Full Biography
ANDRZEJ KRZANOWSKI
1951–1990
Polish composer, accordionist and
pedagogue, winner of numerous awards and scholarships from Witold Lutosławski
and the Scottish Arts Council, representative of the Stalowowolska
Generation and New Romanticism in music. Critics dubbed him the
Chopin of the accordion. He composed more than 100 works of which the majority
are accordion compositions.
Born 9 April 1951 in Bielsko-Biała, he
passed away on 1 October 1990 in Pszczyna and was buried in Czechowice-Dziedzice
– a town where he lived and worked, seeing as it frequently inspired his music,
being the starting and ending place of his artistic journey.
He began being taught the accordion by a
private tutor at age of eight, although he did not start his regular musical
schooling until age of 16 at the 1st Degree Music School in
Oświęcim, then two years later at the 2nd Degree Mieczysław
Karłowicz State Music School in Katowice: in a composition class taught by
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and through accordion lessons delivered by Joachim
Pichura. He graduated with a distinguished diploma in composing in 1975 and
took up a teaching post at the 1st and 2nd Degree Music
School in Katowice, the Upper State Music School in Wroclaw, and his old school
in Katowice, where he taught for the rest of his life. He also taught at
musical courses and workshops, including the International Holiday New Music
Courses in Darmstadt (1984, 1986), the International Summer Academy Courses
titled Time of Music in Viitasaari, Finland (1987), the Musica’83
International Contemporary Music Festival in Strasbourg and the IV
International Accordion School in Mutzig, France (1988).
His first steps as a composer were taken
alone when he was a boy of schooling age. He broke with traditional musical
notation, form and sound, his experiments emerging through avant-garde
fascinations with works mainly heard over the radio. Following unsuccessful
entry exam attempts in 1969 to attend the Faculty of Musical Education at the
Upper State Music School in Katowice, Krzanowski destroyed almost all his
manuscripts and decided to continue his education at the 2nd Degree
Mieczysław Karłowicz State Music School in Katowice
Preludium, which years later
would open the Ksiegi / Volumes series for the accordion was created at
this time. His playing came to public attention during the Young Musicians For
a Young City of Stalowa Wola Festival (1976 –1980) and the Musical Meetings
festival in Baranow Sandomierski (1976–1981), where he premiered his Programme
I, Programme II and Programme IV, alongside the likes of Eugeniusz
Knapik and Aleksander Lasoń – a trio of composers who stood in opposition to
the avant-garde movements of the 1950s and 1960s, composing as part of the “new
romanticism” movement, later dubbed the Stalowowolskie Generation and Silesian
Wave '51.
Krzanowski's legacy contains a varied
selection of works – in his youthful Programmes marked by an
impressionistic, or even surreal musical aura, Krzanowski combined all sorts of
art genres (poetry, music, visual arts), a vision most fully realised in his
meta-opera titled Audycja / Programme V. He also quoted musical elements
from the likes of Jan Sebastian Bach, Karol Szymanowski and Isaac Albéniz, as
well as an unusual instrumentation (cassette tape, siren, whistle, flexaton).
The next stage of his creative development
involved the production of chamber pieces (string quartets, Three pieces for
the oboe and trumpet, Winds Carry Echoes Across the Meadow for accordion
and harpsichord, Con Vigore for eight performers, II Symfonia
et.al.) and symphonic works (Studium I, Canti di Vratislavia, Symfonia
I et.al.).
Hiw works for the accordion represent a
separate collection – solo and chamber pieces, collected by the PWM Edition
(Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne) in six volumes. These include titles such as Studium
III, Toccata, Kanon, Oda, Chorał, Katedra, Alkagran czyli jedno miejsce na
prawym brzegu Wisły / Alkagran being a single spot on the right banks of the
Vistula. It was thanks to daring and innovative use of techniques in these
works, unknown at the time in accordion playing, that Krzanowski found ways of
ensuring this instrument would be taken seriously by the musical community,
securing its enduring place in the world of contemporary musical composition
and performance.
Andrzej Krzanowski won numerous national
and international composition competitions, including II prize at the XIX
Competition staged by the Association of Young Polish Composers in 1976, I and
III prizes at the Artur Malawski Composition Competition in Krakow (1976,
1980), twice III prize at the Carl Maria von Weber International Composition
Competition in Dresden (1978, 1979), I prize at the Composition Competition staged by the Central
Music Editors of Polish Radio & Television in Warsaw (1979), distinction at
the Gaudeamus International Composition Competition in Holland (1981),
distinctions at the Composition Competition in Stalowa Wola (1978), I and II
prizes at the international composition competition in Digne-les-Bains (1981,
1987), I prize at the composition competition in Kamien Pomorski (1985). He was
the winner of numerous awards and scholarships from Witold Lutosławski and the
Scottish Arts Council, while his works created for children and young adults
were in 1985 given an award by The Prime Minister.
Andrzej Krzanowski, as a live performing
accordionist, staged mainly his own compositions and original music of the 20th
century. He performed in many countries, including France, Austria, Italy,
Holland and Germany. He recorded for radio and television.
He was the head of the Polish Composers
Association in Katowice (1987–1990), and
a juror at composing and accordion competitions.
He is associated with the Alkagran Fall
Music Festival in Czechowice-Dziedzice, which includes the international
Accordion Competition, the Music Society in Katowice, the Chamber Hall of the
State School in Mława. A street was named after him in Czechowice-Dziedzice,
along with a composition competition for high school students. The following
have dedicated their works to him: Krzysztof Baculewski, Marcin Bortnowski, Wiesław
Cienciała, Jean-Baptiste Devillers, Julian Gembalski, Marian
Gordiejuk, Grażyna Krzanowska, Aleksander Lasoń, Bogdan Precz,
Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski, Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil and Piotr
Radko.
