compositions
compositions
String Quartet Nr. 1
Vaghy String Quartet
Duration: 15 minutes
Written: 1967
Premiered: Krakow, Poland
Movements:
- Antecedent
- Consequent
Background
Writtten in 1967, the first String Quartet marks early signs of rebellion against the surrounding realities of ‘new music’. Disenchanted with serialism and increasingly ill at ease with the static sphere of sound clusters of the Polish School (having already abandoned the ramifications of tonality), I decided to synthesize the above-mentioned concepts with those of my favourite period – the Renaissance. I resolved not to challenge the language with which I was familiar, but rather to transform it to meet my objectives, in an attempt to arrive at fresh results. The creation of a definite sense of structural motion, combined with the modification of traditional forms and independence of lines (as adapted from Okeghem), were among the main objectives of the piece.
The quartet was composed in Krakow, Poland, and is dedicated to Professor Boleslaw Woytowicz.
It remains one of my most discussed and frequently performed composition to this day.
Press
“Highlight of the evening ... was Peter Paul Koprowski's String Quartet, written in Poland in 1967.
It has none of the mockery of classical elements that renders much contemporary music infantile. There is somehow a natural quality in the sharp and jarring sounds. They are familiar, like the sound of ice crackling or raindrops on a roof...The work is rich in invention and originality.”
- The OTTAWA JOURNAL; October 21, 1974
“Lodzianin Peter Paul Koprowski, przyjechal do nas z Krakowska Grupa Muzyczna "Ars Nova". Jego String Quartet przedstawil nam tworce wrazliwego, majacego na pewno wiele do powiedzenia we wspolczesnej muzyce.”