"Winter is coming, sir, and I do not have a friend ..." – complained Mieczysław Czechowicz in the sixth evening of the Kabaret Starszych Panów. And that "the song is good for everything", so it is good to spend at least one of the long winter evenings listening to a concert in a friendly atmosphere and good company of grandma, grandpa, uncle, parents ... To discover (again) the timeless musical world of Mr A and Mr B, to talk about memories and what is up to date…
Songs from the Kabaret Starszych Panów will sound again at the Philharmonic in Szczecin. The extremely warm reception of the concert, kind feedback and great interest determined the decision to once again meet in the Golden Hall with the works of the Przybora – Wasowski duo and to listen to orchestral arrangements of such songs as "Na całej połaci śnieg”, "Embarras" waltz or "Shimmy szuja."
The person behind the arrangements is Piotr Komorowski. He is a conductor, composer, engaged in work with such productions as ‘Kamerdyner’ by Filip Bajon and ‘Bodo’ series by Michał Kwieciński and Michał Rosa, creator of songs for the series ‘Dom nad rozlewiskiem’,’Miłość nad rozlewiskiem’, ‘Życie nad rozlewiskiem’.
Developing the new arrangements of Wasowski's compositions, Piotr Komorowski had the intention of enriching the works by writing music for individual orchestra instruments while keeping the sound as close as possible to the originals. The goal was to keep melodic lines and only change the key.
Together with the musicians of the Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, great Szczecin vocalists from various musical styles will appear on stage. They have been recognized thanks to their creativity and activity throughout the country: Jolanta Szczepaniak – a vocalist cooperating with leading jazz musicians in Poland, such as Andrzej Jagodziński and Krzysztof Herdzin, she studied with, among others, Bob Stoloff, has collaborated with Bobby McFerrin and Richard Evans, created arrangements for Natalie Cole; Martyna Szczepaniak – she made her first professional musical steps in Arka Noego (Noah's Ark), now she takes part in various projects: she accompanies Paulina Przybysz on stage, makes guest appearances in the hip hop recordings of PMM, and together with Sextet Solid Blue presents Kashubian folk music in modern arrangements; Magdalena Wilento – she has mastered her vocal skill, among others, at the Berlin Noisy School Academy, shared a stage with such artists as Piotr Wojtasik, Newman Taylor Baker, John Betsch, and in 2013 with Szymon Orłowski she heard "yes" four times from the jurors of the TV show "Must Be The Music "; Michał Grobelny – a vocalist, composer, pianist, songwriter. He has collaborated with Mietek Szcześniak, Ryszard Rynkowski and Adam Sztaba. She has joined on stage Mika Urbaniak, Justyna Steczkowska, Dorota Miśkiewicz, and has participated in such programs as “Szansa na sukces”, “Mam talent”, “The Voice of Poland”, ”Twoja twarz brzmi znajomo”; Mateusz Czarnowski – a leader of folk formations, author of music for a short film "Drzewo i ja" with Jacek Braciak in the leading role, arranger for Łąka Łan, together with the collective Bubliczki he has played hundreds of concerts on Polish and foreign stages and appeared in the TV show "Must Be The Music".
One could describe Jerzy Wasowski and Jeremi Przybora as the perfect creative duo. According to Andrzej Borzym, Jerzy Wasowski is characterized by "both the unusual ease of arranging beautiful melodies and extremely efficient handling of all rhythms, and above all, great harmonic intuition" (interview with Natalia Świtała for
meakultura.pl). Marcin Wicha draws attention to the fact that even without realizing it, we think with Przybora words and phrases and thanks to him we realize how much joy we can have from arranging words (an interview with Marcin Pesta for Polish Radio Programme 2).
It seems that this harmony and melody, as well as the joy flowing from phrases and rhymes, once influenced the "brightening-up of the nation, the audience" and that successive generations of artists and listeners reach for the works of the Przybora-Wasowski duo. These songs work for those who pay attention not only to what they listen to but also what it is about.
Some say the Kabaret’s output belongs a cabaret song classics. According to others, it is set between the operetta and the musical. According to Bogdan Hołownia, the works of Przybora and Wasowski are jazz standards that "often take on the form of AABA songs – 8888 bars, total 32" (an interview with Natalia Świtała for
meakultura.pl). Jerzy Wasowski said himself: "I listen to excellent jazz instrumentalists up to Oscar Peterson – not later. The music I write derives from jazz and American musicals. Singers I like are Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. AS far as classical repertoire goes, Stravinsky's works are the limit of my perception "(quote from Dariusz Michalski's book "Starszy Pan A: opowieść o Jerzy Wasowski").
Teresa Drozda sees the Kabaret Starszych Panów in a different way – not as a cabaret, but as a theatre. According to her, the Kabaret Starszych Panów is "the theatre of television and radio, and therefore a specific form, limited by the medium and ideally suited to this medium" (portal
teatr-pismo.pl). In turn, Stanisław Barańczak in the book "Pegaz zdębiał" about Jeremi Przybora writes: "If the poet honestly makes us laughs, instead of building him a monument in Krakowskie Przedmieście (...), we call him a »satirist« or at best a humorist and label with the inscription »2nd class poetry«. In the meantime, it may happen that after many years we will discover with amazement that this unserious poet has become an unexpected classic and that his rank in his native literature far exceeds the rank of the more eminent contemporaries."
