PRELUDES AND OTHER WORKS FOR P

The year 1685 bestowed mankind with three geniuses with supernatural talents in composition and improvisation, i.e. Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel and Domenico Scarlatti. Only the last two had the opportunity to confront themselves in a direct duel for the title of the winner in the category of the fastest fingers implementing unbridled improvisational ideas. Interestingly, Scarlatti’s sonatas, although deeply rooted in the tradition of the turn of the Baroque and Classicism, are ahead of works of both eras in many respects, while the numerous textural solutions suggested by the composer are a harbinger of harmonically advanced Romantic miniatures. The interpretations featured on this album result from the collaboration of two different, seemingly incompatible worlds. The world of interpretation rooted in early music and that represented by contemporary instruments in relation to the Baroque era. The need for making music together, for dialogue and mutual inspiration as well as for the diversity of perception of performance issues are undoubtedly a great asset of this album.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), one of the most famous composers of the Baroque era, is already an icon in the history of music. Rediscovered in the 19th century, he still attracts the attention of musicologists researching and studying his work. This extraordinary person evokes curiosity and admiration, while his contribution to the development of music cannot be overestimated. A genius about whom, as it seems, we already know so much, constantly inspires and provokes to in-depth research into his life and musical legacy. Although today our knowledge about this composer and the interpretation of his music is highly advanced, there are still questions and new views on the approach to the genius dormant in the power of the Bach surname, since it does not only concern the master from Leipzig, as is common to say about Johann Sebastian. The musical activity of the Bach family was impressive, and the analysis of the family tree reveals the composer’s solid musical roots. The spirit of genius does not end there as well, as the musical legacy of his sons has also become a permanent part of history.

Lucia Dlugoszewski (June 16, 1925 – April 11, 2000) was a Polish-American composer, poet, choreographer, performer, and inventor. She created over a hundred musical instruments, including the timbre piano, a sort of prepared piano in which hammers and keys were replaced with bows and plectra. Dlugoszewski's compositions have been recorded for Nonesuch Records, Folkways, CRI, and other important contemporary music labels. Her 1975 piece Abyss and Caress, for trumpet and small orchestra, was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premièred by Pierre Boulez. In 1977, she became the first woman to win the Koussevitzky International Recording Award with Fire Fragile Flight, for 17 instruments – the work became a signature piece for the Philadelphia ensemble Orchestra of Our Time. The recordings for Nonesuch and CRI released in the 70s were reissued by CRI in 2002 as Disparate Stairway Radical Other along with new work for string quartet and timbre piano.

PIAZZOFORTE

Five works for string orchestra of composers, fellow countrymen and contemporaries Paweł Łukaszewski (b. 1968) and Mikołaj Górecki (b. 1971) are featured on this Dux release. +Mr. Łukaszewski has received numerous commissions for new works, and his discography runs to over 90 CDs. +Mr. Górecki's works have received performances in Europe, Canada and America. +The Baltic Neopolis Orchestra is a chamber string orchestra founded in 2008 by violist Emilia Goch.

The Icelandic chamber music recorded on the album by Agnieszka Panasiuk (piano) together with Anna Wandtke (violin) and Pawel Panasiuk (cello) is characterized by varied expression, high emotional load and lyricism. The rich sound color comes to the fore, with a well-thought-out and coherent dialogue of instrumental voices. The piano is the central sound axis, shaping the character of the compositions presented on the album. Agnieszka Panasiuk is at ease with the use of a variety of expressive and virtuoso means, differentiating stylistically between compositions representing a number of trends present in the Icelandic music of the 20th century. The variety of colors, charisma and precision of the string instruments give the recipient a wide sonoristic image and complement the interesting whole. The album takes the listener into the world of the raw beauty of faraway Iceland and also encourages to reflect on the originality and uniqueness of the Icelandic musical language.

Chamber Avenue, another album in Marcin Wadolowski’s discography released under the umbrella of the DUX record label, is a combination of chamber sound with the freedom of jazz improvisation. For Marcin Wadolowski, the album is a tribute to great artists whose lives were strongly associated with music and who gave him so many emotions and the most beautiful sounds. It is also a bow to the classical guitar, whose sound he loves and hears on a daily basis. This album is an original combination of purely classical and strictly jazz inspirations. The album contains both arrangements of known and highly regarded pieces (including by Fryderyk Chopin) and ingenious works dedicated to distinguished guitarists and composers.

