| 1 CD |
|
Buy at PlatoMania |
| Label ACT music |
UPC 0614427988126 |
Catalogue number ACT 98812 |
Release date 29 March 2019 |
“Sacrum Profanum” is a conceptual album, the result of my experiments and creative explorations. I feel that we as humans are more than ever before looking for harmony, faith, timeless values and the truth about ourselves, while also yearning to convey our personalities through self-expression. This is what Sacrum Profanum means to me.
I decided to reach out for sacred music, from the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen and the renaissance Thomas Tallis, to the contemporary Russian avant-gardist Sofia Gubaidulina. My goal was to capture the timeless beauty of the mystical music of these exceptional composers and interpret their work through contemporary musical language.
The album also includes five new compositions that I wrote while working on the project. My artistic journey came back to its starting point. As a young violinist, I was expelled from music school for playing jazz, for improvising and for rebelling against classical music in an attempt to redefine the sound of the violin. Now, once again, I felt the imperative to connect with my greatest inspiration at the moment – classical music. Today, the contemporary language of classical music and the spontaneity of jazz improvisation are my impetus. While working on my new album, I was also intensively exploring a dimension that is often used by New Music composers, sonoristic layer.
For the recordings I used orchestral instruments including the gran cassa, gongs, crotales, and a prepared piano. I also wanted to delight in the magical, inspirational and unique sound of the Renaissance violin. For me, contemporary virtuosity is based on the most sophisticated and varied of sounds, full of new colours and different techniques, which I discover by experimenting on my instrument. It gives me an infinite sea of possibilities.
“Sacrum Profanum” is my first album for the ACT label with Polish musicians. My new quartet consists of unique musical personalities: Krzysztof Dys, Michał Barański, Dawid Fortuna and myself. Our performance combines what I love most about playing music: a nobility of sound from classical music, an uninhibited imagination from jazz, and inspiration from the traditions of both.
Violinist and composer Adam Bałdych has won acclaim as an excellent improviser discovering uncharted territories in violin music, as well as a genuine personality, capable of establishing a dialogue with artists from both the classical, improvised, and popular music scenes.
‘Jazz violin redefined,’ declared The Guardian (UK), while Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych ‘undoubtedly the greatest living master of jazz violin technique, of whom one can expect anything’. Considered as ‘the violin’s child prodigy’, he launched his music career at age 14 and was soon hailed as an innovator combining the achievements of classical music with a contemporary language and an improviser’s talent. He soon developed his own style that has inspired a whole new generation of improvising violinists.
Bałdych has presented his music at the world’s major jazz festivals, with performances in Poland, Germany, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain, and Indonesia, among others.
The violinist performs and records with such outstanding artists as Paolo Fresu, Yaron Herman, Joachim Kuhn, Agata Szymczewska, Leszek Możdżer, Helge Lien, Aaron Parks, Lars Danielsson, Nils Landgren, Iiro Rantala, Marius Neset, Jacob Karlzon, and Billy Cobham.
His numerous accolades include the Grand Prix and individual prize of the 2006 ‘Jazz on the Odra’ festival, ECHO Jazz, and the 2024 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (award of German music record reviewers), as well as Polish state decorations: the Gold Cross of Merit, Decoration of Honor ‘Meritorious for Polish Culture’, and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture. He was also thrice nominated for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award as Personality of the Year.
Bałdych dedicates increasingly more attention to composing classical music, commissioned and performed by such well-known orchestras and publishers as OMN New Music Orchestra (Antiphona, 2016), AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy (Early Birds Symphony), Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Concerto Galante), PWM Edition (Kuyawiak), and AUKSO / Polish Radio Choir (world premiere – Maryla’s Grave for violin, choir, and string orchestra).
Highly acclaimed for his creative work in the fields of jazz and contemporary music performance, for his inventive fusion of these two, and for extremely distinctive interpretations, Bałdych has appeared on nearly 20 albums, including the most recent titles: Passacaglia (duo with Leszek Możdżer), Legend (with Adam Bałdych Quintet and violinist Agata Szymczewska), as well as Poetry (with eminent Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu).
Adam Bałdych resides and works in Warsaw, Poland.
Violinist and composer Adam Bałdych has won acclaim as an excellent improviser discovering uncharted territories in violin music, as well as a genuine personality, capable of establishing a dialogue with artists from both the classical, improvised, and popular music scenes.
‘Jazz violin redefined,’ declared The Guardian (UK), while Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych ‘undoubtedly the greatest living master of jazz violin technique, of whom one can expect anything’. Considered as ‘the violin’s child prodigy’, he launched his music career at age 14 and was soon hailed as an innovator combining the achievements of classical music with a contemporary language and an improviser’s talent. He soon developed his own style that has inspired a whole new generation of improvising violinists.
Bałdych has presented his music at the world’s major jazz festivals, with performances in Poland, Germany, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain, and Indonesia, among others.
The violinist performs and records with such outstanding artists as Paolo Fresu, Yaron Herman, Joachim Kuhn, Agata Szymczewska, Leszek Możdżer, Helge Lien, Aaron Parks, Lars Danielsson, Nils Landgren, Iiro Rantala, Marius Neset, Jacob Karlzon, and Billy Cobham.
His numerous accolades include the Grand Prix and individual prize of the 2006 ‘Jazz on the Odra’ festival, ECHO Jazz, and the 2024 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (award of German music record reviewers), as well as Polish state decorations: the Gold Cross of Merit, Decoration of Honor ‘Meritorious for Polish Culture’, and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture. He was also thrice nominated for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award as Personality of the Year.
Bałdych dedicates increasingly more attention to composing classical music, commissioned and performed by such well-known orchestras and publishers as OMN New Music Orchestra (Antiphona, 2016), AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy (Early Birds Symphony), Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Concerto Galante), PWM Edition (Kuyawiak), and AUKSO / Polish Radio Choir (world premiere – Maryla’s Grave for violin, choir, and string orchestra).
Highly acclaimed for his creative work in the fields of jazz and contemporary music performance, for his inventive fusion of these two, and for extremely distinctive interpretations, Bałdych has appeared on nearly 20 albums, including the most recent titles: Passacaglia (duo with Leszek Możdżer), Legend (with Adam Bałdych Quintet and violinist Agata Szymczewska), as well as Poetry (with eminent Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu).
Adam Bałdych resides and works in Warsaw, Poland.
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