WERONIKA RATUSINSKA (b.1977): Nymphs for Soprano Saxophone and Harpsichord (Pavel Gusnar [sax], Alina Ratkowska [harpsichord]), Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano (Artur Pachlewski [clarinet], Tomasz Strahl [cello], Grzegorz Gorczyca [piano]), Amarcord for Violin and Piano (Patrycja Piekutowska [violin], Iwona Mironiuk [piano]), String Quartet No. 2 "The Last Moments" (Camerata Quartet), Concerto for Amplified Violin and Orchestra (Grzegorz Lalek [violin], New Music Orchestra; Szymon Bywalec).

Description: These are all very approachable works based firmly in tonality and with a tendency toward the use of repetitive structures of the kind found in a certain type of typically Dutch contemporary ensemble music - it comes as no surprise to discover that Ratusinska was a student of Louis Andriessen. Long-breathed solo lines - the clarinet in the trio, the saxophone in Nymphs - arch over insistent accompanimental textures. Where electronics are employed - in Amarcord and the concerto (with its echoes of Riley and Reich)- their role is to fill out textures rather than as an experiment in new sonorities of the IRCAM variety; the result is an enrichment of sound, while the musical argument remains firmly with the patterned structures of the instrumental material. The quartet's three movements were inspired by poems written by inmates of Ravensbrück concentration camp, representing a gradation from despair through struggle to reconciliation with fate.