Pawel Szymanski

Two Studies for Piano

Szymanski was born in Warsaw on 28th March 1954. He graduated with honours from the National Higher School of Music in Warsaw, where he studied composition with Wlodzimierz Kotonski (1974-78) and Tadeusz Baird (1978). In the meantime, in 1976 he took part in the INTERNATIONAL SUMMER ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC at Innsbruck, and in 1978, 1980 and 1982 participated in the INTERNATIONAL SUMMER COURSES OF NEW MUSIC at Darmstadt, working also with the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio in 1979-81, the Independent Studio of Electroacoustic Music in 1982-84 and the Electronic Music Studio of the Cracow Academy of Music in 1983. As a Herder scholar, Szymanski continued his studies with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati in Vienna in 1984-85, and as a holder of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst grant in 1987-89, worked at the Electronic Studio of the Technische Universitaet.

The Two Studies for solo piano written in 1992 peck and impact in slow progression - again sounding both familiar in the style of Bach yet dissected in an unhurried and surprisingly avant-garde exhibition. The second study moves to slough off the first at about 6. 03. The second glitters in Mozartian gemwork.