Concerto Breve for piano, wind instruments and percussion (1965)

The premiere of Concerto Breve took place on 30 September 1965 and featured the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karol Stryja, as well as the composer. Sikorski included the following note in the Warsaw Autumn programme booklet:

Concerto Breve for piano, wind instruments and percussion, a single-movement piece lasting ca 6’30’’, completed in early 1965. The piece makes use of the technique of individual, independent ‘playing of the various performers’.

The idea behind the work was discussed in detail by Tadeusz Zieliński on the cover of a recording:

Concerto Breve written by Tomasz Sikorski in 1965 (for piano, 4 flutes, 4 oboes, 4 clarinets, 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 4 trombones, 2 gongs, 2 tam-tams, 4 kettledrums and bells) makes use of the aleatoric technique. This allows some independence to the instrumentalists who perform their parts without strict synchronisation with one another, obeying only the time signals coming from the conductor. The accidental element here covers certain tiny rhythmic relations between tones as well as the number of figures repeated by the instrumentalists, which greatly enhances the spontaneity and dynamics of the music. And yet the final impression of the piece, the individual character of its sections’ rhythm and colour, the construction of the whole have been strictly foreseen by the composer and remain unchanged at each performance. What matters in this music is movement and sound; the composer’s inventiveness is focused on their skilful handling and subtle differentiation. The piece is made up of twelve sections differing in colour and type of dynamics. The technique in which it has been scored, the way the piano as well as other instruments have been used make it a brilliant concertante piece.

After the premiere of Concerto Breve Tadeusz Kaczyński wrote the following review:

We will find nothing here that would not draw, directly or indirectly, on the technique used in the earlier pieces; what also remains unchanged is Sikorski’s artistic ideology expressed in an impressionistic savouring of sound, in halting it in time and enjoying the very fact of its existence in space, with an almost complete disregard for the form, structure and the listener’s perceptive disposition.

We could understand Kaczyński’s charges, especially when listening to the recording of the premiere. That interpretation is full of vigour, expressiveness, sometimes it even verges on bravado. Of key importance is the specification of the duration of the composition. In the programme booklet Sikorski sets it at 6’30’’. The premiere, on the other hand, lasted 7’45’’. In the published facsimile of the autograph the time range was further expanded to 9-11 minutes. A recording of the work made during 1989 Warsaw Autumn by Szábolcs Esztényi and Warsaw Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mieczysław Nowakowski lasts over 14 minutes. It seem, therefore, that Tomasz Sikorski wanted the piece to be performed at a very fast tempo, which – as Kaczyński noted – was not necessarily conducive to listening. Esztényi and Nowakowski’s interpretation is much clearer and more transparent, sometimes reflective, even dark – as if adapting to the mood of mourning after the composer’s passing.