This album is the outcome of an artistic meeting between two divergent musical aesthetics – traditional and contemporary.
Scenes of Infinity, as performed by the International School of Traditional Music Ensemble, premiered in 2006 during the 49th International Festival of Contemporary Music – Warsaw Autumn. “Scenes of Infinity”, as available on CD, have been expanded to include interludes as well as a postlude.
On the one hand, Scenes treats of the universal human condition; on the other, however, they strive to reflect the uniqueness of our post-modern times. The structure of this narration is based upon old folk songs, depicting the most seminal events relevant to all humanity: love and betrayal, birth and death, joy and sorrow.
The concept of the album by "Crossroads" - Centre for Intercultural Creative Initiatives. The piece Scenes of Infinity is commissioned by the International Festival of Contemporary Music – Warsaw Autumn. The preludes and postlude commissioned by “Crossroads” Centre.
The concept of the artistic collaboration between the International School of Traditional Music Ensemble and the Mud Cavaliers and the commissioning of Scenes of Infinity by Tadeusz Wielecki, Artistic Director of the International Festival of Contemporary Music – Warsaw Autumn.
Musical Narrative of “Scenes of Infinity” by Jerzy Kornowicz
Album Sequencing by Jerzy Kornowicz and Jan Bernad.
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The International School of Traditional Music Ensemble
The ensemble came into being in 1999 under the auspices of the “Muzyka Kresów” Foundation. Since its inception the ensemble has been led by Jan Bernad and Monika Mamińska, who have been organizing traditional music workshops all over Poland since the late 1990s. Approximately two thousand people have so far participated in the workshops and summer schools, the most promising of whom have been co-opted to join the ensemble. The ensemble's primary objective is to preserve and creatively cultivate the tradition of Polish folk songs. To do so, its members are well versed in various archaic techniques of traditional singing, typified by raw, natural sound, characteristic breath control and aesthetics far removed from both bel canto and the stylings of popular music. So far the ensemble has recorded and released three albums, namely, Polish Songs/Pieśni Polskie, Lullabies/Kołysanki, Polish Lent Songs/Polskie Pieśni Wielkopostne. It frequently gives concerts in Poland as well as abroad and has also taken part in theatrical performances. Its regular repertoire includes the traditional Polish Songs sequence and Three Sounds, the latter of which is closer aesthetically to contemporary music.
The Mud Cavaliers
The group, which fuses the tradition of free jazz improvisation with compositional skills, was founded in 2001 by Jerzy Kornowicz. Its uniqueness is the sum total of its members – composers, jazzmen and alternative musicians, all of whom are fully-fledged musical innovators. The group, which has so far played in Poland and in many parts of Europe – on festival stages as well as in alternative clubs – has conceived of and performed more than a dozen of original sonic spectacles. Frequently, in order to expand their already broad musical palette, the Mud Cavaliers invited renowned Polish and international soloists as well as ensembles and orchestras.
With a view to teaching and experimenting with both professionally-trained instrumentalists and self-taught amateurs, since 2004 the members of the group have been running a series of workshops in Warsaw entitled Ogólnopolski Skup Dźwięków Nowych i Używanych (The Domestic Market of Brand New and Second-Hand Sounds).
