Szymanowski / X-Ray

The workings of inspiration are truly inscrutable. Karol Szymanowski sought it in the Antiquity, the Orient, and in Polish folklore. The artists of to-day, though cast from a different mould, are in turn inspired by the oeuvre of Szymanowski. They take up anew what the giant of Polish music left off nearly a hundred years ago and use his works as a point of departure for more explorations, a journey into the unknown. This is certainly true of sax player, composer and producer Adam Pierończyk – a restless soul, an artist who has collaborated with, among others, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Bobby McFerrin, Tomasz Stańko, and Avishai Cohen. The US website ‘All About Jazz’ hailed his virtuoso playing as ‘fresh and innovative, modern, iridescent’. In his daring impressions on Szymanowski, the artist is accompanied by ECM artist Dominik Wania, freely moving in his piano improvisations across the no man’s land between classical music and jazz, and by the Brazilian guitarist Nelson Veras, who combines technical proficiency with spontaneity.