20th Century Slavic Songs

Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, Bwv 1080

The album contains concise, stylistically diverse works by 20th- and 21st-centuries Polish composers. A double fugue, a rhythm-driven toccata, improvisational echoes of folk melodies, rustic dance motifs, lyrical minimalism - a piano duo is an ensemble with unlimited possibilities concerning the form and mood. The Reverie Piano Duo, prizewinner of the International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszow, is at ease with it's virtuoso repertoire thanks to it's excellent chamber music partnership.

The five-disc album contains recordings made by the DAFO String Quartet over the past 30 years. Coming from the milieu of the Cracow music academy, the ensemble celebrates a round anniversary by taking the listeners on a time-travel adventure. It is no coincidence that the album's repertoire consists of recordings of Polish contemporary music - the DAFO String Quartet specializes in new music performance, for which it has been repeatedly recognized, including with a Fryderyk. The anniversary album holds not only sentimental value but also provides an interesting comparison of the oeuvre of Polish composers. Despite the differences and clearly recognizable unique styles, an attentive listener will also detect common features - including echoes of Polish melodies and rhythms, harmonies referring to folk music, as well as bold sonoristic solutions. The expressive interpretations of the DAFO String Quartet show the full range of sonic and expressive possibilities of a string quartet, also in combination with the clarinet and the piano, which make guest appearances in selected works.

Romantic guitar in the hands of a virtuoso of international renown absolutely guarantees extraordinary musical experiences. Milosz Maczynski tells the history of melancholy from the Renaissance to Romanticism, masterfully using time and melodious phrases. The album is full of hidden emotions, captivating with an atmosphere of intimacy and contemplation.

Tomasz Ostrowski : EMOTIKON

Carl Friedrich Abel: The Drexel Manuscript

The pieces by Polish composers refer to the Hebrew word 'hevel', which can be translated as 'fleeting' and 'transient'. On his debut solo album, Jan Wachowski, a young successful pianist and composer, encourages listeners to take a moment to reflect and surrender to their emotions. The sophisticated concept of the album goes hand in hand with an excellent performance - the artist's playing style is characterised by virtuoso technique and musical maturity.

The International Competition of Polish Music aims to popularize Polish music in the world and to consolidate the importance of the oeuvre of Polish composers - especially of those active in the 19th and 20th centuries - in the public's mind. The competition is to contribute to the presentation of newly discovered works to a wide audience and to ensure that this unjustly neglected legacy is duly elaborated and republished. No less important is the task of promoting talented musicians who decide to include in their repertoire lesser-known works by Polish composers. On July 3-9, 2023, at the headquarters of the Artur Malawski Subcarpathian Philharmonic in Rzeszow, the already third edition of the Festival took place. On the album, we present the most interesting competition performances.

The album is a special tribute to the memory of Tomasz Zagorski, an outstanding opera and operetta singer of international renown who died prematurely and who contributed to the popularization of vocal art. A tenor who was equally at ease in great vocal and instrumental forms and in songs. The album contains 24 songs by Polish composers - the most popular, most liked and eagerly awaited by concert audiences. Tomasz Zagorski recorded them together with an excellent pianist of the young generation developing an international concert career, Jacek Kortus - he is an ideal chamber music partner here. Each of the miniatures is an elaborate story in which the textual layer determines dynamics, timbre, articulation and time management. The deep, warm, agile and expressive voice of the tenor guarantees that the listener will return to these interpretations more than once.

Chyrzynski: Chamber Works

The album provides a unique opportunity to get to know the oeuvre of forgotten masters of the mature Baroque era and to admire their talent and compositional craftsmanship. Thanks to it's exuberant production, the Altberg Ensemble, specializing in historically informed performance on period instruments, transfers listeners to the world of emotions, intrigue and entertainment of sixteenth-century European courts.

