Absent-Minded Window-Gazing (Zerstreutes Hinausschauen) for piano (1971)

“Absent-minded window-gazing” is undoubtedly an intriguing and perverse phrase. Contrary to what may appear at first, at its centre we find not a view from the window but “absent-mindedness”. It obscures the view and makes the world seen by an absent-minded person seem to be a collection of formless objects moving with no specific direction and aim, independently of human will. Absent-mindedness is a kind of dullness of the mind, which creates an insurmountable barrier to reaching the sense of the world’s existence – it is always associated with a conviction that its order is mysterious and incomprehensible. It is a kind of vibration of thoughts, which does not bring any effect but only gradual loss of energetic and creative potential.

Contemplation of a state of absent-mindedness associated with a sense of impotence, confusion, senselessness or alienation fits in with the main “themes” of Tomasz Sikorski’s works. Yet the symbolic situation created here by the composer is unique. Sikorski constructs it on the basis of three sections: A, B and C. The sections are diametrically different in nature: the first could be described as quasi-ostinato, the second as “lyrical” and the third as chord-based. The form of the world is, therefore, very simple and, at the same time, clear.

Section A comprises “chaotically” repeated F-D flat-G¹ passages of equal rhythmic values, played in an octave (simultaneously by the left and the right hand), up and down, the cyclical form of which is constantly “broken” by two-note “rebounds”: F-D flat and D flat-G¹. The effect of confusion is enhanced by constant and pattern-less changes of dynamics from pp to ff. The fragment also contains an interesting effect of sound “glow” “hovering” over the whole. The composer achieves it by pressing the keyboard soundlessly below the note E and holding the dampers raised in this way by means of the third pedal. A sustain of the “glow” lasting over ten seconds ends the first section, which – undoubtedly – symbolises chaos of thoughts caused by absent-mindedness.

The next section (B) is a “phrase” repeated three times and consisting of a short module played three times and three counterbalancing pauses. It becomes a new quality strongly contrasting with the first section. However, the contrast is purely musical. The listeners have an impression of continuity and complementation. Section B “reveals” another aspect of the same phenomenon – its dichotomous nature. Absent-mindedness is not only a confusion of thoughts (which is associated with movement – symbolised in section A), but also a suspension of these thoughts, a kind of stupor (a more static phenomenon, symbolised in section B). Both fragments make up a mutually complementing whole. Their close relation means that the image of the symbolised situation would be incomplete without either of them.

According to the composer’s instructions, the successive A and B sections are to be repeated two, three or four times. This repetitiveness, characteristic of Tomasz Sikorski, could be explained by a desire to capture the specific situation which the work symbolises. Thus, it can “happen” in any “place in time” in the same way, which also means that it becomes independent of the passage of time, it is beyond time (timeless). The composer creates an illusion that time has come to a standstill, which gives the listeners time to contemplate the situation that has been created.

Section B can also be interpreted as a moment of illumination – regularity appearing accidentally in the chaos every now and again (something similar happens at the end of Holzwege). However, this is again followed by a chaotic wandering of thoughts. Thus order appears more as something that passes us by than as something we are able to capture.

The piece ends with section C comprising a repeated eight-note cluster (built only of minor seconds) with a tritone ambitus, which, struck sforzato, “metamorphoses” into various combinations of three notes (after striking the cluster, the pianist keeps some keys specified in the score pressed and then slowly releases the pedal).

This part can be read as a kind of turning point, a situation from which there is no turning back. Slowing down the tempo and using a “heavy” combination of notes make the atmosphere of the piece very “dense”; the atmosphere becomes oppressive, dark, stifling. This sections of the composition – in the musical sense – contrasts with the others, but at the same time it shares an element with them: three-note combinations emerging from chords get repeated and, what is more, they are ordered according to the following pattern:

I –  II  –  III  –  II  –  I  –  Pause  – I¹  –  II¹  –  III¹  –  II¹  –  I¹

This creates a sinusoid, with the pause being its zero value. It is a reference to the ostinato-like section A, in which the undulation principle plays a crucial role.

Thus, all three parts are linked by an invisible, but perceptible and strong thread. It emerges on the level of extra-musical meanings, which the composer himself suggests, using this particular title for his work. Simple technical means are used to create a unique kind of music full of inner tension. However, reduction is not the composer’s objective but a tool to create a symbolic situation. Its interpretation does not require a knowledge of philosophy or literature. What is necessary is just an open mind.