Penderecki's Concerto doppio per violin e viola was composed in 2012 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Wiener Musikverein. The Concerto doppio is a piece with a clearly outlined neoromantic architecture. Although the composer often uses semitones as form shaping means, the Concerto is also saturated with many consonant solutions mitigating tensions. Penderecki's Concerto per viola ed orchestra has been transcribed for a variety of instruments. The original version was created in 1983 as a result of a composing commission by the Venezuelan government in the context of commemorating the bicentenary of birth of the hero of the fight for independence of South America- Simon Bolivar. Completed in 2003, the Concerto Grosso No. 2 for three clarinets and two basset horns, apart from the Spanish premiere has not been presented to a wider audience for 15 years. It is a composition that is difficult to consider only in the context of the inspiration with the form of musical expression developed in the Baroque.

Vladislav Zolotaryov, Alexandr Nagayev and Albin Repnikov – these are household names for fans of 20th-century Russian music for the accordion. The sonatas featured on this release share an aura of tragedy and a reflection on life in the shadow of death. The sonatas are replete with musical associations directly referring to death, as evidenced by Zolotaryov’s use in his Third Sonata of a quotation from the medieval requiem mass sequence Dies iræ, dies illa. Another example is Repnikov’s use, in the third movement of his composition, of motivic writing from the song Позабыт, позаброшен (Forgotten, abandoned), which tells of a child conscious of his imminent death. Nagayev’s Sonata, Op. 13 was penned a year after Zolotaryov’s tragic demise and is a musical tribute to a friend and fellow composer.

British composer Michael Head (1900–1976) initially studied piano with Jean Adair, a student of famous Clara Schumann, and vocal performance with Fritz Marston. It was only in 1919 that he began studying composition in the class of Prof. Frederick Corder after he had been admitted to the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Sir Michael Costa scholarship holder. After completing his education, Head lectured at that university for many years. Peter Hope, born in 1930, is another representative of the British school of composers on the present album, also known under the pseudonym William Gardner. He gained fame as an outstanding arranger (he worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra on a number of occasions and orchestrated pieces by composers linked to the American film industry, e.g. John Williams, James Horner, or Laurence Rosenthal). Despite the fact that he has dealt mainly with arrangements and transcriptions throughout his career, his compositional output can be considered impressive. André Previn (1929–2019), an American artist, is mainly associated as a world-famous conductor, pianist, and promoter of outstanding violinist Anne--Sophie Mutter. In this context, his compositional out-put seems to be unjustly forgotten. An international composer, Daniel Baldwin’s music has been performed around the globe in Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Belgium, and Australia, just to name a few. His music is published exclusively by Imagine Music Publishing, through which he is the editor of a band/orchestra/choir series titled "The Pathways Series".

When profiling the Polish composer and violinist Karol Lipinski (1790-1861), the focus is usually placed on his skills as a performer. Apart from having an incredible virtuoso technique, he had fine achievements as a composer. Somewhat forgotten these days, Lipi?ski occupies an important place in Polish culture and deserves a broader recognition.

Born on 12 February 1760, Jan Ladislav Dussek is one of the most recognizable artists at the end o f Classicism and beginning of Romanticism. His rich artistic output gained recognition mainly due to innovative, for that time, piano works and numerous symphonies. Dussek significantly contributed to the spread of English pianos in Europe, which implied further development of construction of these instruments. The album contains three Piano Sonatas, Op. 9 and the cycle The Sufferings of the Queen of France, Op. 23 performed by world-renowned Marek Toporowski.

LITANY TO THE HOLY VIRGIN FROM

WORKS FOR FLUTE AND HARP

MELODIES FOR THE POLISH PSALTE

This album includes three symphonic poems by one of the greatest Polish symphonic musicians, pianist Konrad Binienda, performed by pianist Konrad Binienda and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Grzegorz Nowak. In addition, the album features Allegro de concert, Op. 46 by Fryderyk Chopin in Konrad Binienda’s original arrangement. Mieczyslaw Karlowicz is currently most often associated with songs and symphonic poems. Although the musical language of the Polish artist, who died an untimely death, can undoubtedly be considered universal (evidenced by his solo piano compositions, plenty of ingenious harmonic solutions, yet rarely performed now), it was on the basis of the symphony that he mastered his compositional technique. As the pianist himself points out, his version of the Allegro de Concert, unlike many others, is based solely on the principles of the Chopin orchestration. The recording was made during a concert of the Orchestra in the concert hall of the Lodz Philharmonic.

