Marek PASIECZNY: FINIS AUTEM PRINCIPIUM EST (for Two Guitars) feat. Vojin Kocić

FULL SCORE / ALBUM / STREAM: https://li.sten.to/FinisAutemDuo ◾ Finis Autem Principium Est III (Epitaphium domini Joannis Taveneri) / The End is the Beginning (Epitaph on Sir John Tavener) version for Two Guitars (2026) composed by Marek PASIECZNY I. ITINER ('The Path') 0:00 II. LUCIDUS ('The Light') 1:33 ◾ Vojin Kocić - guitar ◾ Marek PASIECZNY - guitar https://www.vojinkocic.com https://pasieczny.com ◾ audio / video recording, editing & post-production - Marek Pasieczny ◾ recorded in Leeds, The UK (2026) Marek plays on 'Mehliana' op. 377 by Philip Woodfield https://woodfieldguitars.com strings: D'Addario EJ45FF | E6th String: SDX-3B Extra Hard Tension https://www.daddario.com/en-gb/pages/... Vojin plays on Philip Woodfield / Oliver Moore GC4-2EX (2026) strings: D'Addario EJ46FF ◾ composer's notes ◾ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiration: John Tavener and the Christian faith ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A year after John Taverner’s death I was inspired to write a musical epitaph in memory of his life and death. The idea came to me during the evening of Christmas Eve on December 24th, 2014 after which the main sketches of the composition were completed by the next day on Christmas day December 25th. This led me to write a deeply religious composition to commemorate both him and the religiously significant occasion on which this piece was conceived. Reference to Tavener’s life and the Christian religious faith has thus been carefully interwoven into the essence and structure of the piece. To begin, two movements form the basis of this piece to reflect the structure of a diptych (from the Greek word δίπτυχον to mean: di "two" + ptychē "fold"). While my Christian faith is of Catholic origin, John Tavener found solace in the Greek Orthodox Church. This was my way to commemorate him even across the divide of our two faiths. The title of the piece ‘The End is the Beginning’ has thus been presented in both Latin and the old-Greek language used by the Greek Orthodox Church to establish a connection to, and interconnection of, both our faiths. The title also stems from a bible verse taken from Genesis 3 : 19 depicting the circle of life and death, beginning and ending in the same place: “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." This image is further reflected in the structuring of the piece. In both movements, the first 11 bars are mirrored in the 11 closing bars resulting in each movement ending the same way as it had begun. The number 11 is also significant in that it refers to the month in which Tavener had died: November, 2013. The first movement also references Tavener’s birth in that it is the beginning movement, but more significantly that it contains a total of 28 bars representing his birth date 28 January, 1944. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Style: Minimalism, The Church, and The Organ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In keeping with the work’s intertwining of Tavener’s life and Christian faith, the piece adopts a sacred minimalist style. Sacred minimalism describes the music of several late twentieth-century composers, including Tavener, characterised by repetitive musical processes and a religious or mystical focus. Minimalism appears in several ways. I returned to E minor—the guitar’s most natural key—and, in the first movement, repeatedly restated a pattern of two successive minor thirds based on the E minor chord. In the second movement, minimalism is expressed through performer-directed repeated block-bars. Beyond these minimalist devices lies a sacred symbolism. Although the work is in E minor, it uses an altered tuning, lowering the fifth string to E and the sixth string to a low E, extending the guitar’s range by an octave. This creates greater sonic and spiritual depth while evoking the resonance of the organ, an instrument closely associated with church music and one that Tavener himself played as a teenager during the beginning of his spiritual journey. These associations are woven into the music: in the first movement, the repeated minor thirds evoke distant church bells, while in the second, waves of repeated arpeggios recreate the organ’s sustaining, breathing quality on the guitar(s). This version for two guitars was created in 2026. MAREK PASIECZNY London, The United Kingdom