When Songs Are Sung

The aesthetics of Eugeniusz Knapik's works are primarily determined by ethical dimension - related to the 'compositional ethics' (categories of creative freedom, responsibility, and honesty) but also to the general one (classical ideals of beauty, good, and truth). Facing the sphere of fundamental values, and problems of a philosophical and moral nature, Knapik takes up the threads abandoned by the apologists of the artistic avant-garde. He situates the concept of 'originality,' which is key to his work, completely outside of the categories of eccentric otherness at all costs, since he understands it in it's source and etymological sense as grasping the essence, roots, and source of things and concepts. On 9 July 2021, we celebrate the 70th birthday of Eugeniusz Knapik, one of the greatest living Polish artists and animators of musical life. This anniversary provides an excellent opportunity for a phonographic presentation of the vocal and instrumental works of the jubilarian composed in 2020 and for juxtaposing them with two compositions by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, Eugeniusz Knapik's teacher and mentor. The two works featured on the first album are inspired by a quatrain of the Russian poet Velimir Khlebnikov (1885-1922); at the same time, each of the creators sets the text in a completely different expressive context.