The music of Hanna Kulenty Kulenty and technique Press quotes
Kulenty and technique
Some quotes of Hanna Kulenty about her technique.
An arch is simply a structure of a defined emotional course, of a defined climate, containing a climax. At the same time, an arch does not have to follow a classical course - from the introductory phase, through the climax up to the last sounds. It may begin at any place, for example from the climax. I like to write very much as if the work began from the middle, from the climax. Only later does everything fall into an order in which every arch has its own length, develops in its own way, and not at all simultaneously. This is exactly how both of my symphonies are constructed. [...] A polyphony of arches is an overlapping of several arches, combined in such a way that the work as a whole will have the form of an arch. I also try to arrange the climaxes of particular arches in succession one after another, so that something like a permanent climax is formed.
I was consciously exploring these techniques in Sesto right after the performance of Ad unum. It was extremely important that I could hear my music, and because of this I wrote Sesto, Quarto, Quinto and Arci. However, later those arches of mine got into my blood and I stopped thinking about them. I simply sit down and write. Actually, already Ad unum was created from the beginning to the end without anything crossed out. The only change was that I rewrote the pencil version in ink. Today I write right away in ink. I am sure of what I do, of what I hear. Just in case, though, I begin writing a work by notating all arches on a card. I simply write about the whole work in words. But once a work exists, I don’t change it.
[Kulenty on her technique, PWM brochure, 1990]
Trigon consist of three arches. The first one is formed by piano and orchestra chords, the second one - by a variety of glissandi in strings, harp and percussion, while the third arch is a spectrum of low bass sounds (percussion and bassoon, which are gradually accompanied by more and more instruments). Each arch has its own development. The climax of the first one has been shaped by a swift sequence of chords, which subsequently fade away. The first arch ends at the top point of the second one: the glissandi culminate in a heterophonic quick movement. The third arch begins at the highest point of the second arch, its entry is “flat” or “horizontal” in spatial terms; thus it does not overlap with the second arch, but rather branches out from it.
[Kulenty, note on ‘Trigon’, Warsaw Autumn 1992]
I composed Trumpet Concerto with the awareness of my recent discovery of different time dimensions. I use this discovery in a new technique that I call the Polyphony of Time Dimensions, which is related to my old technique, the Polyphony of Arcs. To make it simple: time in any dimension (time in a line, time in a square, time in a cube, etc.) goes in a circle! It certainly does not go in a line, that is why the name of Arcs is not valid anymore (an arc is in fact a line). In the Concerto I combine the Polyphony of Time Dimensions with another technique of mine, called European Trance Music (my second compositional technique which I developed in the last few years, trying to let time be experienced in a different, meditative way). Combining these two techniques results not only in the creation of a strong form, but also in bringing the listeners inside the music, regardless of the direction from which they approach it.
The piece includes recognizable melodic and rhythmic elements that originate from the same basic material but are played in different tempi. The increasing tempi appear in the work as a sort of Perpetuum Mobile, and, therefore, also in the form of a circle. I am not afraid to occasionally use a traditional, classical form, or rather to use ‘classical’ sounding elements, because the form itself is not determined only by the sounds of the elements, but also by how I put them together. That is why in this particular composition I was very much inspired by the music from the Balkans. Besides using my techniques I wanted to have pure joy in writing it.
[Kulenty, note on ‘Trumpet Concerto’, December 2005]