Eugeniusz Rudnik
From Unearthing The Music
Composer and sound engineer, born on the 28th of March 1933 in the town of Nadkole. This pioneer of electro-acoustic and ambient music passed away on 24th October 2016.
Biography
In 1967, Rudnik graduated from the Electronics Department of the Warsaw Institute of Technology (Politechnika). He began working for the Polish Radio in Warsaw in 1955, and from 1958 he collaborated with the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio. Between 1967-68 the composer was employed at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. Rudnik taught at the Music Academy of Warsaw, where he conducted classes in electroacoustic music technology, and between the years 1994 and 1995, he lectured at Warsaw’s Centre for Journalism.
Next to Andrzej Rakowski, Janusz Piechurski and Krzysztof Szlifirski, Rudnik was one of the first producers of electroacoustic music in Poland, and the co-creator of the so-called Polish school of electroacoustic music. He collaborated with numerous outstanding Polish artists on music installations and film soundtrack production. Some of the musicians Rudnik worked for are: Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrzej Markowski, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Bogusław Schaeffer, Stanisław Radwan, Andrzej Dobrowolski, Arne Nordheim.
To date, he has authored and realised musical scores for productions of the Polish Radio Theatre and the Television Theatre, with nearly three hundred film soundtracks to crown that score. His compositions, as well as the films with his sound scapes were broadcast by radio and TV channels in Poland and abroad.
Eugeniusz Rudnik has been honoured with numerous prizes. A collage illustration for the ballet film entitled Gry (Games) was presented with the Prix Italia in 1970. In 1972, Rudnik received the I prize for the Mobile composition for tape, in 1973, he was presented with the III prize for Ostinato, and in 1984, the II award for Homo ludens, a radio ballet. In 1993 the Mobile piece once again won him an award, with the Euphonie d’Or awarded to him at the International Electroacoustic Music Competition in Bourges, France. In 2002, together with Maria Brzezinska, Rudnik received the I prize of te 17th International Catholic Festival of Films and Multimedia, as well as the Dwa Teatry festival in Gdańsk.
Eugeniusz Rudnik was also honoured with the I degree Award of the Radio and Television Comittee Chairman for the entirety of his life’s achievement and merits in the field of electroacoustic music in radio and television. In 2000, Rudnik was presented with the Polish state medal, the Commandor’s Cross of Poland’s Resurrection -Krzyż Kawalerski Order Odrodzenia Polski.
Major Works:
- Collage for tape (1965)
- Korzeń for tape (1965)
- Lekcja, ars acustica piece for tape (1965)
- Skalary for tape (1966)
- Dixi for tape (1967)
- Metamorfoza, illustrative music for tape (1968)
- Vox Humana for tape (1968)
- Rondo for tape (1969)
- My, ars acustica piece for tape (1970)
- Divertimento for tape (1971)
- Mobile for tape (1972)
- Mobile for tape, four-channel version (1972)
- Ready made for tape (1973)
- Ostinato for tape (1973)
- Wokale for tape (1973)
- Martwa natura z ptakiem for tape (1974)
- Martwa natura z ptakiem for tape, four-channel version (1974)
- Ring for tape (1974)
- Ring II for tape (1974)
- Etiuda monotematyczna for tape (1974)
- Muzyka baletowa for tape (1974)
- Ostinato for tape, four-channel version (1974)
- Nokturn for tape (1975)
- Gołębie Warszawy for tape, four-channel version (1975)
- Cztery poematy for tape (1976)
- Ready made '77 for tape (1977)
- Polak melduje from the cosmos for tape (1978)
- Etude de l'aspirine parisienne for tape 1978)
- Moulin diabolique for tape (1979)
- My for tape (1979)
- Nous for tape (1979)
- Omagio all'anonimo for tape (1979)
- Tryptyk - pamięci Franco Evangelisti for tape (1980)
- Berceuse for tape (1982)
- Elegia - ofiarom wojny for tape (1983)
- Homo ludens, radio ballet (1984)
- Kamienne epitafium, ars acustica piece for tape (1984)
- Ekecheiria - szkic do portretu Mistrza for tape (1984)
- Podzwonne - pamięci A. Markowskiego for tape (1986)
- Gilotyna, ars acustica piece for tape (1989)
- Annus miraculi, ars acustica piece for tape (1990)
- Via crucis - epitafium poświęcone pamięci polskich oficerów zamordowanych w kwietniu i maju 1940 roku przez NKWD i pogrzebanych we wsi Katyń koło Smoleńska for tape (1990)
- Pan Jezus niewierzących, ars acustica piece for tape (1993)
- Ptacy i ludzie, ars acustica piece for tape (1993)
- Panichida - pamięci Jerzego Bienieckiego for tape (1994)
- Thème: G-M-E-B for tape (1995)
- Annus mirabilis for tape (1995)
- Diewuszka, wasze dokumienty for tape (1995)
- Interludia for tape (1995)
- Przyjaciółki z Żelaznej ulicy, radio documentary ballad for tape (1995)
- Sekunda wielka - mała suita dokumentalna dla dorosłych for tape (1995)
- Divertimento for tape (1997)
- Rumor for tape (1997)
- Martwa natura z ptakiem, zegarem, strzelcem i panną for tape (1997)
- Pourquoi Cocteau - epitafium na śmierć Wielkiego Aktora for tape (1997)
- Homo radiophonicus, radio documentary ballad for tape (1998)
- Peregrynacje Pana Podchorążego albo Nadwiślańskie Żarna, ars acustica piece for tape (1999)
- Jesień Ludów for tape (1999)
- Die Wanderungen des Herr Fähnrich oder Die Mühlsteine an der Weichsel, ars acustica piece for tape (2001)
- Śniadanie na trawie w grocie Lascaux for tape (2002)
- Agonia pastoralna for tape (2004)
- Johna pamięci rapsod frywolny for tape (2004)
- Manewry albo Dama i huzary, a lyrical sound poem for tape (2004)
- Ecce homo for tape (2005)
- Epitafium - zamęczonym w kamiennym piekle Gross Rosen for tape (2005)
- Epilogos, collective compostion for tape (2007)
- Neomobile for tape (2007)
- Larum - 'Dlaboga, co się stało z Wami, Żołnierze?' for tape (2008)
- Dzięcielina pałała for tape (2010)
Author: Małgorzata Kosińska, Polish Centre of Musical Information, the Association of Polish Composers, March 2006, updated in December 2011, translated by Paulina Schlosser 3.09.2013