Motion Trio at the Kraków Philharmonic Hall

Offbeat Accordions
Improvisers open to musical experimentation, valued across the globe for their originality, repertoire versatility and workshop perfectionism: on 14 February, Motion Trio will perform at the Kraków Philharmonic Hall, promoting their latest album Brahms and Liszt and...

Three graduates from the Academy of Music in Kraków – Janusz Wojtarowicz, Paweł Baranek and Marcin Gałażyn – have made the accordion… contemporary. Even though their instruments aren’t generally too popular, their drama-filled concerts are usually filled to the brim, and the accordion – in Poland unfairly associated with wedding receptions – has moved up in the world. The artists don’t shy away from unusual sounds, and they don’t limit themselves to classical music. They say of themselves, “We’re just as passionate about heavy metal, jazz and contemporary music”.

Established in 1996, the ensemble has worked with such musical stars as Krzysztof Penderecki, Wojciech Kilar, Michael Nyman, Bobby McFerrin and Leszek Możdżer. They have performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as holding master classes at the University of Chicago, Academy of Music in London and the Conservatoire de Paris. They have also been awarded numerous prizes, including the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik, the Grand Prix of the Polish Musical Industry and the Best Polish Recording 2000.

The Philharmonic will resound with pieces from the trio’s latest album Brahms and Liszt and…, released in Poland in October 2011. The musicians will perform pieces such as Brahms’ Hungarian Dance, My Inmost Heart Doth Yearn (Herzlich tut mich verlangen), Liszt’s Rêve d’amour and Hungarian Rhapsody, and their own arrangements (Le premier jour du printemps by Paweł Baranek and Balkan Dance by Janusz Wojtarowicz). The second part of the concert will feature the ensemble’s best known pieces.
The artists are always ready to surprise their audience with their original interpretations and unconventional sounds. And this time will be no different: they’re bound to surprise us again. (Barbara Błońska, Karnet magazine)