I remember the wild enthusiasm we felt. And our great hopes for this first film produced in France. A window on the world was being opened.

I remember how many themes I had composed, how many texts I had read before I came across Dante.

I remember that Kieslowski was late for the recording session, for the first and the last time in his life, because his car broke down. Not long, six minutes. Exactly the time it took us to record the main song for Veronika .

I remember that as I walked the red carpet at the Cannes Festival premiere I heard my music coming from the loudspeakers. And the impression it made.

I remember me saying to Kieślowski then in Cannes: “probably I’ll open a restaurant, because writing music doesn’t really provide an opportunity to make both ends meet.“

I remember Kieslowski‘s answer: “Oh, Mister Composer, you’re crazy, you don’t realize what you’ve done!“

I remember also that nobody wanted to release this CD at the time, because it was only 32 minutes of music and CDs had just started to be the new format. I managed to convince the film producer to take a risk.

I remember for how many months it was a blockbuster in France.

I remember the headache I had after the party in Paris on the occasion of the Gold Disc award. Then, a Gold Disc meant sales of one hundred thousand copies.

I remember and I will never forget my cooperation with Krzysztof.


Zbigniew Preisner

Translation by Eliza Dziedzic, adapted by Laurence Aston