Piano Sonatas by Ryszard Bukowski – a search of interpretative keys

Abstract

Performing a forgotten piece or work by a not-well-known composer is always a great challenge for an artist. The fact that there are no recordings, no performance traditions or at least an arranged and published score is not conductive to a decision to include such a piece in one’s repertoire. Which elements should a performer pay attention to while working on unknown contemporary pieces? Aside from the emotions and intuition, which influence the shape of a composition in a natural way, he or she should also refer to the intellectual side of interpretation. The issue to reflect on is the way how the knowledge and awareness of the form of a work, its texture, harmony, rhythm and other elements of a music piece may influence the final shape of its interpretation. Ryszard Bukowski – a composer, music theoretician, journalist and organiser of musical life became a permanent part of the musical cityscape of Wrocław of the afterwar period. His numerous compositions include works for diversified line-ups, from solo pieces to vocal-and-instrumental ones. As a skilful pianist, Bukowski eagerly wrote music featuring the piano, and the works he composed the most frequently were solo sonatas. Writing as many as ten piano sonatas took him only a little more than a decade. Was the title of a piece what made the composer refer to this very traditional form thanks to its genre significance? Or was it just the opposite, i.e., with the title being merely a provocation? Perhaps Bukowski’s characteristic creative feature was combining tradition with modernity and on the basis of traditional formal patterns he proposed original solutions in reference to harmony, rhythm or texture? The article analyses Bukowski’s Piano Sonatas no. 2, 5, 9 and 10 in terms of their performance.