Music in Twilight for piano and orchestra (1977/78)

As was his custom, the composer used here a very general title with metaphorical overtones. The work, which lasts about twenty minutes, has just a few components that can be divided into piano and orchestral elements. The former include:

1. short groups with repeated notes of small rhythmic values, played ff as fast as possible, sharp and energetic in their expression and dissonant in nature;
2. semiquaver progressions creating broad 'patches of sounds' as well as similar crotchet passages (slowed down semiquaver progressions, as it were);
3. chords played fff with their decomposed versions in pp;
4. chords played pp with changing rhythmic values;
5. pendular crotchet-minim module with a grace note.

The latter include:

1. long chords built of aperiodically repeated notes, usually p or pp, though sometimes also forte (e.g. at the beginning of the piece), played by groups of wind instruments, strings as well as chimes and gongs.
2. 'sound columns' of gongs and tam-tams.

The main idea present throughout the work is contrast. It consists not only in combining opposites (e.g. loud-quiet), but, above all, in juxtaposing qualities that are as different as possible, at the same time emphasising their similarities, as is the case in sections 10-12, when a long note combination is passed from strings to wind instruments. This quality seems to be very similar, even identical to the preceding one, though in fact it proves to be surprisingly different. A similar phenomenon occurs in the third piano module, which is built on a juxtaposition of a massive chord and its light and gentle decomposed version. The sound material is identical, but the expression is completely different. Another example is the second module in the piano part consisting of passage-like semiquaver progressions. Played fast and with moderate dynamics, it constitutes a softened 'patch of sound'; played loud, it becomes harsh and aggressive; on the other hand its crotchet version, seemingly slowed down (in ff), emphasises the randomness of movement contained in it.

There are many such ideas enabling the composer to differentiate the musical matter in Music in Twilight. They even seem to be the main element creating the form of the work. Yet the musical sense of the piece lies not in using the musical material to show as many shades of it as possible. Rather, it is about creating a string of changes that will be interesting and intriguing to listeners, but will not draw their attention to themselves – they will go unnoticed. The clear logic of Sikorski’s composition means that despite the substantial size of the piece the listeners have the impression of not only continuity but, above all, unity. This was exactly what the composer wanted. As he wrote in the 1978 Warsaw Autumn programme booklet: 'It is a single-movement piece lasting 21-22 minutes.'  In the same commentary he explained that 'twilight denotes semi-darkness, half-light – both dusk and dawn'. It seems, therefore, that the work is about contemplating the nature of a state (twilight), which can give rise to two opposing qualities: both night and day. Yet it is a pessimistic vision that dominates: day seems to be giving in to night, the darkness of which overwhelms and overpowers.

After its premiere at the Warsaw Autumn the composition got fairly good reviews. A young critic, Zbigniew A. Lampart, wrote at the time:

Despite the fact that it is far from the composer’s characteristic aesthetics, it is undoubtedly his best work. Although the material, presented in several stages, still seems too modest in comparison to the form (which was so irritating in Sikorski’s earlier compositions), the long static fragments, convincing in their stillness, make us easily surrender to the mood of contemplation and peace, trying to hear more than there is to be heard, in fact.