Zbigniew Bargielski's compositional output includes nearly 200 compositions in a variety of genres and forms, but the composer's characteristic style is distinguished by his compositional system based on the selection and systematisation of the parameters of musical organisation, especially regarding the pitch. An essential feature of his work is also an original idea of the musical form, which Bargielski calls the block form with the characteristics of a segmental-variation, additive form organised according to a strict sequence of segments (A, A1, B, A2, B1, C, A3, B2, C1, D?).
The Schizophony Piano Quintet is one of Bargielski's most expressive works of the last decade. Its form clearly exposes the idea of constructive dualism, which does not mean turning to the tradition of the sonata form, although it might (subconsciously) be its genetic source. The Schizophony quintet is a kind of musical hybrid that reveals a quite provocative attempt to "clash" stylistically ambivalent, seemingly irreconcilable elements in one work, that, however, create a coherent whole.
The second piece recorded on this album, entitled Fonoplasticon, was incorporated into the segment (section) form. According to the title suggestion which refers to a mechanical device called the kaiserpanorama [fotoplastykon], the composition consists of a collection of ten stylistically diverse miniatures that are revealed ? just like in a kaleidoscope ? one after another. The aesthetic profile of Fonoplasticon allows one to include this composition in Bargielski's lighter, burlesque-parodistic pieces.
Composed in 1995, Concertino is inspired by the stylistic tradition of neoclassicism, which was, to some extent, determined by the conditions of the commission taken by the composer from the Tokyo International Music Corporation. It was supposed to be a piece for the youth, of medium technical difficulty, a kind of aesthetic bridge between traditional and new music. The composer's task was to "gently" introduce the young recipient to the world of more modern aesthetics.
