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This work was written for flutist, Adrianna Lis, for performances and a CD recording. It is based on three Polish dance pieces:

1. Slaski comes from, a folk song from the area in Poland where Adrianna Lis was born. The version I based my piece on was performed by Chlopaki Chlopaki.
2. Mazurka in A minor, op.68, No.2 (posthumous) by Chopin. This was chosen to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.
3. Polka Szabasowka, not originally from Poland but adopted by Polish folk performers. The version I based my piece on was performed on piano accordian by Miroslaw Marks.

These dances were transcribed as used as a basis for free re-composition.

Anthony Ritchie

• Adrianna Lis: Rozmowa / Dialogue  Year: 2012 

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Having heard Adrianna Lis in concert, I was excited by the prospect of writing for her and was thrilled to contribute a piece for her CD Dialogue/Rozmowa produced by Atoll Records. We discovered in subsequent conversations that we shared a common interest in WWII history and decided there and then that this should be the central idea. The horrors of WWII remain very much part of the Polish collective memory. Like many of her countrymen Adrianna does not wish for the events of WWII, and in particular the treatment of the Polish people, to be forgotten or diluted by time, thereby diminishing the significance. When we Fell is a reflection of this idea. A fall from grace; a fall from humanity; a falling away from oneself. I have tried to imbue in this piece a sense of nostalgia, a hint of the military and in parts childlike innocence that in a strange way highlights the dismay at the loss of humility. The folk-like melody that runs through is an adaptation of the Polish song To Ostatnia Niedziela composed by Jerzy Petersburski (1936) – a nostalgic tango describing the final meeting of former loves who are parting, which had the dubious honor of often being poled while Jewish prisoners were led to their deaths in the gas chambers. The vocal track is recording of some of the text from this song but toward the end a passage from Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra is quoted in Polish.

Michael Williams

• Michael Williams: When We Fell - downloadable electroacoustic part (mp3) 

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• Michael Williams: When We Fell - hardcopy score & electroacoustic part (CD) 

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• Michael Williams: When We Fell - downloadable PDF 

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• Adrianna Lis: Rozmowa / Dialogue  Year: 2012 

  CD
  
  $27.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow