Improvisation, sound experiments and surprising ideas
Precision of interpretation, impetuosity, and a great gift for establishing direct contact with the audience.
A perfect concert as well as a theatrical performance
Winner of the 9th Polish Radio Festival „Nowa Tradycja”
Special Award at the European Broadcasting Union in Bratislava
Grand Prix, the Mayor of the City of Warsaw
“Late Junction” programme on BBC Radio 3
In this project we try to understand which folk pieces of music could have inspired Frederic Chopin when he wrote his biggest works. Is it possible that Chopin was influenced not only by the nuances of the folk melodies but also by their lyrics? This concert is a story, a fiction, a fantasy on what the composer might have heard in the Polish folk music that deeply rooted in his soul before leaving Poland forever, and which invaluable melodies he kept in himself to use in his preludes, mazurkas and sonatas. Combining two pianos and a rich variety of percussion instruments we bridge harsh folk music with the quotations of Chopin’s works which belong to the aristocracy of musical literature. We also play with Chopin’s harmony by juxtaposing it in an unconventional and original way. In our pieces we present our journey from the source, through inspiration, to our fascination of Chopin’s genius.
The Kwadrofonik was founded in 2006 as a result of two duets fusion: the percussion and the piano one. Magdalena Kordylasińska and Miłosz Pękała (Hob-beats Duo) and Emilia Sitarz and Bartłomiej Wąsik (Lutosławski Piano Duo) form the only quartet of this kind in Poland and one of few in the world. They play the music of the 20th and 21st century, including such works as Sonata for two pianos and percussion by Bela Bartók, Makrokosmos III by George Crumb, Linea by Luciano Berio, pieces composed especially for the quartet as well as those which result from the whole group’s work.
The Kwadrofonik consists of artists who create an extraordinary musical dialogue between pianos and percussion instruments, almost imperceptibly changing functions of the instruments – pianos become percussion instruments whereas groups of percussion instruments take over the functions of the melodic ones. Precision of interpretation, impetuousness, the gift of establishing direct contact with the audience guarantee full satisfaction for the participants of the sound performances created by the quartet. While working on their pieces the musicians often chose improvisation and sound experiments aimed at maximizing the possibilities of two pianos and percussion.
The quartet’s project – own studies of folk songs – was enthusiastically received at the 9th Nowa Tradycja (New Tradition) Folk Music Festival at which the musicians were awarded Grand Prix, the Mayor of the City of Warsaw award and “Storm of Applause” – the audience’s award. Critics found the quartet innovative and blazing a trail in folk music.
In 2007 the Kwadrofonik became the winner of the prestigious Special Award at the 3rd Competition of EBU European Broadcasting Union “Svetozar Stracina” in Bratislava. The award for modernity, innovation and faithfulness to tradition was given for the first time in history.
In May 2007 the quartet’s works were presented at the “Late Junction” programme on BBC Radio 3.
In 2008 the Group released the debut album published by Polish Radio – Folklove – in witch compositions inspired of polish old folk songs and dances are included.
The Kwadrofonik has been appreciated by the audience not only for the high level of performance, but also for surprising ideas of using percussions and pianos. It is worth mentioning that the vivid way of using even several dozen instruments makes their concerts really exciting performances.
