Polish Movements / “Alchemia” Jazz
Mikołaj Trzaska and Clementine Gasser

Subversive classical avant-garde (C. Gasser) meets yass - an improvised avant-garde of jazz music (M. Trzaska)

The concert organised with the generous support of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland

ArtPolonia, Lab for intercultural cooperation and exchange would like to invite you to a jazz concert “Polish Movements/Jazz “Alchemia”

Date: 17 December 2007
Venue: The Sugar Club, Leeson Street, Dublin 2
Tickets: €10
Time: 8.00 p.m.

Two great musicians – Mikolaj Trzaska/Poland (saxophone, bass clarinet) and Clementine Gasser/Swiss (cello) will perform together as a duo, which was formed in Dublin in 2004 and had its debut on Blooms Day in a concert dedicated to James Joyce.

The duo's musical language encompasses two opposite traditions of improvisation - one based on the language of the contemporary classical music offered by Gasser, the other from the free jazz school given by Trzaska. This combination generates a unique, new and intimate music.

Through the search for new timbral soundscapes the border between the individual sounds of both instruments disappears. Although no electro-acoustic effects are employed, the exploration of new sound worlds often results in new timbres similar to those created in a studio. Also remarkable is the level of intense expression created by the duo, the dynamics range from very gentle, with minute and intricate details to very strong accents which conjure up an intense rock feel.

Mikołaj Trzaska is one of the most innovative and creative alto saxophonists and bass clarinettists in Poland. He is one of the founders of the yass scene in Poland. He works together with many recognized musicians and plays in different line-ups.

"Once in everybody's life there is a time when one has a chance and duty to be revolutionary." Building tradition means questioning the canon all the time. Although Trzaska is a mature artist following a chosen path he still feels like a warrior and claims that warriors create Great Culture by observing the reality in a critical way and by trying to influence it. He claims that it is when you play with interesting musicians and not when you imitate them that you create your own, original music. When he improvises he listens to the space even if the only thing he hears is silence. It's most important to maintain a certain frame of mind - be a listener and performer at the same time' - he says.

Clementine Gasser – “generates her musical material by using subversive cello techniques to reflect the multifarious levels of contradictions and extremes, the unholy chasm which is middle ground between heaven and earth” (P. Lössl)

Gasser creates a new order through a process of seeking and finding. What was valid a moment ago is valid no longer. The listener realises that order is not a state, but a process. “This order is not as rigid as it pretends” mused Robert Musil’s Man Without Qualities.

In Gasser’s music the unexpected, or, rather, the unknown, reveals itself – and the surprise is in the occurrence of the expected. Her music is “subversive” says Gasser and refers to her cello techniques. But her subversion extends beyond the formal context. She crosses boundaries by simply denying their existence. She abandons the world of “either/or” for the realm of “both/and”, she reveals the commonalities in what seem to be contradictions.

What Clementine Gasser explores with sensitivity and power is “sense fiction” in every sense of the word. The siren song of her cello does not have to be sweet to enthral. It is alluring and evocative nonetheless.

The event is also the first birthdays of ArtPolonia, Lab set up in 2006 as the first professional forum for cultural co-operation between the Newcomers to Ireland and the local arts scene and audiences.