A unique collection of recordings from the radio archives from 1982-1986, documenting the short yet brilliant career of the diva Ewa Gawronska, endowed with a beautiful soprano. Her unusual musicality, excellent vocal technique and repertoire consisting of famous arias and songs will not leave any listener indifferent. An album for long-time admirers of the artist's talent and for those who, thanks to recordings, have a chance to get to know one of the most beautiful voices of the operatic stage.

The album features premiere recordings of compositions by the versatile composer and cellist Tomasz Skweres, standing out due to his boldness in reaching for extensive ensembles and unusual instrumental combinations. The artists who faced this extremely demanding matter are well-known and outstanding contemporary music performers, soloists and ensembles from Poland and Austria. They present here a bold, passionate interpretation of works from which - despite their complicated, multidimensional form - it is difficult to tear oneself away.

This album features three masterpieces by composers deeply connected to Vienna, two of whom-Haydn and Beethoven-earned the timeless title of "Viennese Classics," while Schubert, ever the bold innovator, explored new musical territories in their shadow. Created within less than fifty years, these works reveal the evolution of the piano sonata genre and the eventual rejection of it's conventional form-from Haydn's Sonata in E Major, which straddles the line between the galant style and fully developed classicism, to Schubert's avant-garde and extravagantly Romantic Fantasy in C Major, a work far ahead of it's time. Schubert's innovation would not have been possible without Beethoven's influence. Beethoven's late-period Sonata in E Major, written just two years earlier, serves as a bridge between the two, clearly paving the way toward a pre-Romantic expressive style. Mariusz Ciolko, an internationally performing artist, pedagogue, and competition juror, brings a unique interpretation to this demanding piano repertoire. He masterfully balances classical elegance with Romantic virtuosity, offering a performance that captures both the technical brilliance and emotional depth of these iconic works.

Joanna Morska-Osinska is a versatile artist, performing music from the Baroque era to jazz. On this two-disc album, she presents very rarely performed, formally original sonatas by Aldebrando Subissati, discovering and creating their sound anew. In the virtuoso interpretations, together with her partner musicians, specialists in the field of early music performance, she reveals to listeners the sophisticated and imaginative face of forgotten compositions of the early Baroque era.

Portraits of france and spain: piano music from impressionism and national romanticism to the avant-garde, 1880-1960

There are few choirs in Poland that have as distinct repertoire as the Choir of Maritime University of Szczecin. An absolute hallmark and specialty of the choir, led by Sylwia Fabiańczyk-Makuch, is the performance of maritime themed pieces. However, obviously they do not exhaust their repertoire, which includes sacral and folk music as well as arrangements of popular music. Polish maritime-inspired choral music has a very long history. Feliks Nowowiejski is considered to be the father of the genre. However, it is an undoubtedly unexploited topic, demanding new, fresh and original ideas. The Choir of Maritime University of Szczecin regularly commissions works from Polish composers and is always met with great enthusiasm on the part of the authors. It is caused by the fact that it is very hard to find a better apparatus to mimic the spirit and sounds of the sea, as is an a cappella choir. The sound of the choir homogeneous like water, in which an infinite number of droplets merge into one, waves, flows, individual voices emerge from the sound mixture and plunge back into it, and sonoric vocal effects can suggestively transport the listener into the world of the noise of waves and screaming gulls. The composers, whose work can be found on the Sound of the Sea album, represent three different generations: there is the sage of Polish choral music, Marek Jasiński, recognized and experienced artists such as Miłosz Bembinow or Janusz Stalmierski, and promising composers of the younger generation, such as Zuzanna Koziej or Katarzyna Danel. The common stylistic denominator for the album is the maritime theme. But is the titular Sea defined in any way? Is it the Baltic Sea, the 8 Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, or maybe some general, undefined sea, the archetype of which lies somewhere in our subconscious?

