Kwieciński, Andrzej - Luci nella notte VI for piano quintet

Luci nella notte is the sixth and last (thus far) composition in Andrzej Kwieciński’s cycle of the same title, consisting of works for various forces. It is in one movement and displays an evolutionary form, although the changes occur almost imperceptibly. The Italian title Luci nella notte may be translated as ‘Lights in the night’, but the word ‘luci’ (‘lights’, ‘eyes’) also triggers associations with early music, particularly the madrigal of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and also the output of Salvatore Sciarrino, which drew on similar sources (especially the opera Luci mie traditrici (‘My treacherous eyes’). Both those associations are confirmed in the musical fabric of the composition. The seemingly static form tends towards an emotional climax: the colour changes become denser, and snatches of distorted melody and harmony appear alongside the long-held notes – veiled and brief allusions to Carlo Gesualdo’s Moro lasso al mio duolo, also arranged by Sciarrino in Le voci sottovetro (Kwieciński quoted from one of Gesualdo’s madrigals in Luci nella notte IV, as well – a madrigal that Sciarrino also arranged in Le voci sottovetro). Thus Luci nella notte VI is a work that treats not only of colour, but also of nostalgic remembrance. The madrigal becomes a glimmer of the old world in the darkness of oblivion. Dominika Micał translated by John Comber