MARIUSZ SZYPURA

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ADRIAN UTLEY Joins MARIUSZ SZYPURA for Frédéric Chopin’s ‘Étude Op. 25 No. 12’

Posted by tarjavirmakari on September 24, 2026
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Adrian Utley, one of the musical mavericks behind trip hop giants Portishead, resurfaces today with one of the most audacious projects of his entire career – to reimagine the music of Polish pianist Frèdèric Chopin… without the piano!

“Adrian and Portishead are among my favourite musicians,” enthuses Mariusz. “The sound, the approach to making music, the search for unobvious and lo-fi textures, all of it had an enormous influence on me. His guitar playing is also very close to my own aesthetic. I later discovered that, like Fennesz [another of the album’s guests], he had worked with Mark Linkous in Sparklehorse, one of the bands I have loved most.”

Utley’s career reaches back to stints with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Big John Patton during the 1980s.  He co-founded Portishead in 1991, since when he has worked with Marianne Faithfull, Jeff Beck, Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) and many others… including his own Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra. 

His film work includes collaborations with Nic Roeg, David Attenborough, Britain’s National Trust and more.  Mariusz Szypura’s Chopin Residue, however, offered him – and a clutch of fellow conspirators – a challenge unlike any other.

With its UK premiere set for London’s prestigious Cadogan Hall on September 26, as part of the Polish Jazz Festival, Chopin Residue is on course to become one of the most talked about classical releases of the year.  

It is certainly among the most ambitious, as the Polish artist and performer takes nine of his countryman’s best-loved pieces of piano music – and then removes the piano!

The website culture.pl explained “What began as a random observation while working in the studio ended in a monumental, multifaceted undertaking… Mariusz Szypura reaches for the Polish composer’s works to strip them of the pop culture clichés that have accumulated over decades.” 

Mariusz himself elaborates, “I rejected the piano immediately. If you’re not a virtuoso, in a country where we have a cult of Chopin’s music, the Chopin Competition, where we can hear the best of the best interpreters of his music live, it would be a mission doomed to failure. 

“Anything less than exceptional craftsmanship, in my opinion, sounded like folk music or, at best, a jingle played on PKP Intercity. I decided Chopin didn’t deserve such profanation. I could only approach this material through the prism of my own sensitivity, harmony, and deconstruction.

“So I took the piano out. Not as a provocation, more as a question: if you remove the instrument everyone identifies with this music, what’s actually left? Turns out quite a lot. The harmonic structure is still there, the phrasing, the strange melancholy in the intervals. That’s the residue. The piano was the delivery system, not the content.”

But that’s not all he did!  Released today as the latest single from the 2 CD album, “Étude Op. 25 No. 12” takes Szypura’s already-remarkable reimagining of this 189-year-old formal piano study, and delivers it up to Portishead’s Adrian Utley for a thoroughly invigorating remix and make-over.

Mariusz explains, “‘Étude Op. 25 No. 12’ is Adrian’s reconstruction, not my piece with his guitar on top. That is the principle of the whole second disc: nine artists, nine rebuilds, each in their own language.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/mariuszszypura_adrianutley

With the album’s extraordinary packaging having already received a Bronze A’ Design Award and a Red Dot Award, Chopin Residue is split into two parts, the original “Deconstructions” across one half of the CD and double album packages, and specially commissioned reworkings across the other, with Mariusz continuing, “Practically, it meant giving the material to guitars, drums, theremin, ondes Martenot, electronics, breath.” 

To this end, Mariusz invited contributions from Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), David Pajo (Slint), Joey Waronker (Atoms For Peace, Beck), Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie), John McEntire (Tortoise), John Stanier (Battles) and Jim O’Rourke, before passing the tapes over to a host of fellow visionaries – Utley is joined by Fennesz, Christine Ott, Matthew Herbert, Masayoshi Fujita, Sean O’Hagan, Jim O’Rourke, Benoit Pioulard and Abul Mogard.

“I briefed [the artists] on the concept, sent the deconstructions and let them do what they do.”  And they did it.”

Even more remarkably, Mariusz intends both discs to be played at once!  “They were built to overlap,” he says, while the Blu-ray release goes even further, serving up an utterly captivating immersive version. “This was the real payoff. In stereo you hear an arrangement. In Atmos you’re inside the harmonic space with the piano missing from the middle of it. The absence becomes physical. That’s not a format upgrade, it’s closer to what the piece was always trying to do.”

Chopin Residue will be released on CD and vinyl on October 16. The Blu-ray version is already available.

CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=chopin+residue&options
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/prjp8v9
BLU-RAY: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=chopin+residue

Track listing

CD DISC ONE/VINYL SIDES ONE AND TWO

  1. Prelude Op. 28 No. 22 – Lee Ranaldo, Zoh Amba
  2. Étude Op. 25 No. 12 – Lee Ranaldo, Joey Waronker, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Charlie Draper, Milosz Pękala
  3. Berceuse Op. 57 – Milosz Pękala, John McEntire, Blanket Swimming, Jacek Gawlowski
  4. Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 – Charlie Draper
  5. Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 – Joey Waronker, Adrian Utley, Carolina Eyck
  6. Prelude Op. 28 No. 2 – Charlie Draper, John Stanier, Sugar Yoshinaga
  7. Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1 – Milosz Pękala, John McEntire, Adrian Utley, Gail Ann Dorsey, Nailah Hunter, Peter Pichler
  8. Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 – Zoh Amba, Milosz Pękala, Nailah Hunter, David Pajo
  9. Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 – Lee Ranaldo, Milosz Pękala, John Stanier

CD DISC TWO / VINYL SIDES THREE AND FOUR

  1. Prelude Op.28 No.22, Matthew Herbert’s Practice Dub
  2. Étude Op. 25 No. 12, Rework by Adrian Utley
  3. Berceuse Op. 57, Rework by Fennesz
  4. Prelude Op. 28 No. 20, Rework by Masayoshi Fujita
  5. Prelude Op. 28 No. 4, Rework by Sean O’Hagan
  6. Prelude Op. 28 No. 2, Rework by Jim O’Rourke
  7. Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1, Rework by Christine Ott
  8. Prelude Op. 28 No. 9, Rework by Benoît Pioulard
  9. Prelude Op. 28 No. 15, Rework by Abul Mogard

CHOPIN’s ‘Berceuse Op. 57’ Gets a Revolutionary Make-Over By MARIUSZ SZYPURA & FENNESZ

Posted by tarjavirmakari on August 27, 2026
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Previewing one of Cleopatra Records’ most ambitious (and extravagant) releases of the year, today sees the release of Chopin’s “Berceuse Op. 57,” taken from Mariusz Szypura’s acclaimed Chopin Residue Blu-Ray, as reworked by remixer extraordinaire Fennesz.

It is just one of a series of reimaginings and reinventions include on the full album, featuring some of the most impactful remixers of the age – Fennesz is joined by Milosz Pękala, John McEntire, Blanket Swimming, Jacek Gawlowski and more, with each of the performances present as both a “Deconstruction” or a “Rework.” 

Speaking about the remixes, Polish-born artist Szypura explains, “I briefed [the artists] on the concept, sent the deconstructions and let them do what they do. Matthew Herbert built a house/dub out of it, Christine Ott went straight to ondes Martenot [if you’ve never heard this eerie sounding electronic instrument, you will now!], Fennesz did what Fennesz does.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/vpbm1k2

Releasing on Blu-ray on August 21, with other formats set to follow later this year, Chopin Residue is packaged as imaginatively as the music!  The CD will feature a six-panel digipak with a cutout circle on the cover and nine individual inserts (one for each composition) so the user can change the cover image by simply inserting one of the 9 inserts in the front panel of the digipak. The vinyl is a double LP in a trifold jacket. It has the same 9 inserts just scaled up to 12”x12” vinyl size.

Chopin Residue has already been compared to John Cage’s 4.’33, but that’s only the beginning, as Szypura continues.

“Chopin is inescapable in Poland. You grow up with him the way other people grow up with weather. At some point that stops being inspiring and starts being noise, you don’t hear the music anymore, you hear the monument.

“So I took the piano out. Not as a provocation, more as a question: if you remove the instrument everyone identifies with this music, what’s actually left? Turns out quite a lot. The harmonic structure is still there, the phrasing, the strange melancholy in the intervals. That’s the residue. The piano was the delivery system, not the content.

“Practically it meant giving the material to guitars, drums, theremin, ondes Martenot, electronics, breath. Nine compositions on Deconstructions, then nine reworks by other artists on the second disc. You can also play both discs at the same time, they were built to overlap.

“For the immersive version this was the real payoff. In stereo you hear an arrangement. In Atmos you’re inside the harmonic space with the piano missing from the middle of it. The absence becomes physical. That’s not a format upgrade, it’s closer to what the piece was always trying to do.

“I couldn’t have done that version alone. Morten Lindberg, Jacek Gawlowski and I are credited jointly as immersive audio producers, and Morten in particular thinks about space in a way that changed how I heard my own material. He treats the room as part of the composition, which is exactly what this record needed. Michael Romanowski did the immersive mastering and kept the whole thing from turning into a spectacle, which was the real risk. Working with people at that level made me rethink what the project actually was.”

 And the whole thing, he concludes, “works because nobody was trying to replace Chopin. They were all working in the gap where the piano used to be.”

 Turns out that it was a very big gap!

CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=chopin+residue&options
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/prjp8v9
BLU-RAY: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=chopin+residue

Track List:

  1. Prelude Op. 28 No. 22
  2. Étude Op. 25 No. 12
  3. Berceuse Op. 57
  4. Prelude Op. 28 No. 20
  5. Prelude Op. 28 No. 4
  6. Prelude Op. 28 No. 2
  7. Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1
  8. Prelude Op. 28 No. 9
  9. Prelude Op. 28 No. 15

Take a Chunk of Chopin, Then Remove the Bits He Played. A Dramatic New Approach to Modern Classical by MARIUSZ SZYPURA

Posted by tarjavirmakari on August 1, 2026
Posted in: Int. News, News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

In a year that has already seen some remarkable modern classical releases, Cleopatra Records is proud to present perhaps the most astonishing of them all.  Chopin Without Chopin.

