ADRIAN ROBAK (b.1979): 5 Pieces for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, Concerto for Pardessus de viole and Harpsichord, 3 Inspirations for, Organ, À la recherche d’un maître for Contrabass and Organ.

Description: This is different! - and most appealing. In addition to his formal studies in composition, the composer participated in workshops with content giants including Per Nørgård and Helmut Lachenmann, and workshops devoted to performing early, contemporary and improvised music. These diverse influences inform these playfully anachronistic works, in a style synthesised from a variety of thoroughly accessible idioms from the baroque via romanticism to minimalism, all based firmly in tonality. The Five Pieces comprise a suite that pours new, but familiar, wine into old bottles. It begins with a prestissimo toccata. Fairly quickly you start to realize that the fast harpsichord figuration sounds suspiciously familiar, as though it might be related to - the famous Widor organ toccata! Really? But harpsichord toccatas are also a very Baroque sort of thing - and so are violas da gamba - but what the latter plays is a soulful tonal melody, and now the harpsichord part sounds like a minimalistic accompaniment. Then a viola soliloquy with offbeat harpsichord chords, and the toccata returns. The second movement is a reimagined neo-baroque aria, euphonically and consonantly tonal, in lyrical phrases and repetitive accompanimental gestures. The mechanistic third movement's fast harpsichord chords are borrowed from the world of Górecki’s harpsichord concerto, and the viola's sneering little phrases from Shostakovich. The slow movement is a solemn tribute to the composers of the Baroque and the styles in which these two instruments would originally have been played. The finale throws all the disparate elements from the other movements into the melting-pot, combining mechanistic rhythmic pounding, quasi-recitative, and a more contemporary harmonic vocabulary than previously. The first movement of the Concerto is a combination of the minimalist and the lyrical, with rich harpsichord chords and arpeggiated figuration accompanying the plaintive singing of the highest-pitched member of the viola da gamba family. The slow movement is a lyrical aria for the viola, with an accompaniment of "strummed" arpeggiated chords on the harpsichord. The finale is motoric, propelled by repeated figures and ostinati, characterized by tense exchanges between the instruments. The second part introduces a suggestion of a modal folk melody, though the tension remains to the end. The long-breathed modal melody and avoidance of triadic harmony in the first of the organ Inspirations seems to occupy a middle ground between Messiaen and Mediæval music. The idiom of the second is similar, though with something of the character of a Baroque chorale prelude. The rapid, brilliant repeated chords and pedal melody of the third evokes a toccata from a Romantic French organ symphony. À la recherche d’un maître has a mystical program, elaborated in the booklet. The first movement begins with slow minimalistic repetitive chordal material, gradually augmented in complexity and rhythm, on the organ. The double bass enters with an eloquent lament, accompanied by minimalistic arpeggii, which grows increasingly passionate and leads to a powerful chordal climax. The movement ends with a resumption of the pulsating figuration, gradually becoming slower and slower, and dying away. The second part begins with a solemn fanfare-like motif which recurs as a refrain, and flickering, incandescent colors in organ chords, while the double bass provides urgent narration. The music becomes increasingly animated, climaxes, and recedes from view. Anna Firlus (organ, harpsichord), Krzysztof Firlus (viols, double bass).