Nikodemowicz / Keska

Piano Sonatas Nikodemowicz / Keska

Andrzej Nikodemowicz (1925-2017) was a versatile composer. His music was inspired mainly by broadly understood spirituality, close to the sphere of sacrum - a large part of his achievements are cantatas, rooted in the tradition of religious music, but he also tried his hand at instrumental forms, not shying away from modern techniques and sonic quests. The piano was a particularly important instrument for the composer. He knew how to extract from it a cosmos of colours, a condensed sonic matter, the spectrum of which contained a palette of orchestral-like sounds. Those qualities can be perfectly heard in the compositions presented on the album: three Piano Sonatas, Op. 7, 16 and 22, composed in 1947-1958. This album is also the world recording premiere of those works. The traditional rules of the sonata genre were modified here; the sound is massive and saturated, and the expression is intensified by the extraordinary technical challenges faced by the performer. However, it is not only about bravado and showmanship; the compositions adhere to an iron compositional logic, and it is to that logic that the virtuosity is subordinated. Nikodemowicz's Sonatas are performed by Gajusz Keska, an extremely talented Polish pianist, winner of numerous national and international piano competitions, soloist and chamber musician performing at many prestigious festivals and in renowned concert halls in Europe. Moreover, he has outstanding achievements in the field of music pedagogy.