MASSES

Kwartludium focuses on performing works of young composers active in Poland and abroad. The ensemble possesses in its artistic output many Polish and worldwide premiere performances.

• Feliks Nowowiejski was a popular and highly acclaimed organ virtuoso and improviser. Few of his compositions were published during the his lifetime. • Nowowiejski’s organ compositions can be divided into three groups - single pieces, nine organ symphonies Op. 45, the four concertos Op. 56 and the organ poem In Paradisum, Nowowiejski’s last work. • The present CD is organist Sebastian Adamczyk's second with Nowowiejski’s organ works. The first, Dux 0807 featured the organ poem In Paradisum Op. 61.

The Polish ensemble Diletto, in a collection of sacred works that in keeping with the title indeed spotlights lesser known composers who bridged the Baroque and Classical eras. Well known during their lifetimes, the vagaries of fame and circumstance has conspired to make their catalogue and biographies dim through the years. Diletto is to be commended for their advocacy of these masterful works.

"Do you believe in fairy tales? Do you believe in magic? Here are a few enchanting musical stories. When touring and preparing for performances, we traveled extensively, in actuality but also within ourselves. Our roots, passion, love, artistic and personal experiences influenced the selection of these works - songs from different parts of Europe." - Margaret Meziner and Thomas Trzebiatowski

Among various dance forms cultivated by Frederic Chopin, the polonaises appear to be the most significant. They are the beginning of his creative journey and are not only proof of his geniues but they are also the unique genre that shows the pianistic and stylistic evolution of Chopin's work. Andrzej Pikul has many awards and accolades under his musical belt, having given many performances throughout his time as a pianist. He is a Laureate of the Polish Piano Festival, the International Competition Foundation Dziffra and the European Broadcasting Competition.

OBSESSION

This new release of works by the Poland-based Dux label's greatest and most highly-acclaimed living fellow countryman composer Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) features two concerti - the Clarinet Concerto (1984; transcribed from the Viola Concerto), the Flute Concerto (1992) and his (2001) Concerto Grosso No. 1. These concertante works were written during a time when Penderecki had synthesized experiences of Romantic provenance (typical of his middle period) with other, sometimes drastically varying sources of inspiration, while aiming at an anchoring in universal humanistic values.

Julius Zarebski gained recognition with his masterpiece the quintet for piano and strings that he completed in 1885. He had just enough time to finish it in Brussels before he died when he was 32 years old. Born four years after Chopin died, Julius Zarebski was trained in Vienna where he studied the work of Mozart, Beethoven, and especially Brahms. His writing reflects the influences of these composers, but even more so the influence of his idol- Liszt. Under the anecdotal, benign appearance of his brief piano works, one of the most singular geniuses of Romanticism weaves a sumptuous work, revolutionary in its own way more by discourse than by harmony. Behind these virtuosic pieces, Zarebski invents a new pianistic language that would herald in the age of Szymanowski. This release contains his complete extant works.

Of unknown but most likely German-Polish parentage, Franciszek Lessel (1780-1837) was an excellent if now little-known Polish composer from the pre-Chopin era. He is known to have been a student of Haydn’s from 1798, even himself tutoring Haydn’s son Pietro. His compositions were published in Vienna to favorable reviews, and he played in private concerts. He returned to Poland in or after 1810, settling in Warsaw. The Polish pianist Dorota Cybulska-Amsler plays a selection of five of his piano works, including two sonatas and the bold, dramatic Fantasia, op. 13, published 1800-14.

O krolach polskich (Of Polish Kings)

Included in this album of compositions by Dariusz Przybylski, one of Polish most outstanding composers of our day, are two song cycles: to text by Halina Poswiatowska and Herman Broch. The pieces are recorded by brilliant young musicians Iwona Sobotka, winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium in 2004, and Lukasz Hajduczenia, who has also won numerous prizes across Europe. Pianist Daniel Brylewski performs three solo piano pieces by Przybylski, one of which was dedicated to him.

Following Periods of Study in Composition and Viola in the 1990S, Aleksander Kosciow (B. 1974) Obtained the Degree of Doctor of Arts in Composition in 2007. His Works Have Been Performed in Throughout Europe Russia, Ukraine, Japan, South Korea and the Us. He Is a Faculty Member at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. This Dux Release Features Five of Mr. Kosciow's Quartets for Strings. The Neoquartet, Academy Graduates from Gdan?Sk, Warsaw, and Lucerne, Specializes in the Performance of New Music, and Takes As It's Chief Goal the Promotion of Works By Young Composers.

Born in an artistic family in Poland, Michal Sobkowiak made his TV debut on “Akademia muzyczna” series as the most talented young pianist at the age of ten. He has performed at major concert halls and music festivals across the country and abroad, including the prestigious National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw. After he graduated from Chopin Academy of Music in 1998, he further pursued his postgraduate study at the Zurich Conservatory. His former teachers include Andrzej Jasinski, Teresa Manasterska and Gabriela Weiss. In 1995, he was a prizewinner at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition, and in 1996 he was given a scholarship from the Frederyk Chopin Society Warsaw. Not only a classical pianist, prof. Sobkowiak is also known as a jazz pianist, composer, and a dedicated teacher. Currently, he serves as a professor at Fukushima College and as lecturer at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. He has been regularly invited as a jury member at the Europe International Piano Competition in Japan, the PTNA and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia. For this release, he has looked to one of his idols, Frederic Chopin, for inspiration. The original compositions included on this album are all inspired by Chopin’s Mazurkas.

Zelenski: Piesni (Songs)