An orchestra of early music enthusiasts led by Martyna Pastuszka, specialising in historical performance. The ensemble regularly attends Europe’s most important festivals and concert halls.
{oh!} Orchestra is an early music ensemble founded in 2012 in Katowice by instrumentalists gathered around violinist Martyna Pastuszka. The concertmistress recalls that it was at this time that a number of instrumentalists specialising in this repertoire suddenly appeared in Silesia: some of them had returned to their hometowns after studying abroad, others were completing their education at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the historical instruments classes. As a chamber musician and, after all, a lecturer, she saw this as an opportunity to establish an early music orchestra. The importance of the Academy can hardly be overestimated, given that many of the orchestra’s later members gained their first experience in the Academy’s Baroque Orchestra under the tutelage of, among others, Pastuszka. This initiative was supported from the outset by, among others, the harpsichordists Anna Firlus and Marcin Świątkiewicz, the gambist Krzysztof Firlus, violinists and violists who have been part of the early music scene for many years and who still form the core of the ensemble, and the ensemble’s first manager, Artur Malke – at the time a student of the double bass class at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, who was also studying at the University of of Economics in Katowice. While the latter took on the role of manager in charge of organisational matters, Pastuszka gave the group its artistic direction.
However, the violinist stresses that the dynamics of working in an early music orchestra are quite different to those of its contemporary counterpart:
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The fact that we take into account at all that someone might start improvising, adding notes, ornamenting, makes us have to open up to that person, the way they play, their character. Thus, the dynamic in the ensemble is a little different. It’s not just objectively following orders that are written in the notes or contained in the conductor’s requests – to some extent each of us endows the others with their character, and we have to accept that. That’s why in such ensembles there is much more psychological understanding and a strong bond with the other person, not just with the music.
According to Pastuszka, for this reason the character of {oh!} Orchestra (until 2022 known as {oh!} Historical Orchestra) is closer to jazz or improvising ensembles. This is probably why musicians who are also developing their careers in these genres have found their way into it so well: cellist Tomasz Pokrzywiński (known from the Bastarda ensemble) or double bassist Michał Bąk (Michał Bąk Quartetto). The latter admits:
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An early music ensemble sometimes reminds me more of a jazz group than a contemporary orchestra. This is due, among other things, to the looser approach to the musical material, and the individual contribution of each musician is also more noticeable. Performing basso continuo in {oh!} Orchestra has a lot in common with being in a jazz rhythm section. The role is similar in both cases: holding the tempo, giving shape – shaping the foundation of the ensemble.
Author
– przyznaje Michał Bąk.
As an example, the double bassist cites a performance during which Pastuszka performed a sonata by Georg Muffat with the ensemble performing the basso continuo parts. On that particular evening, Bąk was watching this performance from the audience. He commented:
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The way Martyna and the band approached this material was amazing to me. There was such a dose of improvisation... The rich creativity of the band went beyond the composition. And that was amazing to me.
Check out what I found here
{oh!} Orchestra has performed at major festivals and concert halls in Europe, including: Theater an der Wien, Opéra de Dijon, Kölner Philharmonie, Bayreuth Baroque or Katowice’s National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s concert hall. It has also recorded eight albums containing compositions by Polish and foreign artists – often those less well-known even to early music enthusiasts. One such example is certainly the performance of the opera Gismondo, Re di Polonia, which in 2020 was released on a CD by the Austrian label Parnassus. The discovery of the forgotten work by Neapolitan composer Leonardo Vinci, set at the court of Sigismund II Augustus, is the result of Pastuszka’s archival research:
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Indeed, I managed to find this opera, but in this field it is not worth being such a little miss independent, because a day has only 24 hours. Another thing is that many works do not need to be discovered at all, because they are out there somewhere already, there are notes, musicologists come and say: ‘check out what I found here’. With a developed network of friends, the right connections of circles and defined priorities, we will find people who share our fascinations.
