"In Portraits" Adam Bałdych explores the human condition and uses music to explore the complexities of our time, characterized by moral dilemmas, chaos and introspection. Inspired by historical sources such as Szymon Laks' Auschwitz plays, Bałdych reflects on themes such as identity, existence and the coexistence of beauty and brutality. Featuring an exceptional quintet of musicians, including Sebastian Zawadzki, Marek Konarski and Andrzej Święs, Portraits blends Polish, Jewish and classical influences with innovative sonic explorations. This album is a powerful, introspective journey that invites the listener to reflect on who we are and what it means to truly exist. Adam Bałdych's "Portraits" are an attempt to capture what can hardly be clearly explained with words but can be expressed through emotions and sounds, namely the world around us, a picture of our time and the human condition full of moral dilemmas in the midst of constant hustle and bustle, chaos and unrest. To better understand the feelings of the present, Bałdych draws on the past: archive documents from the 20th century, the testimony of composer Szymon Laks from his 1967 publication Auschwitz Games, poems and letters from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Bałdych asks questions: What is the nature of man? What does happiness mean today? What does it mean to exist? How is it possible for the great and creative human sensibility to coexist with a potential for unspeakable brutality? Ecce homo, all this is human. In this age of constant sensory overload, any attempt to stop and think is like a salto mortale, a real feat of strength. "When we listen to such sounds, our soul undergoes a change," claims Aristotle in his Politics. Music gives an account of our feelings, whether they are in turmoil or in order. It is music that harmonizes our feelings with those of other +people and makes us better people. For me, the Portraits project is a protest song against this whole world, but also a pause. It is an album rooted in the past and in memories that are passed on like in a relay race, a reflection of identity - of one's own person, place and country of origin; an identity that can provide a solid foundation for trying to answer the question: Who am I? For his project Portraits, Adam Bałdych invited exceptional musicians: pianist Sebastian Zawadzki, saxophonist Marek Konarski, bassist Andrzej Święs and drummer Dawid Fortuna. Most of them had already worked with him on his previous albums (Sacrum Profanum, Legend, Poetry) and contributed to the organic sound of the quintet. The musicians understand each other perfectly; they follow each other's gestures and ideas and complement each other in the course of the narrative. There is no race or competition, only agreement and collective harmony. At its most expressive and dynamic, the quintet prepares the ground for the revealing silence that follows, for the presentation of nuanced effects of sonic exploration, particularly involving atypical instruments: a Renaissance violin and orchestral percussion. Portraits contains palpable influences from classical as well as traditional, Polish and Jewish music. Most of the pieces were composed by the bandleader, but there is also a traditional melody from the Podlasie region: "A Linden in the Field", previously used by Szymon Laks in his Quartet No. 3, whose music serves as a source of inspiration on this album.