Janusz Krzysztof Korczak

Cum enim quietum silentium contineret omnia, ...

For his choral piece 'Cum enim quietum silentium contineret omnia, ...', the composer, choir director and organist Janusz Krzysztof Korczak, born in Cracow in 1994, was awarded the 3rd prize at the International Composition Competition 'Musica Sacra Nova' 2016. This demanding Latin choral work is written for four four-part a cappella ensembles (SATB/SATB/SATB/SATB), including a plan of the ensembles' precise positions provided by the Polish composer. In this church music work which is divided into several thematic sections for which Korczak has a maximum of four singers for each part in each ensemble in mind, he has tried, by his own account, to set to music 'a kind of programmatic visualization' of the words borrowed from the Liber Sapientiae 18, 14-15b. As a consequence, performance instructions like soft or sharp whispering, singing with open and closed mouth, parts to be recited 'ad libitum', a general rest with explicit indication of seconds, strong dynamic accents as well as an abruptly descending glissando at the end are among the striking features of this 16-part a cappella choral work. Ideal literature for singers who are eager to experiment.