Hubert Zemler & AUKSO – Poemat Toksyczny (Toxic Poem)
The meeting with the Aukso chamber orchestra, one of the best formations of this type in Europe, seems to be a natural consequence of his artistic path so far.
The avant-garde composer and percussionist Hubert Zemler has been co-creating the most interesting projects of domestic (and not only) independent music for many years, characterized by an experimental, searching approach to sound matter. The artist does not attach himself to a specific genre, freely exploring the areas of jazz, improvisation, ambient, folk and electronics. He has recorded solo (e.g. Drut), in a duo (CEL – with Felix Kubin), in a trio (Cut the Sky with Alex Roth and Wacław Zimpel), in a quartet (Flows album), and has also been involved in such large-scale projects as opera (The Tale of the Heart. Favola in Musica by Aleksander Nowak).
His meeting with the Aukso chamber orchestra, one of the best formations of this type in Europe, seems to be a natural consequence of his artistic path so far. The sources of the Toxic Poem can be found in the proposal to create a piece for the Auksodrone 2022 festival, which was submitted to the musician by the event’s curator, Filip Berkowicz. Even though Hubert Zemler did not have much experience in writing scores for larger ensembles, he took up the challenge, tempted by the prospect of performing the work with a group of great instrumentalists. As he says:
The offer of cooperation with such an excellent band as the Aukso orchestra led by maestro Marek Moś was very motivating for me and my head was full of ideas. Ultimately, I decided to take on the experimental layer as a medium, using an amplified metallophone and percussion instruments, and leave the orchestra to a fairly standard role. The combination of the classic beauty of the strings with the brutality of the drums and electronic color experiments was extremely inspiring to me from the very beginning.
After several months of intensive work, the score was ready, and the premiere performance of the work took place on October 8, 2022 at the Mediateka in Tychy during the Auksodrone festival. The piece was performed live for the second time in April 2023 during a concert at the NOSPR hall in Katowice.
The toxic poem, consisting of five parts, is a precisely written work, with only a small amount of improvisation, as Zemler emphasizes. It is maintained in a gloomy atmosphere, full of subcutaneous anxiety, which is created by sublime (but also minimalist) orchestral parts, raw and expressive percussion sounds and – no less important in the overall plan – electronic components. As a result, we get an album of thoroughly contemporary music, which is a kind of sonic memento for our troubled times.
- Poemat toksyczny I
- Poemat toksyczny II
- Poemat toksyczny III
- Poemat toksyczny IV
- Poemat toksyczny V
released May 24, 2024
Hubert Zemler (composition, percussion, electronics)
and the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy,
conducted by Marek Moś
Album released by: Audio Cave
Recording and mixing: Wojciech Marzec and Justyna Popiel (Mediateka, Tychy, October 2022)
Mastering: Wojciech Marzec
Cover work: Oskar Dawicki (Piszczałka, 2022)
Photography: Sławomir Smolarek
Design and graphic design: Macio Moretti