The album features archival recordings of an outstanding Polish violinist and teacher associated for years with Hanover, Adam Kostecki, a musical heir of such great violinists as David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern and Nathan Milstein. There are also new recordings, showing two versions of Johann Sebastian Bach's famous Chaconne - traditional, for solo violin, and in the artist's own arrangement, with the accompanying viola acting as a harmonic basis. The remaining compositions on the album are well-known virtuoso pieces, in which the violinist is partnered by chamber orchestras from Sopot and Hanover, as well as by guitarist Carsten Petermann. The CD's leitmotif is the phenomenon of Bach's Chaconne, a timeless that can still be interpreted anew. The album takes the listener into the world of slightly forgotten performance aesthetics; it also allows us to admire the sound of an old Italian instrument and a mature interpretation of the Bach masterpiece, although full of passion and fresh.

This album features some of the most beloved works from the piano repertoire, all united by a common theme of distant reminiscences of lost happiness-either directly expressed in the titles of the pieces or subtly woven into the music, as in Schubert's Sonata in A Major, written just months before his death. It is both a tribute to Beethoven's style and a quintessential example of Schubert's unique blend of intimate emotions, expressed through lyrical motifs. While the virtuosic pianism is never absent, it takes a back seat to the emotional depth and expressiveness at the heart of the work. The cycles of Leos Janacek were composed during the darkest period of his life. His On an Overgrown Path memorializes his daughter, who tragically passed away, while In the Mists with it's transparent texture and innovative harmonies captures the internal void and confusion of the composer. Schumann's Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) evokes the perspective of an adult looking back with nostalgia, longing for the simplicity and innocence of childhood. The music, with it's straightforward and sometimes naive language, mirrors the idealized view of the past. Min Jung Lee, a versatile and sensitive artist, delivers a deeply evocative interpretation. In her delicate readings, she perfectly captures the essence of these compositions, painting a misty portrait of the personal experiences of the composers, transposed into musical form on the staff.

Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski's chamber music offers a strikingly forward-looking vision of the cello as a virtuoso instrument. Written for the leading musicians of nineteenth-century Warsaw, these works captivate with their lyrical richness and sweeping sense of drama. This album features the Nocturne, Op. 46, in it's world premiere recording. The performers bring effortless style to music that blends refined salon elegance with subtly woven folk influences-dumka and krakowiak-drawing listeners into a world of beauty, warmth, and spiritual calm.

Grzegorz OLKIEWICZ was born in 1959 in Katowice, and died in 2021 in Wrocław. He graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied in the flute class of the eminent Professor Stanisław Michalik. After graduation, he honed his skills at masterclasses given by Arnošt Bourek at the Leoš Janáček Academy of Music in Brno (Czechoslovakia) and Severino Gazzelloni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena (Italy). He was a three-time scholar of the Ministry of Culture and Art. This release features recordings of works by Benedykt Konowalksi, Feliks Rybicki, Tadeusz Szeligowski, Pavel Szymanski, and Jaroslaw Siwinski.

The pieces featured on this album show two faces of Krzysztof Meyer’s music from the 1980s. The Piano Concerto was created in the spring of 1979 and performed soon afterwards, but apparently it did not satisfy the composer, since in the autumn of 1989 he once again approached the score and subjected it to thorough modifications. The Symphony No. 6, in turn, was born at the beginning of 1982. Although musically clearly related, which can be stated based on their harmony, the two works are different, because they were motivated by diverse incentives.

The Concerto is ‘music about music,’ i.e. a game or even a play on sounds that is supposed to capture the attention of the listener with its aesthetic qualities. At the same time, it provides the soloist with an opportunity to show his or her skills, which is one of the main magnets attracting music lovers to concert halls. The Symphony, on the other hand, is programmatic and emotional. It could be described as ‘music commenting on the world,’ referring to political events.

