Artur Cieslak Niepodlegla Tylkowska-drozdz Krysica Lewandowski Pelutis Halec Tworczynski

Niepodlegla, the oratorio by Artur Cieslak, was composed in Summer 2018, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence. It was first performed on the 18th of December 2018 in Szczecin’s Philharmonic. The project was sponsored by the Arts Academy in Szczecin, and amongst the artists we find teachers and students of said school. Between 2020–2021 the composer did a fundamental revision of the scores and has also created a chamber version of this piece. In this version the oratorio was recorded on this album. The oratorio Niepodlegla in a symphonic version is destined for a soprano, tenor, bass-baritone, declaiming voice, mixed choir and orchestra. In the chamber version the size of the choir and orchestra is reduced. The piece is composed of three parts. Each referring to a chosen historic event, that was an important stage of the fight for independence. The first part is dedicated to the November Uprising, the second part – January Uprising and the final one is tied to the events of 1918. Within the lyrics we may see utilized fragments of Noc listopadowa (November night), Wyzwolenie (Liberation) and Wesele (Wedding) by Stanislaw Wyspianski, a poem by Kornel Ujejski and the prose works by Józef Pilsudski and Stefan Zeromski. The style of the oratorio’s musical language oscillates between sharp sounds with an avant-garde aftertaste and traditional solutions with a euphonic character. Both layers constantly intertwine.