Marcin Dutka is a painter, pianist, and composer who was born and resides in Warsaw. It could seem that the prepared piano has already had its heyday. However, this instrument still intrigues contemporary composers and, above all, improvisers. An example of this is Whale’s Teeth- a cycle of eight pieces performed ad libitum by Marcin Dutka. Already the first piece might confuse the listener. Are we really dealing with piano? The color of these unusually extracted from the interior of the piano sounds bears a feature of the color of extended flute performing techniques. It is difficult to escape an association- especially considering the fact that the very title of the album encourages to it- with the ocean’s audiosphere. Dutka looked deeply into the instrument’s interior and extracted from it the sounds which are close to those that are hidden in the depths of the abyss of water; hence he listens to the whales’ songs, their calls and dialogues. He writes of this piece: “I prepare the piano by throwing into it various objects which were given to the humanity by nature and technique. Apart from the orchestral sounds, I conjure up both combustion engine and rolling stock music and the whales’ mating song or wind noise from the sea.”
