The synthesis of tradition and avant-garde techniques in selected polish violin sonatas from the second half of the 20th century

The article presents four chamber violin sonatas for an instrument duo written in the 1970s and 1980s, which in their concept of form and shape combine the elements of the widely understood tradition with innovative means of composition technique. The subject for a closer analysis are the following works: • Witold Rudziński, Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte, 1978 (PWM, Cracow 1983) • Sławomir Czarnecki, Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier, 1982 (Tonos, Darmstadt 1988) • Jan Krenz, Sonatina for two violins, 1986 (Brevis, Poznań 1994) • Zbigniew Bargielski, Sonate für Violine und Klavier „The sonata of oblivion”,1987, autograph. Each sonata listed above renders an individual concept for combining paradigms adopted from the tradition (e.g. forms, use of quotation, expression idiom) with selected avant-garde means in sound technique, which mainly derives from the sonoristic trend. What Witold Rudziński’s Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte draws from music tradition is the thematic character of musical thoughts, and in its sound sphere it introduces the means of mild sonoristic, maintaining a balance between them. Sławomir Czarnecki’s Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier using the quotation from the sequence of Dies irae refers to the Late-Romantic expression to which it adds unusual methods of sound production and sonoristic middle episode. The function of these innovative means is to contrast it against dramatic expression of the piece’s outermost elements. The third discussed work, Sonatina for two violins by Jan Krenz corresponds with the neoclassical trend from the 20th century and brings out diverse elements of violin technique. It refers to the B-A-C-H sound symbol known from the past and to the variation form and combines them with more recent sound structures. The fourth composition, Sonate für Violine und Klavier by Zbigniew Bargielski, is the most innovative one in terms of its sound layer and formal concept. Its connection to the past is maintained thanks to a quotation from Chopin’s music transformed in an interesting way. The analysis of the sonatas leads to the following final conclusion: the tradition and the avant-garde in the discussed works from the postmodern period are not in opposition one against another in terms of style and aesthetics but they create complementary phenomena, in which the message drawn from tradition is given a new face.