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Sacrum Profanum 2023

Piano in the blood: recital by Reinhold Friedl now available on PLAY KRAKÓW

2022-01-13

From 13 January, the PLAY KRAKÓW platform is presenting the concert Execution of Intelligence. Reinhold Friedl’s piano recital was one of the first three events of the post-festival cycle Sacrum Profanum: Post Scriptum held in autumn 2021. The stream of concert by the German pianist is free.

The first concert of the Sacrum Profanum: Post Scriptum cycle resounded with a world-premiere of a composition by Zbigniew Karkowski, as well as pieces by Franz Liszt, György Ligeti and Terre Thaemlitz.The recital by Reinhold Friedl, a favourite of Sacrum Profanum audiences, was held on 20 October 2021 in the beautiful Gallery of Polish Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries at the National Museum in Kraków.

Reinhold Friedl’s previous appearances at Sacrum Profanum include programów solowych (fortepian preparowany), as well as concerts with his ensemble zeitkratzer, which have also been recorded.During the most recent concert, the artist performed what is likely to be Zbigniew Karkowski’s final instrumental piece.Execution of Intelligence, penned especially for Frield for amplified piano, was followed by three compositions featuring just three sounds:Franz Liszt’s Unstern! Sinistre, disastro, György Ligeti’s Musica ricercata II. Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale, and the world premiere of Terre Thaemlitz’ Ten-Thirty (version for Reinhold Friedl).

On 20 October, Reinhold Friedl performed the world premiere of the strident, exhausting and dense composition “Execution of Intelligence” written especially for him by Zbigniew Karkowski in 2002.The piece has been waiting for the right time and place for almost 20 years, and during the most recent finale concert of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Gallery of Polish Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries at the National Museum in Kraków once again profaned the space for art, the music for piano and traditions in general.Luckily, as well as leaving blood on the keys, the concert resulted in a terrific recording we are delighted to present on PLAY KRAKÓW.As Karkowski was wont to say, “I don’t believe in thought or intellect […]I am interested in making music whose perception doesn’t require extensive cultural knowledge.”To listen to the composition, alongside the surprisingly fitting music by Liszt, Ligeti and Thaemlitz, you need nothing more than your ears.And even if it doesn’t stimulate your minds, it’s bound to stir powerful emotions, says Krzysztof Pietraszewski, curator of the Sacrum Profanum festival and the Post Scriptum cycle.

As well as Execution of Intelligence, PLAY KRAKÓW also presents three other concerts from the 19th festival: Three Colours featuring works by Ryoko Akama, Jim O’Rourke and Olivier Messiaen, Martyna Zakrzewska’s solo performance from her apartment Esoteric Chords focusing on Barbara Buczek’s piano compositions, and Arditti Quartet 47 ½ Anniversary – an anniversary concert by the quartet resounding with some of the finest compositions by Neuwirth, Saunders, Paredes, Ligeti, Zenakis and Lachenmann.