances in new and unusual pairs of instruments or larger ensembles (across contemporary as well as historical instruments).

Marek PASIECZNY (17th of July, 2021)

Newly recorded PŌKAREKARE ANA for Solo Guitar is now on YouTube. Based on famous Māori melody, originally written for my first concert tour in New Zealand.

PŌKAREKARE ANA (The Waves are Breaking) for Solo Guitar | single is OUT NOW on all major platforms!

Based on famous Māori melody, originally written for my first concert tour in New Zealand, later on published in the second edition of the score-book TRAVELS.
LISTEN / STREM / DOWNLOAD

Broadcast on the Polish National Radio of the concert which has been recorded during 57th Henryk Wieniawski’s International Music Festival w/ Krzysztof Pełech which will be aired during the audition Miejscówka z Dwójką

music by Marek Pasieczny and Pasieczny’s original transcriptions of music by W. Długoraj, J. Polak, and H. Wieniawski | 2nd July, 6:30 pm, Polish National Radio, Polskie Radio Pr. II

Seven Jazz Pieces (version for Two Guitars) by Marek PASIECZNY

Edition Type: Full Score + parts: I Guitar and II Guitar & composer’s program notes | Publishers: SLE London
Catalogue Number: SLE072 | Pages: 52 | Date Published: 27 June 2022

get your copy now contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

unforgettable memories from an evening concert at 57th Wieniawski International Music Festival w/ brilliant Krzysztof Pełech during which we gave world premieres of brand new transcriptions of Wieniawski’s pieces and performed extreme variety of music solo and duo!

organised by Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki we Wrocławiu (OKiS) & Festiwal im. H. Wieniawskiego w Szczawnie-Zdroju.

unforgettable recording session w/ Prof Piotr Rojek on SUSURRUS III (for Solo Organ)
at beautiful Kościół Parafialny pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP

Such a magnificent place to perform music by J.S. Bach, A. Pärt, D. Cato and my own w/ organist virtuoso prof. Piotr Rojek who also gave world premiere of my triptych titled SUSURRUS III (for Solo Organ)

• concerts (solo & duo) w/ Krzysztof Pełech and prof. Piotr Rojek
• composition & guitar workshops during Summer Guitar Festival and Mistrz i Uczen
• world premiere of SUSURRUS III (for Organ Solo) and four arrangements for two guitars of music by Henryk Wieniawski commissioned by OKIS

CZERWIEC:
5ty – solo i duo razem z Prof. Piotr ROJEK (organ)
16:00 | Kościół Parafialny pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki (II Festiwal Muzyczny im. Marianny Opańskiej) m.in. PRAWYKONANIE: SUSURRUS III (na organy solo)

18ty – duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
19:00 | Teatr Zdrojowy, Szczawno-Zdrój 57th Wieniawski International Music Festival
m.in. PRAWYKONANIE: Henryk Wieniawski, cztery kompozycje na dwie gitary

LIPIEC:

15sty – duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
19:00 | Trzebiatów, Trzebiatowski Ośrodek Kultury

17sty– duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
16:00 | Kośćiół Św. Pawła i Piotra, Namysłów (XXIII Letnie Koncerty Organowe)

17sty – 24ty warsztaty kompozycji i gitarowe: Summer Guitar Festival | Krzyżowa ZAPISY

SIERPIEŃ:
24ty – 30ty warsztaty gitarowe: Mistrz i Uczeń | Krzeszowice ZAPISY

Seven Jazz Pieces: DUO (version for two guitars) composed by Marek PASIECZNY and performed w/ Krzysztof Pełech out now on all major platforms