For Strings for 3 violins and 3 violas (1970)

In 1970 Sikorski wrote a piece called For Strings. The composition is interesting but difficult. At first we may have the wrong impression that it is about nothing more than repeating a short, three-note motif “ad infinitum”. It is only when we take a closer look at the score and listen to a recording several times that we can notice extraordinary phenomena hidden in the piece. A repeated phrase based on the notes A¹, G sharp¹ and D sharp¹ indeed gives the work a form, but what matters is not the motif alone, but the whole “module”.

Despite the fact that its structure is very simple, it is difficult to say unequivocally whether it is a consonant or a dissonant module. It would seem that we are dealing here with the latter, because it is full of tritones (D-G sharp, A-D sharp) and minor seconds (D-D sharp, G sharp-A). However, it must be said that it does contain consonances as well, i.e. D-A (initial fifth) and G sharp-D sharp (falling fourth). This dialectic, as it were, is a driver of the piece, for it forces the listeners to repeat this short fragment in their minds, makes them want to get to know its nature. It turns out that the expression of the module changes depending on whether it is played by the violins or by the violas, whether it is played sul ponticello or ordinario; it changes depending on the volume level and its constant changes, and on the tempo. Despite the fact that the module is presented in so many guises, its nature still remains a mystery. In number 7 Sikorski introduces two new modules into the viola part. Although they are not neutral in their expression, they do not increase the consonance or dissonance of the basic module; on the contrary – they “blur” its reception. What may seem surprising is the fact that they change the way the listeners perceive the basic module. When it returns in its original form in numbers 8, 10 and 12, it seems a little different, because it contains echoes of the new modules, from which it is no longer possible to become free. The composer has two objectives: on the one hand, he wants to show the similarity between the modules, and on the other – their distinctness, a fact confirmed by a quite different structure of additional modules, which are a counterpoint of sorts to the basic module. 

The composition’s structure is clear and uncomplicated: a string of modules repeated several or more times, separated by general pauses, undergoing basic transformations. Yet the meaning of the work is much more complex. It can be interpreted on two levels: purely musical one – as an attempt to show the multifaceted nature of even a simple, short phrase, and an experience of a dialectic nature of each note (chord) – but also non-musical one.

Sikorski’s works often refer to a human feeling of being lost in the world. Holzwege symbolises human wandering, and in For Strings we can find a similar meaning. It is worth taking a closer look at the rhythm of the module – it “limps”, as it were, i.e. imitates the rhythm of someone walking with a limp. The steps can be heard from very close or from afar; sometimes they come closer to the listeners and sometimes they move away, some are calm and measured, others nervous and fierce. General pauses are moments of stopping to reflect, they are like questions: where to go? We listen out for the sound of steps in silence. They can be neither drowned out nor forgotten, they keep coming back. The listener is bombarded with them.