In 2016 the Witold Lutoslawski Chamber Philharmonic in Lomza organized the educational campaign “Colors of Music” for the second time. It has been realized under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The campaign is interdisciplinary; as it combines visual arts and music of representatives of various periods. By developing musical-plastic imagination, the organizers wanted to make young receivers of art sensitive to its multidimensionality. The artists of the Philharmonic unraveled the mystery of the musical world, performing concerts enriched with a lecture, presentation of musical instruments, and recordings. An art competition addressed to the oldest kindergarten groups and pupils up to 11 years of age, educational centers in Lomza and its surroundings concluded those activities. The current album constitutes an integral element in the campaign Colors of Music. Its founders and organizers assume that appropriately presented classical music is a great tool for developing imagination, creativity, and sensitivity. The campaign pursues a continual objective of promoting culture in its universal character, particularly among young listeners, by means of experiencing music with many senses, as well as by the influence of music on aesthetic and emotional tones. This release in the campaign presents music for two flutes, performed by flutists Lukasz Dlugosz and Agata Kielar-Dlugosz.

One of the most important missions of the work of the 441 Hz Chamber Choir is performing and promoting contemporary choral music. On a daily basis, the ensemble, under the direction of Anna Wilczewska, carries out a busy concert schedule, performing mainly contemporary music repertoire. This album is a presentation of contemporary choral music originating from countries of the North, mainly from Scandinavia. The album is filled with the diversity of creative inspiration, free references to the folklore, customs and savage northern nature, and originality of the compositional techniques. All this contributes to a broad musical panorama constructed from the works of eleven composers, which, despite this fact, constitutes a coherent, homogeneous whole, which is brilliantly performed by the ensemble.

Violinist Krzysztof Jakowicz alongside the Witold Lutoslawski Chamber Philharmonic in Lomiza bring us this album filled with beautiful violin works from composers Jarzebski, Vivaldi, Bach, Pachelbel, Haydn, and Lutoslawski. Krzysztof Jakowicz (b. 1939) is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied under Professor Tadeusz Wronski. He is known as one of the most exceptional violinists of our day, and has made numerous recordings for various labels. The Lomza Chamber Philharmonic was founded in 1977 as the Lomza Chamber Orchestra. The ensemble has given more than one thousand concerts across Poland and overseas, and has received countless awards for their achievements and contribution to the musical culture of Poland. They were renamed Chamber Philharmonic in 2008.

Fryderyk Chopin transformed the scherzo into an autonomous, independent work, rather than a part of a symphony or sonata as it was previously part of during the Classical era. Expanding this genre gave it a newer, more romantic and dramatic expression. The composer's polonaises give us a glance into his Polish patriotism. The polonaise is the most important national dance of Poland, and Chopin composed 18 over his lifetime. Polish pianist Raphael Alexandre Lustchevsky performs these works brilliantly. He has won multiple international awards, and has performed with some of the world's leading orchestras, such as the Krakow Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Oman Philharmonic.

POLISH CHRISTMAS CAROLS

AVE MARIA 3 POLISH MASSES 4

Nowadays, the oeuvre of Polish composers active in the 19th century can be considered one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of our national music. In recent years, works of many of them have experienced a well-deserved renaissance, which is reflected in their increasingly marked presence in concert halls and among album releases. This is a direct result of intense research activity of musicologists as well as of the considerable interest and growing awareness of performers, who are more and more keen to include these pieces in their repertoires. This release is a collection of chamber music by Jozef Nowakowski and Fryderyk Chopin, performed beautifully by the Warsaw String Ensemble.

“From song to symphony, from the Bim-Bom theatre to radio orchestral recordings, from theatre music to performances at the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ International Festival of Contemporary Music. Indeed, it was a career ‘on its own note,’ as the subtitle of Edward Pallasz’s (1936–2019) memoirs says. Surprisingly, the memoirs are devoid of regret that the creator of the Symphony ‘1976’ was not allowed to complete his studies in composition, despite having studying music at lower levels. The road to a genuine success was complicated, winding and full of adventures and discoveries; moreover, the composer’s style that emerged on that journey was free from temporary trends or ideological obligations.” The present album includes a number of works that perfectly illustrate the ease with which Edward Pallasz employed various types of compositional techniques related to the choral music.