I’m not hiding that memories from my childhood have been an important inspiration for me here. In those times, one could meet itinerant musicians performing in courtyards and on the streets. is, however, has not been the only inspiration. The concept, choice of place, as well as the year-long preparations for the concert at Przyczółek Grochowski housing community have been strongly influenced by the idea of the Bródno Sculpture Park, implemented twelve years ago on Paweł Althamer’s initiative in collaboration with Targówek District Office and Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art. I have managed to persuade the Culture Department of Praga Południe District Office, as well as the managers and supervisory board of Przyczółek Grochowski housing community, the administration of Primary School no. 279, and even the owner of plots around Gocławek Pond, to support my idea. I also talked to the community residents and recorded some of them. Their voices will be heard during the concert. The estate was designed by Oskar Hansen and his wife Zofia Garlińska-Hansen in the late 1960s and early 1970s. is unique modernist architecture, featuring kilometres of winding galleries on each storey of the conjoined buildings, was another key stimulus for the idea of the concert at Przyczółek Grochowski. But the most important creative impulse comes from the musicians themselves. They are my friends or more or less close acquaintances whose talents and skills will surely meet with the acclaim of Przyczółek Grochowski residents and the festival audience. The musicians will perform at various spots within the community and by the pond, as marked on the map available to all our listeners. They will play some of my pieces, whole or excerpts. They will also improvise, independently and sometimes also jointly. This is their special and most valuable ability: to enter into a creative dialogue through music-making. 

Their improvisations will be interspersed with excerpts from the following works of mine: Prelude for piano (1972, accordion arrangement by Leszek Kołodziejski), points/lines for clarinet and tape (1973), String Quartet Ursus (1976), dorikos for string quartet and tape, to a poem by Zbigniew Herbert (1976–77), Glückpavillon For Cathy (Tang Gia Nan De) for tuba and tape (1978), two from the Three Studies for piano (1978, accordion arrangement by Leszek Kołodziejski), Five Pieces for cello and piano (1979–80), Woman’s Voice, ballet music for percussion and tape (1980), Starry Sky (Patterns) for percussion (1982), Starry Sky (Listening to Oneself and Others) played by solo instruments: saxophone, trumpet, horn and accordion (1982), Starry Sky (A Piece for One) played by solo instruments: flute, saxophone, violin and double bass (1982), It’s time now (Butter y and the Sun Comes Out) played by solo instruments: flute, saxophone, accordion and double bass (1983), It’s time now (Fish – from the True Book of the Southern Flower) played by clarinet and tuba (1983), Quatre Préludes pour piano (1983, accordion arrangement by Leszek Kołodziejski), String Quartet 84–85 (1985), Songs without Words for soprano and tape (1987), Ballad for the Dead One who Suddenly Rose from the Chair for soprano to a poem by Wisława Szymborska (2020), For the Bridgehead for tom-tom, gran cassa and horn (2021). 

I would like warmly to thank the inhabitants of Przyczółek Grochowski for their understanding patience and so many pleasant conversations, as well as for their permission to play back their tales during the concert. 

Krzysztof Knittel