This new release from DUX presents selected works of Henryk Wieniawski and Andrezej Nikodemowicz for violin and piano; performed here by violinist Dominika Falger and pianist Gajusz Keska.Henryk Wieniawski was one of the most outstanding violinists of the second half of the 19th century. In the first years of his career, his works were mainly virtuoso pieces; compositions testifying to the technical efficiency of an excellent violinist (including the Polonaise in D Major, Op. 4, Caprices, Op. 10, the Concerto in F-sharp Minor, Op. 14). In later works, he clearly sought a compromise between the technical layer and the depth of musical expression. In the works recorded on this album, Wieniawski refers to the best traditions of salon music.

The Kujawiak in A Minor, Chanson polonaise Op. 12 No. 2, Obertas in G Major and The Piper in D Major Op. 19 Nos. 1 and 2 kept in a folk character, with melody of noble simplicity, went down in the 19th-century violin music as compositions of Polish pedigree.

The music of Andrzej Nikodemowicz bears traces of fascination with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Fryderyk Chopin, Alexander Scriabin, Karol Szymanowski as well as with elements of sonorism and dodecaphony.

Pieces for violin and piano from the early creative period of Andrzej Nikodemowicz Nocturne, Op. 3 (1946), Romance, Op. 6 (1947) and Sonata, Op. 10 (19481949) are characterized by a romantic aura, distinct expression, and natural beauty of the sound of the concert instruments. Their melodies, provided with a broad phrase, are complemented by colourful harmony, sometimes slightly dissonant, but always alert to changing moods. In turn, Lullaby, Op. 86 (2nd version, 1993) and 5 Lullabies, Op. 94 (1991) are an expression of a longing for the past and the happiness of childhood.

The work of Feliks Nowowiejski constitutes one of the most interesting testimonies to the stylistic evolution of Polish composers born in the late-19th century. Five years older than Karol Szymanowski, and a year younger than Mieczysław Karłowicz, Nowowiejski chronologically belonged to the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) period. However, he never became a member of the movement; what is more, his artistic path was so individualistic that it is diff icult to talk about the composer’s aff iliation to any group or style. Nowowiejski’s entire long and artistically unusually active life was marked by a series of stylistic shift s, of permanent quests and changes which did not result from a spurious desire to chase the evolution of trends current in the world, but from authentic openness to varied impulses and sources of inspiration. This way, Nowowiejski joins the group of artists who were no strangers to radical stylistic change (e.g. Igor Stravinsky, who was five years his junior, revealed a similar stylistic flexibility). A composer of thorough education, Feliks Nowowiejski followed a path to obtain it that was typical of late-19th-century talents born away from the main centres. He hailed from Barczewo, and the first years of his musical education were associated with his native Warmia i Mazury region: first, at the school of music in Święta Lipka, and later in Olsztyn, where he was a musician of the East Prussia Grenadier Regiment Orchestra. The school in Święta Lipka prepared students for the profession of organist and teacher. It also taught playing various instruments, with particular emphasis put on vocal music. Nowowiejski’s education resembles this of another Slavic composer of the breakthrough era, Leoš Janáček. Like Janáček, Nowowiejski, whose education revealed a particularly conservative trait, in a later stage of his artistic career awoke in himself a modernist talent. What’s more, it was (very unique!) Slavic modernism, which never lost sight of the composer’s origin, and his love for music of greatly varied sources (folk and traditional melodies, church and patriotic songs). Naturally, these were the later years in Berlin, the prestigious Meyerbeer Prize (which he won twice), the extensive studies with Max Bruch that were most important from the point of view of Nowowiejski’s career and renown. As a relatively young composer, he took a place among the most popular composers of his day by storm, while no work by any other Polish composer of the early-20th century could match the worldwide success of Nowowiejski’s oratorio Quo vadis. World War One thoroughly changed the situation. Involvement in the revival of independent Poland and his political engagement (active role in the preparations for the plebiscite in Warmia i Mazury, which Poland eventually lost) made the composer famous at home, but held back his international career (following his association with the plebiscite, the previously successful Quo vadis was no longer performed in Germany).