Krzysztof Meyer

Krzysztof Meyer's first instrument was the piano. He started to play it when he was a child and eventually mastered it well enough to appear in public as a pianist. For many years, until Sonata No. 4, he wrote piano pieces for his own repertoire in mind, whilst others reached for them only after some time. In the 1960s he performed as a pianist in Poland and most European countries with the Kraków ensemble MW2 specializing in avant-garde repertoire. Later on, he toured and recorded albums as a performer of his own pieces and occasionally of others, solo or in chamber ensembles.

Chamber music intended for small ensembles composed of various instruments occupies a privileged place in Meyer's output. This he puts down to his childhood experiences when he had the opportunity to listen to performances at home organized by his grandmother who was a pianist. What is attractive to him in such pieces is the fact that they are perfect to create ‘sonic puzzles՚, referring to the ʻhidden arithmetic exercise of the soul, which does not know that it is countingʼ, as Leibnitz described the essence of music. Examples of these are the variation of the tempi in String Quartet No. 11 or the changes of rhythm in String Quartet No. 10.

Some pieces for large ensembles can be listened to as a musical commentary to a political event or existential reflection. These topics are hinted at by the subtitles and quotations (‘Polish՚ Symphony No. 6, referring to the atmosphere of martial law in Poland from 1981 to 1983) or the use of the text (Symphony No. 8, with the lyrics of the anti-antisemitic poems by Adam Zagajewski). The catastrophic message of the oratorio The Creation of the World is told through the text but its expression is achieved through the music.