Kasia Kadłubowska/Dominik Bukowski - Transient (2015)

Kadłubowska/Bukowski

Kasia Kadłubowska - marimba, vibraphone, bendir
Dominik Bukowski - vibraphone, marimba

Transient

DUX 1221

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish marimba player/composer Kasia Kadłubowska recorded in a duo format with renown Polish Jazz vibraphonist/composer Dominik Bukowski. The album presents nine compositions, two of which are original compositions (one each) by Kadłubowska and Bukowski and the rest are by contemporary Classical composers like Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, Eric Satie and American marimba player/composer Paul Smadbeck.

As the names of the composers suggest, the music is mostly contemporary Classical Music, with belongs to the Minimal Music idiom. Although most of the music was not originally written for marimba or vibraphone, it was arranged and transcribed for these instruments by Kadłubowska and Bukowski.

Marimba and vibraphone, although both percussion instruments, are of course capable of playing melody and harmony, which means that the music offers a lot of melodic content, kept within the limitations of Minimal Music, which calls for slowly developing themes and cyclic repetition. It can be quite demanding on the listener, who is not a priori a fan of the genre, but it is great for relaxation and meditation, in addition to its strictly musical values.

Both Kadłubowska and Bukowski play with incredible feeling and obvious virtuosity, and despite the intrinsic lethargy of the music, the albums offers a diversified listening experience to open-minded listeners. Minimal Music has its fans around the world and enjoyed a peak of popularity during the New Age explosion between the 1970s and 1990s, but a steady interest in it remains in the Classical field over the years.

Bukowski’s appearance on this album, which is rather unexpected since his main field of activity if Jazz, proves his diversity and well schooling, as well as highly aesthetic approach to music in general. The two original composition stand proudly shoulder to shoulder with the well-known Classical material, adding another level of credibility to this album. I have no idea why it took six years for this album to arrive on my operating table, but as usual better late than never, as it is definitely worth exploring and a great fun to listen to.