Zielenski: Opera Omnia, Vol. 4

Malagueña

VINGT REGARDS SUR L'ENFANT-JES

In today’s world there are few stereotypes concerning string instruments. Contrabasses, due to their size, are associated with small range of motion and peculiarly understood coarseness. In the music community there are thousands of jokes concerning violas and viola players. Traditionally, the most noble roles are attributed to cello and violin. The first of the abovementioned instruments is perceived as a romantic and passionate instrument; the violin is seen as mesmerizing and calls to mind brilliant virtuosos with technical skills. This release disproves some of those stereotypes. Anna Wandtke, an outstanding violinist, proves that violin can beautifully sing and talk about passions, feelings, and emotions without resigning from showing a perfect technique with a pinch of spectacularity. All of these elements produce a perfectly composed whole. Anna Wandtke graduated with honors from the Academy of Music St. Moniuszko in Gdansk, where she studied under Professor Krystyna Jurecka. Later, she also graduated with distinction from the Hochschule fur Musik in Germany.

Anton Arensky (1861-1906) was a representative of Russian intelligence as it was growing through the late nineteenth century. His father was a doctor who played cello, and his mother played piano. Therefore, Anton started learning music at home. When he was 21 he ended his studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he developed his composition skills under the direction of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He taught some of the great musicians who would follow his generation, including Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin. His Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor was created in 1894, and the Piano Trio No. 2 was written in 1905. The Wilkomirski Trio, composed of Celina Kotz (violin), Maciej Kulakowski (cello), and Lukasz Trepczynski (piano) was established in March 2015 on the inauguration of the Year of the Wilkomirski Family in Kalisz. The honor to bear the name of the Wilkormirski Trio, which had been active for more than sixty years, was granted by the Wilkomirski siblings: Professor Dr. Honoris Causa Wanda Wilkomirska and Josef Wilkomirski. This is the group’s debut album.

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.

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe experienced numerous political and social changes. The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 not only entailed changes in yet stable state structures in a short time, but also influenced the normative canons in art, which resulted in a new epoch - the Romanticism. Nowadays, we find it's ideas in poetry, painting, and music. Those arts drew from each other; therefore, they were intertwined and they complemented themselves by expressing interior spiritual and emotional states of their authors. It is very interesting to see in this background the person and works of Franz Xaver Mozart - a pianist and composer, the youngest son of great Wolfgang Amadeus.

Camerata Silesia Sings Kilar

Krzysztof Ksiazek, born in 1992 in Krakow, was a semi-finalist and recipient of two special prizes at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He began his musical education at the age of nine in the piano class of Grazyna Hesko-Kolodzinska at the Stanislaw Wiechowicz State Primary School of Music in Krakow. From 2005 to 2016 he studied with Professor Stefan Wojtas, first as a student of the Fryderyk Chopin State Secondary School of Music in Krakow, subsequently at the Academy of Music in Krakow and finally at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, from which he graduated in 2016. He has won numerous international awards, frequently doing so performing works by Chopin, as he presents on this release. Here, he presents Chopin's playful Mazurkas alongside a Scherzo, Prelude, Waltz, Fantasy, Nocturne, and Polonaise, giving a broad overview of the brilliant composer's oeuvre.

Jozef Zeidler's Mass ex D leaves the old Baroque style behind in terms of it's melodic lines, textures and it's approach to the liturgical text. It is an unabashed manifestation o fthe classicist musical idiom, with it's hallmarks of symmetry at all levels, simple motifs and transparent textures all in evidence. All in all, the Mass ex D - monumental, technically dazzling, and bombastic - is a fine display piece in which the young composer flaunts the rich and varied contents of his toolbox. It lacks the individual traits found in Zeidler's more mature compositions though.

DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

Whoever studies to be a pianist or guitarist has struggled at one point with a musical score by Anton Diabelli. Still well-known today as a composer of short teaching pieces, he was famous in his time for religious music. Maybe most importantly, he was one of the great publishers of his time, and contributed to the renown of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. Published in 1823 as Opus 120, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations are the highlight of his piano works. These variations are paired with Suite for Piano by South Korean composer and pianist Jeajoon Ryu. Won-Sook Hur is one of the most well-known pianists in Korea. Critics have said her playing sounds like “smooth waves.” After completing her degree from the College of Music at The Seoul National University, Korea, she went on to receive a degree from the Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien, Austria. During her studies in Vienna she won several prizes, including first prize in the Valsesia International Piano Competition. Since 2014 she has released albums exclusively for DUX, which have included works by Rachmaninoff, Frank, Lee (world premiere recording), Ravel, Beethoven, and Ryu (world premiere recording).

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