Paweł Mykietyn, photo: Albert Zawada
Paweł Mykietyn is honoured with the prestigious Prix France Musique Sacem 2012 award for music he composed for Jerzy Skolimowski's film Essential Killing, from 2010. The award ceremony took place on the stage of Theatre Trianon in Paris
The award was presented to the Polish artist by the president of France Musique radio, Olivier Morel-Maroger, who headed the jury, and the director of Sacem, Laurent Petitgirard. Other composers competing for the award included Alexandre Desplat for his score to Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life (2011) and Ludovic Bource for the soundtrack to The Artist (2011) by Michel Hazanavicius.
In handing the prize to Mykietyn, Petitgirard said
I want to emphasise that Paweł Mykietyn is one of those composers for whom film music is one of the many means of expression. He also has a very rich oeuvre of symphonic music. You fully deserve this prize
The composer’s comment acknowledged the cooperation with Jerzy Skolimowski:
It is a great honour for me to receive a prize as great as this one. I am very happy that I had the chance to encounter such an extraordinary man and artist as Jerzy Skolimowski. Of course, I am aware of the strength and powerful impact that music – or its lack – may have on a film. When Jerzy Skolimowski first showed me the raw material of Essential Killing, with the incredible role of Vincent Gallo, my first thought was that I can’t ruin this film with my music. This prize gives hope that I had accomplished my mission
The award ceremony took place during a break in the concert of film music performed by the Radio France Symphonic Orchestra, under the baton of Wilson Hermanto. The orchestra played pieces by Joseph Kosma, Maurice Jaubert, Georges Delerue, and compositions from the laureate of last year’s edition of the prize, Bruno Coulais. The evening was broadcast live on the France Musique radio channel.
The annual award presented by Radio France Musique and the Sacem association of musical authors, composers and publishers (Societe des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de musique) honours original film music, with a selection of titles chosen regardless of country of origin or genre. The laureate of the prize then composes a piece specially commissioned for Radio France, and its premiere performance takes place at the award ceremony a year later.
The full list of musicians nominated for the award alongside Paweł Mykietyn is:
Alexandre Desplat for the music to Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life (2011), Philippe Boesmans for the music to Yves Thomas and Sophie de Daruvar’s Rendez-vous avec un ange (2010), Gregoire Hetzel for the music to Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies (2010), Phillippe Schoeller for the music to Pierre Schoeller’s L’Exercice de l’Etat (2011), Alberto Iglesias for the music to Pedro Almodovar’s La piel que habito (2011), Khaled Mouzanar for the music to Et Maintenant On Va Où (2011), Nadine Labaki and Howard Shore for the music to David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method (2011), Clint Mansell for the music to Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010), Bertrand Burgalat for the music to My Little Princess (2010), and Eva Ionesco and Ludovic Bource for the music to Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist (2011).
Skolimowski’s Essential Killing is one of the most successful Polish films of the past decade. It tells the story of Mohammed (Vincent Gallo), a Taliban member captured in the desert by American forces, who finds himself transported to a nameless Eastern European country. He manages to escape into the vast frozen woodland, a world away from the desert home he knew. Forced into extreme survival mode, he must kill anyone who strays into his path. The film's stark treatment of the subject matter has a visceral effect on the viewer, challenging one's most deeply ingrained moral code and convictions about what is right and what is wrong. Not a word is uttered by Mohammed as he attempts to make his escape across the wild, cold woodland.
Paweł Mykietyn (born 1971) is a composer and clarinetist and one of the active musical artists of his generation. Mykietyn's dazzling career began when he was very young and he has enjoyed successes in Poland and abroad. In 1993, while studying composition under Włodzimierz Kotoński, he debuted at the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music with a piece titled La Strada. His success at that edition of the Warsaw Autumn culminated with festival organizers commissioning a composition from him, and Mykietyn created Eine Kleine Herbstmusik. The performance of this piece at the festival in 1995 came to be viewed as one of the most important events of that edition.
Mykietyn's compositions are filled with lively, at times aggressive sound, and very clear structures. Mykietyn frequently composes film scores, and he has recently created the soundtrack for Andrzej Wajda’s Tatarak and Małgorzata Szumowska’s 33 Scenes from Life. He regularly cooperates with theatre director Krzysztof Warlikowski, and he is the musical director of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw.
Editor: SRS
Source: PAP