In this episode, we discuss whether or not good taste exists (it doesn’t) and ponder whether to clap or not to clap when the music’s over. The joys & sorrows of serious music, the elite & mass combined in the Chopin Competition. Izabela Smelczyńska and Filip Lech talk to the music curator Michał Mendyk.

The guest of episode 3, Chopin season of the podcast FLIS is Michał Mendyk, curator, editor of the magazine ‘Ruch Muzyczny’, and publisher. We talk about music sociology, social conventions history, identity, and inclusivity. Admittedly, our conversation meandered, but we steered into fascinating territory. Spoiler alert: our guest doesn’t follow the Chopin Competition. He’s an exception, though – all our other guests in the series are avid listeners of the event.

Michał Mendyk is a music curator whose output includes the events Radykalna Kultura Polska (Radical Polish Culture, which combined archaic performance traditions of Polish folk music with postmodern avant-garde and pop sensibilities) and Opera dla Głuchych (Opera for the Deaf, a cycle focused on artistic praxis of the Deaf). Since 2008, Mendyk has been running the label Bôłt Records, publishing Middle- and Eastern-European composers (Polish, Lithuanian, and Romanian) and recordings of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio (both original and remixed).

Concept, production, host: Filip Lech, Izabela Smelczyńska
Jingiel: Izabela Smelczyńska
Narrators: Aleksandra Szkudłapska, Mark Bence
Translation: Natalia Sajewicz

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:17) The (Hidden) Joys & Sorrows of Serious Music

(08:14) Sacred Music, Cult Composer

(14:13) The Chopin Competition – Elite & Mass

(18:40) Should Poles Be the Best at Playing Chopin?

(21:18) Music accessibility – from Gutenberg to Streamingu

(25:58) Social Conventions & Music

(33:28) On (Nonexistent) Good Taste

(39:36) Can Classical Music Be Inclusive?