Wanda valued amber most of all. She had drawers filled with amber beads, rings, earrings and brooches. She claimed that not only did they look great, but also had healing properties – close to miraculous. Belief in the power of amber was one of the very few gaps in her world-views, which were very down-to-earth, in fact. She had no appreciation even for mundane artefacts, (“some vermin”), frozen in amber. The best specimens were supposed to be the raw ones, dug out straight from the sand. But as Wanda was rather reluctant to dig in the sand herself, she was happy to settle for the polished ones, from stands and stores.

I tried to plead to get something form her collection. Be it a stone that has fallen off a ring, or a fragment of broken string of beads. But she never said yes. However, one time, at the seaside in Łeba, Wanda took me to her trusted vendor, from whom she purchased (following sufficiently long negotiations) a small piece of raw amber, along with its packaging – a red plastic bag. She handed me the entire set, with a look on her face as if she were giving me a family heirloom and access to some deepest than deep initiation. 

I finished phase one, at minute 24 or thereabouts. I’ve finally got to working continuously, not only when I’m actually sitting and working on the score. Score sections arrange themselves (and sometimes fall apart) as if on their own, in the back of my mind. Interlude will follow, of sorts. Strings only. I see them in their entire glory, I’m just waiting for the details to reveal themselves. They should do so quickly. And phase two will come after that, a shorter and simpler one. Leading straight to the end.

The matter of Şeküre is coming back and distracting me a little. Little is still clear, so I try not to think about it. If, and when it happens – remains to be seen.

(transl. Magdalena Małek-Andrzejowska)