Polish Archive
KILAR: Angelus; Exodus; Victoria – Anna Fabrello, sop. (Angelus)/ Var. Polish choirs/ Stanislaw Moniuszko Music Academy, Gdansk Sym. Orch./ Zygmunt Rychert – Dux
A versatile Polish composer known for both his soundtracks and concert hall works.
CHOPIN: Etudes, Op. 10 & Op. 25 – Jan Lisiecki, piano – DGG
A young firebrand’s Chopin Etudes prove colossal and poetic by turns.
WEINBERG: Complete Sonatas and Works = 5 Sonatas for Violin and Piano; Sonatina in D Major; Rhapsody on Moldavian; Sonata No. 6; 3 Pieces – Linus Roth, violin/ Jose Gallardo, p. – Challenge Classics (3 CDs)
Linus Roth and Jose Gallardo assemble a comprehensive survey of the Weinberg chamber works for violin.
“LEOS JANACEK: The Piano” = On an Overgrown Path, Books I – II; Moravian Dances; Zdenka Variations; Piano Sonata 1.X.1905; In the Mists; Miniatures; Album for Kamilu Stoesslovou; Moravian Folksongs – Cathy Krier, p. – Cavi Music (2 CDs)
A survey of the piano music of Leos Janacek by Cathy Krier reminds us of the often visceral, original imagination of this composer’s treatment of his Moravian roots.
“The Romantic Piano Concerto – Vol. 59” = WŁADYSŁAW ŻELEŃSKI: Piano Concerto in E-flat Major; ALEKSANDER ZARZYCKI: Piano Concerto in A-flat Major; Grande Polonaise – Jonathan Plowright, p./ BBC Scottish Sym. Orch./ Łukasz Borowicz – Hyperion
The Zarzycki works are pleasant enough, but the Żeleński Concerto is the reason to acquire this disc, if you’re in the market for music by Polish classical composers.
BARTLOMIEJ PEKIEL: Missa a14; Resonet in laudibus; Dulcis amor Jesu; Magnum nomen Domini etc. – The Sixteen/ Eamonn Dougan – Coro
Rarities by the first Renaissance Polish court composer who doesn’t quite stand up to his Italian masters.
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor; Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante; 2 Polonaises; Polonaise-Fantasie in A-flat Major; 5 Mazurkas – Menahem Pressler, p./ Vienna State Opera Orch./ var. conductors – Doremi
Collectors of Menahem Pressler have one of “the essentials” in this all-Chopin assemblage from Pressler’s commercial recordings, a real union of virile intelligence and poetic feeling.
MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2; Piano Quintet – Christoph Stradner, cello, Doris Adam & Luca Monti, p. & EOS-Quartett Vienna – Neos
Recommended for those who wish for a gloomy day.
SZYMANOWSKI: Sym. No. 3 ‘Song of the Night;’ Sym. No. 4 ‘Symphonie Concertante’ – Soloists/ Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orch./ Antoni Wit – Naxos Audio-only Blu-ray
An important release, available on both audio-only Blu-ray and video DVD with 5.1 sound.
WEINBERG: Symphony No. 17 “Memory” – Vienna Sym./ Vladimir Fedoseyev – Neos
Weinberg (Vainberg) is a Soviet composer in the Shostakovich style, but without the latter’s sarcastic humor.
PADEREWSKI: Piano Concerto in a; Polish Fantasy – Kevin Kenner, p./ Orch. of The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic in Bialystok/ Marci Nalecz-Niesiolowski – Dux
Two Paderewski large concert works from American piano virtuoso Kevin Kenner.
BACEWICZ: Violin Concertos 2, 4, and 5 – Joanna Kurkowicz, v./ Polish Radio Symphony Orch./ Lukasz Borowicz – Chandos
Good to have these three concertos; all of Bacewicz’s seven such are good.
ZYGMUNT NOSKOWSKI: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 = Symphony No. 2; Odglosy pamiatkowe; Variations on an original theme – Polska Orkiestra Radiowa /Lukasz Borowicz – Sterling
Sterling continues to surprise and pleasure with these neglected byways of Romantic repertoire.
GRAZYNA BACEWICZ: Piano Quintet No. 1; Sonata No. 2; Piano Quintet No. 2 – soloists – DGG
Two intriguing piano quintets and a riveting piano sonata by the twentieth century composer Grazyna Bacewicz showcase the brilliance of pianist Krystian Zimerman.
SZYMANOWSKI: Piano Works Vol. 1 = Nine Preludes, Op. 1; Serenade No. 7, Op. 55; Métopes: Three Poems for Piano, Op. 29; Sonata No. 3 for Piano, Op. 36 – Anu Vehviläinen, piano – Alba
This very recommendable disc gives us so fine a snapshot of Szymanowski’s growth as a piano composer.
SZYMANOWSKI: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35; Symphony No. 3 “Song of the Night,” Op. 27 – Christian Tetzlaff, violin/Steve Divislim, tenor/ Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien/ Vienna Philharmonic/Pierre Boulez – DGG
Boulez enters the mesmeric, erotically charged world of Szymanowski, in which a daring harmonic language borrows from the ecstasies of Scriabin.