Passion

“In the dim light of a church, I heard women singing. It was raw and mystical. It was the Gorzkie Żale
(Bitter Lamentations) devotion, but sung to completely different melodies—fascinating in their originality and expression. Later, it turned out that these melodies had travelled to Lower Silesia from Volhynia during postwar repatriations, along with the people who settled here.” This is how Mateusz Ryczek recalls his first encounter with the Volhynian melodies in the village of Jaksonów near Wrocław. These melodies became the foundation of Passion, composed specifically for the Kwartludium ensemble.
Mateusz Ryczek’s Passion is a purely instrumental work. The only excerpts from the text are preserved in the titles of the four parts borrowed from the service: Pobudka (Wake Up Call), Hymn, Lament, Rozmowa Duszy (Conversation of the Soul). Unlike traditional Passion works, it is not a chronological account of the last moments of Christ on Earth and His martyrdom. It rather points to certain aspects present in the literary layer of Gorzkie Żale, such as the titular lamentation, but also compassion, love, sacrifice and dying.
Passion is an extended, ecumenical meditation of sorts on things existential and ultimate. It invites its listeners to immerse themselves in the tranquil surface of sounds, regardless of their worldview. Here, the Passion of Christ serves to communicate issues that are important to the composer (and to every human being, the composer believes) related to sacrifice, devotion, dying and the aforementioned crossing of thresholds.
Text: Aleksandra Pająk, Mateusz Ryczek

Mateusz Ryczek – Passion (2022) 45 min.
1. Pobudka
2. Hymn
3. Lament
4. Rozmowa Duszy