SIKORA | NONO

I dedicate it to my Polish friends and comrades who, in exile, in hiding, in prison, at work, resist – hope, even if they are despairing, believe, even if they are incredulous. These are the words of the dedication written by Luigi Nono on the score of the piece "Quando stanno morendo. Diario polacco No. 2" for female voices, flute, cello and electronics. While the Solidarity trade union was growing in strength in 1981, Luigi Nono – a composer who was a regular guest at the Warsaw Autumn Festival – received an order to write a piece. Unfortunately, a few months later, General Jaruzelski declared martial law. Thus, the premiere of the new piece could not take place, as the festival was cancelled. However, the Italian avant-garde composer decided to finish the piece, which was first performed in Poland in 1988.

Luigi Nono is a very intriguing figure in the world of avant-garde music of the 20th century, not only because of his personal aesthetic attitude but also because of his political fascinations. From the 1950s, he was an outspoken communist. His political views were not opposed only to the composition dedicated to Poles but were in line with the position of the Italian Communist Party, which from the end of the 1960s criticized the Soviet Union, and in particular for restricting civil liberties. However, the composer's involvement in the lives of Poles and his fascination with the history of Poland cannot be discussed.

Almost forty years later, Elżbieta Sikora, a Polish composer who has lived in France since 1981, creates her new composition "Remember" as a piece dedicated to the victims of concentration camps and all violence. My goal is to create a kind of memento that, apart from commemorating the victims, will be a warning against repeating the same crimes that were and are constantly committed by humanity in the past – writes the composer. The piece "Remember" is a clear and conscious reference to the famous composition by Luigi Nona ", Quando stanno morendo. Diario polacco No. 2". This reference applies not only to the idea of the composition but also to the ensemble's composition. (…) It is a completely arbitrary system, a kind of precautionary arrest, which means you don't have to be convicted to get into prison. No procedure, no legal aid, and even no indictment. You can spend a very long time in the camp, sometimes forever ...