EXPERIMENTAL WORKSHOP

Piotr Moss about the music:

5 Impromptus for guitar solo (1982)
5 Impromptus are my first concert piece written for classical guitar. Before composing it I used a guitar but most often in popular music, so in a slightly different way than it does in classical music. It was Dana Chivers – an American guitarist living in Paris - who persuaded me to compose this piece. Dana not only persuaded me, but above all introduced me to the secrets of the guitar, which was necessary because I hardly knew the technique of playing this instrument - my first instrument was the violin. As a result of Dana's pedagogical efforts 5 short pieces were created in which I „struggle” with the newly learned instrument. Here you can see some influence of guitar works that Dana gave me to review. Each of the miniatures has a different character and - I have the impression - that the piece as for the debut is not particularly bad as evidenced by the fact that from the date of its creation it is readily played by guitarists. The funny fact is that it was not Dana who premiered 5 Impromptus but the French guitarist Pierre Laniau at a concert at the French Institute in Krakow in 1983.

Esquisses I for guitar solo (1984)
This piece was written for the composition contest organized in 1984 by the Polish Music Institute in Łódź where it was awarded the 2nd prize. It is a kind of derivative of 5 Impromptus written two years earlier. The way of thinking about the guitar is similar, my previously „developed” guitar writing technique works. The composition unlike Impromptus consists of not five but three parts. The change of colours and emotions allows the guitar to show here a lot of its expressive possibilities. There is also a version of this piece arranged by me for three guitars at the request of Amsterdams Gitaartrio premiered on March 22 1995 in Paris Église des Billettes.

Dédicace II for flute, guitar and viola (1994)
The piece belongs to a cycle of compositions bearing the common title Dédicace and commissioned by fellow musicians creating chamber groups often with quite an unusual composition. This time the "fellow musician" was the Polish flutist Ala Ratusińska active in Germany. I wrote the piece with joy because I liked this instrumental set. And because Dedication is often a stylistic exercise for me in this work I set myself a small task. The whole composition was based only on four notes: D, E♭, E, A. But I was not able to complete this exercise. „Pencil” changed my idea and I added the finale Adagio con malinconia which is based only on three notes. So especially in terms of the used sound material the piece was composed of two parts. The first is more developed and emotionally diverse, the second is calm and lyrical. The premiere of Dédicace II took place in Stuttgart in 1995.

Suite française for guitar and accordion (2015/2016)
69 Duo which has performed my Regards éloignés many times persuaded me as a composer associated with France to write a piece referring to French music. This is how I composed the suite in which I juggle styles, play with conventions, create new maybe even slightly anamorphic versions of old music forms. This suite written with a wink of an eye was supposed to be light, funny, unpretentious. Did I succeed?... The premiere of Suite française could take place in France, but it did not. It was performed for the first time in Mons, Belgium on February 26, 2016 by the dedicatees.

Form X for guitar and string quartet (1992)
This composition is a development of the previously created piece Regards éloignés for guitar and accordion. The study consisted of arranging the accordion part for a string quartet, the guitar part remained unchanged. However, I do not know what made me do such an instrumentation. The piece was created quite a long time ago, memory is sometimes unreliable... The composition consists of three parts. The construction rule will be to contrast short music sections with very different textures. I think the work gives a lot of interpretation possibilities for both soloist and string quartet. It is written so that „musicians like to play it" as Grażyna Bacewicz always told me.

Piotr Moss was born on May 13, 1949 in Bydgoszcz. He graduated from Primary and Secondary Music School in Toruń. After studying composition at the PWSM in Warsaw in the class of Piotr Perkowski (he also worked under Grażyna Bacewicz and Krzysztof Penderecki) he went to France where he perfected his compositional skills under Nadia Boulanger. His work is very rich and diverse. In the composer's catalogue apart from great vocal and instrumental works, concerts and chamber works you can find music for radio, theater, film and television. Piotr Moss is a laureate of numerous composers' competitions, both national and international. In 2000 Piotr Moss was appointed by the French Minister of Culture a Knight of the Order of Literature and Arts (Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres), in 2007 he received the French Académie des Beaux Arts Award and in 2009 on the 60th anniversary of his birthday and 40th anniversary of artistic work received a special prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. He is also awarded the „Meritorious for Polish Culture” medal. In 2016 he received another state award - Officier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The composer is also a laureate of radio awards such as: Golden Microphone, Grand Prix of the „Two Theaters” Festival for music to „Hamlet”, award for music to „Death in Venice” and honorary „Grand Splendor” for lifetime achievement for the Polish Radio Theater. In 2019 he received the „Two Theaters” Festival award for music to a TVP spectacle by T. Rittner „Lato” as well as the Annual Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Gold Medal „Merit for Culture Gloria Artis”.