Releasing on August 21 on a stunning Blu-ray video (with visualizers) and digital, mixed in both stereo and Dolby Atmos (vinyl and CD versions will follow later this year), Chopin Residue has already been compared to John Cage’s 4’33″, but that’s only the beginning, as Polish-born musician and artist Mariusz Szypura explains.

“Chopin is inescapable in Poland. You grow up with him the way other people grow up with weather. At some point that stops being inspiring and starts being noise, you don’t hear the music anymore, you hear the monument.

“So I took the piano out. Not as a provocation, more as a question: if you remove the instrument everyone identifies with this music, what’s actually left? Turns out quite a lot. The harmonic structure is still there, the phrasing, the strange melancholy in the intervals. That’s the residue. The piano was the delivery system, not the content.

“Practically,  it meant giving the material to guitars, drums, theremin, ondes Martenot, electronics, breath. Nine compositions on Deconstructions, then nine reworks by other artists on the second disc. You can also play both discs at the same time, they were built to overlap.

“For the immersive version this was the real payoff. In stereo you hear an arrangement. In Atmos you’re inside the harmonic space with the piano missing from the middle of it. The absence becomes physical. That’s not a format upgrade, it’s closer to what the piece was always trying to do.

“I couldn’t have done that version alone. Morten Lindberg, Jacek Gawlowski and I are credited jointly as immersive audio producers, and Morten in particular thinks about space in a way that changed how I heard my own material. He treats the room as part of the composition, which is exactly what this record needed. Michael Romanowski did the immersive mastering and kept the whole thing from turning into a spectacle, which was the real risk. Working with people at that level made me rethink what the project actually was.”

In fact, there were more than 25 guests across the performance. 

 “I gave everyone a lot of room. I sent material, said what the piece was missing, and mostly got back things I couldn’t have asked for. It’s a completely instrumental record, so everything anyone contributed had to work as sound, not as a message.

 “Adrian Utley brought that Portishead sense of dread that sits under a chord without explaining itself, and then did his own rework of Op. 25 No. 12. Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) plays guitar in a way you’d never expect from the material. John Stanier (Battles) hits drums with an authority that stops the music from floating away.

 “Joey Waronker (Atoms for Peace, Beck) and Justin Meldal-Johnsen came in as a rhythm section on the Etude and they gave it a forward motion the original doesn’t have, Chopin written as a groove rather than a phrase. John McEntire (Tortoise) approaches drums like an editor, combining patterns that sit somewhere between jazz and something mechanical. Zoh Amba is the opposite instinct, her saxophone is raw and doesn’t negotiate, and putting that against Chopin’s harmony was one of the things that told me the concept worked.”

Other guests include ambient masters Blanket Swimming, former David Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, and David Pajo (Slint).

 Mariusz continues, “The reworks disc is a different logic: Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke, Matthew Herbert, Christine Ott, Abul Mogard, Sean O’Hagan, Masayoshi Fujita, Benoít Pioulard. I briefed them on the concept, sent the deconstructions and let them do what they do. Herbert built a house/dub out of it, Ott went straight to Ondes Martenot [if you’ve never heard this eerie sounding electronic instrument, you will now!], Fennesz did what Fennesz does to a signal.”

 And the whole thing, he concludes, “works because nobody was trying to replace Chopin. They were all working in the gap where the piano used to be.”

 Turns out that it was a very big gap!

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/mariuszszypura_chopinresidue
BLU-RAY: https://cleorecs.com/products/mariusz-szypura-chopin-residue-blu-ray

Track List:

1. Prelude Op. 28 No. 22 feat. Matthew Herbert, Lee Ranaldo, Zoh Amba
2. Étude Op. 25 No. 12 feat. Adrian Utley, Joey Waronker, Lee Ranaldo, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Charlie Draper, Miłosz Pękala
3. Berceuse Op. 57 feat. Fennesz, John McEntire, Blanket Swimming, Miłosz Pękala, Jacek Gawłowski
4. Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 feat. Masayoshi Fujita, Charlie Draper
5. Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 feat. Sean O’Hagan, Joey Waronker, Adrian Utley, Carolina Eyck
6. Prelude Op. 28 No. 2 feat. Jim O’Rourke, John Stanier, Sugar Yoshinaga, Charlie Draper
7. Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1 feat. Christine Ott, John McEntire, Adrian Utley, Gail Ann Dorsey, Nailah Hunter, Peter Pichler, Miłosz Pękala
8. Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 feat. Benoît Pioulard, David Pajo, Zoh Amba, Nailah Hunter, Miłosz Pękala
9. Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 feat. Abul Mogard, Lee Ranaldo, John Stanier, Miłosz Pękala