An On Bast/Maciej Fortuna – Electroacoustic Transcription Of Film Music By Krzysztof Penderecki (2013) ****

An On Blast - live electronics, trumpet processing

Maciej Fortuna - trumpet, live electronics, trumpet processing, miscellaneous

FM 013

 

 

 

 By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by the Polish duo, which consists of ambient / electronic music artists An On Bast (a.k.a. Anna Suda) and Jazz trumpeter / composer Maciej Fortuna. The album includes thirteen tracks, which were composed and conceived by the duo, all inspired by music composed by the Polish Classical composer Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki, which was either composed as soundtrack music for cinematographic productions or used in such capacity. The album also includes a DVD, which presents six short videos by visual artist Pawel Wypych, based on six tracks present on the CD, which visualize the music using black & white animations and collages.

Penderecki's involvement with film music is relatively less acknowledged in comparison to his large scale symphonic works, but it has always been some of the most impressive and dramatic of its kind and accompanied some of the best films by some of the most important directors, like David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Andrzej Wajda and others.

This is by far the most complex and advanced project realized to date by the duo, which shows another perspective as well as another depth of their music. The personal and artistic courage to undertake a project like this one is to be admired and encouraged. After generations of Polish Jazz repeatedly dealing with the music of Frederic Chopin, often ad nauseam, the young and bold Polish Jazz lions discover contemporary Polish Classical music as the source of their inspiration. In 2012 the pianist Piotr Orzechowski released a sensational album with his interpretation of music by Maestro Penderecki ("Experiment: Penderecki") and now this album does it again, no less boldly one may add. Other Jazz albums, for example with music by Wojciech Kilar, were also released lately. This is definitely a refreshing trend.

The music included herein is truly overwhelming. Listeners with little or no experience with electronic music or the usage of electronic effects might find it initially strange and a bit difficult, but a couple of listening sessions should break the ice. An On Bast uses an array of different sound effects to create a rich and diverse background upon which Fortuna adds his incredible trumpet passages. These two elements: the electronic and the acoustic, work perfectly together to create a deeply atmospheric musical creation, floating in the infinite sonoric space.

Album after album and step after step Fortuna builds up a body of work that is most impressive and simply can not be ignored. His immense talent and versatility, as demonstrated herein in the collaboration with contemporary musical vocabulary, is awe-inspiring. The level of intellectual and emotional dialogue between these two young artists is a ray of hope in this dark age where most things seem to be simply fading out. Thank you!