Paweł Hendrich’s Emergent Sound System

Paweł Hendrich’s compositions can be compared to macrocrystals - solids composed of numerous small and identical elements, constructed in accordance with a strict pattern. Importantly, the same internal crystal structure can produce forms highly diversified with regard to external shape. Similarly, this composer’s works are very precisely structured already on the level of individual sounds, but this structure is only a tool for the creation of very clear musical macroforms. The idea of emergence - of new values resulting from the combination of simple elements - is of key importance to this composer.

The paper presents the principles of organising music material in the works of Paweł Hendrich. These are, among others: periodicity, multilayered structures, permutations and flexibility. These ideas are reflected in the musical work in many dimensions, both on the level of microand macro-structure. Their application exerts a major impact on the forms created by the composer.

With the development of his musical language, the composer transforms his initial material more and more radically. Simple elements and processes that underlie the construction of his works become progressively more and more difficult to reconstruct, largely due to the application of a computer in the composition process. A comprehensive look at Paweł Hendrich’s entire output of compositions proves that his work is emergent as a whole. With each new piece, a new element is added, but all of them form a coherent system. No wonder, then, that one of the composer’s works bears the telling title of Emergon.