Composed in 1995 especially for the Penderecki [String Quartet], Grella-Możejko’s String Quartet No. 1, subtitled Strumienie snu (Polish for Streams of a Dream), emerged as a strikingly individual sounding piece by virtue of its primarily soft dynamics and hyper-active textures of whispery high harmonics and double stops. A veritable beehive of activity, the music demanded playing of intense concentration and careful calculation and this is exactly what it received from the Waterloo-based foursome.
William Littler, THE TORONTO STAR
At first glance, Grella-Możejko’s Strumienie snu seems diametrically opposed to the frenzy of activity found in the Penderecki [2nd String Quartet]. One can simply look at the opening metronome marking, with the amazingly slow pace of a single quarter note equalling four beats per minute! This automatically creates a contradiction between what one sees in the score and what one hears; while the music seems extremely slow and drawn out, the performers are looking at pages upon pages full of activity which would be impossible at a quicker tempo. As for the music itself, the entire composition can be seen as a wonderful display of subtlety… The absolute quietness of the piece forces the listener to observe every pitch or noise created to serve [the] desire for forward momentum. I see this composition as a model for all composers working in the contemporary field.
Scott Godin, RUCH MUZYCZNY
Piotr Grella-Mozejko’s… Tombeau sur la mort de Monsieur Gorecki was a concerto of sorts, for alto flute and small orchestra. Mark McGregor’s flute pushed and pulled at the pitches it arrayed above the ensemble’s slow prismatic chords, at moments sounding like a very low, slow siren. The solo part gradually grew busier and more vehement, a change that, given the subject – the death of an admired fellow composer – might be taken as a kind of a graveside protest against mortality.
Robert Everett-Green, THE GLOBE AND MAIL