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{oh!} Orchestra, Leonardo Vinci: Gismondo, re di Polonia, 2020, photo: Parnassus Arts Productions Label
The album has received enthusiastic reviews in the Polish and foreign press. David Vickers wrote for the British monthly Gramophone:
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Co-directed by the violinist Martyna Pastuszka and harpsichordist Marcin Świątkiewicz, the Polish band {oh!} Orchestra crackles with vigorous theatricality. The Sinfonia bursts with full-throttle energy and tension – and this is how arias are played too, although there is sophistication and subtlety when required.
Thanks to {oh!} Orchestra, the audience could also discover sonatas by Johann Friedrich Schreyfogel found in the Dresden library or concerti by Francesco Scarlatti that had not been recorded before. The concertmistress admits that going back to works, especially those by less recognisable composers, always involves an in-depth study of the context surrounding their work.
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I don’t embark on a project without first familiarising myself with the composer’s and related composers’ biographies and historical background. And if I feel that I still have gaps in my knowledge, I also check what the notation, trends and artistic priorities were at a given era. It’s always necessary to set aside time for this kind of quasi-musicological, educational work, because that’s what the musicians in the orchestra require of me. The internet has made it a lot easier so it would be all the more embarrassing not to access such information.
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{oh!} Orchestra / Lorenzo Coppola, Gołąbek/Symfonie, Kurpiński/Koncert klarnetowy, 2020, photo: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina
Historically, but in its own language
In 2015, {oh!} Orchestra established a partnership with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) and, as its resident ensemble, presented music from Baroque to Romanticism with guest conductors and soloists. Since 2018, meanwhile, the ensemble has been working with the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute (FCNI). It resulted in historical performances of Classical and Romantic music, as well as their recording on albums published by the Institute. So far, albums containing works by Jakub Gołąbek, Karol Kurpiński and Stanisław Moniuszko have been released.
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A key element of historical performance is the use of instruments consistent with the period and latitude in which it was written or first performed. And this was the case with Moniuszko or Kurpiński, whom we recorded together with the FCNI. The next thing is to delve very deeply into what was the intellectual and aesthetic priority of the composer or the environment in which he was writing (or for which he was writing). This series will continue. Weber’s clarinet concerto will be published next.
Author
– tłumaczy Martyna Pastuszka.
The foundation of {oh!} Orchestra’s activity, however, is early music. An oeuvre which, as the violinist reveals, has been experiencing its (nomen est omen) renaissance for years. There are more and more ensembles, festivals and audiences.
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There is something here that is basically absent in the world of classical music, the non-historical kind – I mean groups of fans who practise cultural tourism. These often include audiences who are not professionally connected with culture: doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs... This is an amazing element, because it shows that we are dealing with a form of activity, a fascination that can sometimes be contagious.
Martyna Pastuszka, photo: Magdalena Hałas
The concertmistress adds that the market for this music is so receptive that demand continues to outdo supply. The violinist reveals that there is an ongoing shortage of musicians who are prepared to invest time and interest in early music on an intellectual and technical level. Although the number of ensembles is increasing, it is not uncommon to read in reviews and studies that {oh!} Orchestra stands out from them with its unique language. So I asked Michał Bąk what this actually means. He replied:
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I think it’s such a series of gestures, words or a palette of tools that we operate to fix musical situations when something doesn’t work. We have developed themes to such an extent that all it takes is one word and immediately everyone knows which way we’re going. It’s about the definitions we’ve developed over the years, the common concepts – we momentarily understand what Martyna wants to do and respond.
Like many other members of {oh!} Orchestra, Bąk has worked with other early music ensembles, such as Arte dei Suonatori and the Dutch Holland Baroque. When I ask whether the ensemble led by Pastuszka is a ticket to playing in respected foreign ensembles, he replies that he cannot think of it in such terms:
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I see {oh!} Orchestra as my second home: I grew up in it, it taught me many things – I owe it a lot. It is an ensemble where you can fully realise yourself artistically: there are challenges, there are results, and above all there are people. A trumpet player friend of mine said in an interview that playing is all about ‘socially having to agree’. And that is indeed the key. The Orchestra is like a family to me.
