Chopin Residue, Mariusz Szypura project

Chopin Residue is a multidisciplinary project that engages with the musical legacy of Fryderyk Chopin, curated by Polish artist Mariusz Szypura, who has been active for over thirty years across music, graphic design, and audiovisual practices.

At the core of the project is a double album, released in late November 2025 on the label The Black Element under the auspices of the Unsound festival. The first part, Deconstructions, gathers reinterpretations of Chopin’s works by artists from diverse backgrounds, who alter structure, rhythm, and timbre to reveal unexpected perspectives. The second part, Reworks, goes even further: the deconstructed material becomes raw source matter for new compositions—works that retain only distant echoes of their origin, like sonic memories filtered through time.

From a sonic standpoint, Chopin Residue traverses territories ranging from experimental electronics to ambient, from free improvisation to post-jazz sensibilities. Contributions by musicians such as Adrian Utley, Lee Ranaldo, David Pajo, Joey Waronker, Gail Ann Dorsey, John McEntire, John Stanier, Jim O’Rourke, Masayoshi Fujita, and Zoh Amba form a heterogeneous mosaic, in which each intervention responds to a single shared condition: working with what remains after the dissolution of the original form.

Chopin Residue has also taken shape through performances and installations presented on November 2 at the Fridman Gallery in New York with Lee Ranaldo, John Stanier, and Zoh Amba, where the music moved within a multichannel orbit alongside Szypura’s video works, accompanied by residues of cut vinyl and on December 6 at BALC Gallery in Osaka with Masayoshi Fujita and Sugar Yoshinaga.

Chopin Residue thus proposes a radical way of engaging with tradition: listening not to what has been, but to what continues to vibrate beyond form itself.

Tracklist of Chopin Residue:

Decostructions

1.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 22 feat. Lee Ranaldo, Zoh Amba

2.     Étude Op. 25 No. 12 feat. Joey Waronker, Lee Ranaldo, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Charlie Draper, Miłosz Pękala

3.     Berceuse Op. 57 feat. John McEntire, Blanket Swimming, Jacek Gawłowski

4.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 feat. Charlie Draper

5.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 feat. Joey Waronker, Adrian Utley, Carolina Eyck

6.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 2 feat. John Stanier, Sugar Yoshinaga, Charlie Draper

7.     Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1 feat. John McEntire, Adrian Utley, Gail Ann Dorsey, Nailah Hunter, Peter Pichler, Miłosz Pękala

8.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 feat. David Pajo, Zoh Amba, Nailah Hunter, Miłosz Pękala

9.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 feat. Lee Ranaldo, John Stanier, Miłosz Pękala

Reworks

1.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 22 – Matthew Herbert’s Practice Dub

2.     Étude Op. 25 No. 12 – Rework by Adrian Utley

3.     Berceuse Op. 57 – Rework by Fennesz

4.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 – Rework by Masayoshi Fujita

5.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 – Rework by Sean O’Hagan

6.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 2 – Rework by Jim O’Rourke

7.     Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1 – Rework by Christine Ott

8.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 – Rework by Benoît Pioulard

9.     Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 – Rework by Abul Mogard

image: Sandra Sobolewska