Combat de boxe (2011)

A powerful storm of sound with a strong pulse, as it were, beaten out by the motions of tectonic plates during an earthquake – such associations in the case of Combat de boxe are in no way an exaggeration. The narrative is arranged into high waves of expression, insistently bringing to mind the thought that this is a direct allegory of our times. ‘Art happens in waves,’ Julia Wolfe has written. The Serialists were really of their time period. The world was devastated by the two world wars, and nobody wanted to have any kind of sentimentality in the music or anything expressive. Although some people think that Schoenberg is romantic. But composers wanted stark, scientific music. I love a lot of Webern and Schönberg works, they’re beautiful, but of that time period. Everything is sped up now, and our culture is so full of different musics. Combat de boxe represents a world not only breathless in its haste, but also filled with struggles and a combat of which we are very frequently not aware.

[Maciej Jabłoński]