Baculewski: Choral Works

Caprice, being a virtuoso form, mainly for a solo instrument, dates back to the 19th century. In these times, instrumentalists were frequently also composers - they would create pieces adapted to their abilities and the caprice was the most virtuosic genre among them. It is also the main topic of this album. The caprices by Alfredo Piatti, recognized by Yehudi Menuhin as the cello's New Testament, are fraught with difficulties, but there are plenty of beautiful and varied melodies and counterpoints using almost all possibilities of the cello. To Anna Wr�bel, Piatti is more than virtuosity of the caprices, it is also captivating chamber music of varied atmosphere, interpreted and arranged (Andrzej Wr�bel), in a family ensemble, for two and three cellos. Anna Wr�bel is a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She graduated in 2005 with honors from the Academy of Music Fr. Chopin in Warsaw in the class of professor Andrzej Wr�bel. In 2012 she received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the same school.

The first joint recording of Estonian artists' siblings, Mari and Mihkela Poll presents a magnificent panorama of twentieth century violin music accompanied by a piano. Mari, the world-class violinist, performs George III Enescu's violin sonata - a reflection of the composer's multicultural experience, who grew up surrounded by Romanian and Slavic folklore, and played violin lessons from gypsy musicians. We will also hear in the tragic and mournful mood of the violin Sonata composed in the years of World War II by Francis Poulenc and the sophisticated Fantasy for Violin and Piano , Arnold Schoenberg's last instrumental work. Finally, we will get acquainted with the very interesting work of Erkki-Sven Tüüra, a contemporary Estonian composer. The publishing house was founded with the support of: City Music Foundation in London and JKM Princess Yugoslavia Elżbieta.

This new release features solo and chamber works with piano selected jointly with the composer. This contemporary music has won great acclaim abroad and many of Lubaszewski's works have received awards and are regularly performed and recorded. Performing this music is pianist Ewa Guz-Seroka. She graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy (now University) of Music in Warsaw, where she studied piano with Prof. Barbara Muszynska and chamber music with Prof. Krystyna Borucinska. She is a faculty member at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Chair of Piano Chamber Music. In 2016, she obtained a doctoral degree at the Grazyna and Kiejstut Academy of Music in L�dz, having defended a thesis entitled "Piano in the creative output of Pawel Lukaszewski" Her supervisor was dr hab. Aleksandra Nawe, Prof. At the AM in L�dz.

Perhaps Chopin’s most famous review, Robert Schumann wrote after listening to the Variations on a Theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, “Hapts off gentlemen- a genius.” A virtuosic pianist, Chopin wrote primarily for solo piano. His works remain extremely popular, and he is one of the leading symbols of the Romantic era. Tackling these works is pianist Piotr Paleczny. Paleczny studied at the Music Academy in Warsaw, and has won five international piano competitions. He has served as Artistic Director of the International Chopin Festival in Dusznilki Zdroj since 1993.

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) changed the face of music, being an influential composer, bandoneon virtuoso, and the creator of tango Nuevo. His pieces exude the rhythm of tango, the flourishing virtuosity of French romanticism, and elements of jazz and Baroque. Composer and teacher Adam Szmerek (b. 1948) began by composing literary song, and has received multiple awards for his settings of poetic texts. Accordionist Elwira Sliwkiwiecz-Cisak leads this group of musicians. A graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, she is a winner of the fourth prize at the All-Polish Accordion Competition 1985.

Dear children, today we would like to tell you about Frederic Chopin. This phenomenal composer and pianist is still known around the world , even today. He was born about 200 years ago in a small mansion house in Zelazowa Wola, not very far from Warsaw. Count Skarbek owned the house, where Frederic's Dad, Nicolas Chopin lived. Frederic's Dad was a tutor, which means he taught children from rich families at their home. Frederic's Mum was a very warm-hearted and caring person. She kept a warm and welcoming home where everyone felt comfortable. Little Frederic was very gifted at the piano. He began lessons at six years old and soo after started composing. Frederic grew into a world-renown composer and on this album you can hear his most important works.

Renaud-Gabriel Pion is a successful composer, multi-instrumentalist, and improvisational musician. He performs on bass clarinet, Turkish clarinet, saxophone, bass flute, English horn, electronic woodwind instruments, and piano. He is based in Paris and Berlin. Of this project, Pion writes: “This music made sense to open windows on the city, the charm is immediately established. New York Sketches questions the permeability of the process of composition and recording the sound of the external environment- the opposite of the usual confinement in an airtight place.” (Translated fromwww.renaudgabrielpion.org) An extensive booklet is included with full color photographs of the most inspirational places in New York to Renaud-Gabirl Pion.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is generally regarded as the inventor of melodrama- a mixture of spoken word and instrumental music. Rousseau, evoked in this recording by Jean-Rene Combes-Damien, had made quite an impact by introducing this new genre, and immediately sparked enthusiasm among his contemporaries. The A(�)IA group, created by Anja Thomas and Ivane Bellocq, is interested in a repertoire which subtly combines music and recited poetry. The poets reciting their poems are treated as instruments in the full sense of the word. They evoke whirling worlds, plenty of anxiety, and dreams. The release opens with famous German operatic composer Aribert Reimann, whose composition is built around the text by G�nter Grass. The project also features �dith Azam, Vincent Tholom� and Anja Thomas (poets), Ivane Bellocq (flutes) and Pauline Haas (harp).

{oh!} The Historical Orchestra, a team directed by Martyna Pastusza specializing in historical performance, invites you to the world of French baroque music. In this era, political and artistic life on the Seine was focused on the stunningly lavish Versailles court of Louis XIV. The Sun King gathered around himself a great array of musicians who were extremely important to him- he danced in ballet shows himself- and the performances were not only a popular entertainment, but also a dramatized allegory of government. Of the composers presented on the album, only Michele Corrette was not associated with the royal court. Apart from him, the recording includes compositions of such celebrities as Jean Baptiste Lully, violin virtuoso and dancer, unparalleled gambist Marain Marais and famous organist Fran�ois Couperin.

A song cycle for voice and piano, Winterreise (Winter Journey) was published in 1828. The piece by Franz Schubert is a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Muller. Winterreise is the second of Schubert’s song cycles to center around Muller’s poetry. In this work, the role of the pianist is equal to the role of the singer. The rhythms in the piano part consistently express the mood of the poet. Performing this masterpiece are renowned tenor Karol Kozlowski and pianist Jolanta Pawlik.

This album, consisting of compositions for wind instruments, is a survey of twentieth century Scandinavian music. Joining these pieces to one another characteristically are their clarity of form, lyricism, sensitivity to tone, melodic intervention, and caution when using avant-garde trends. These pieces by Trygve Madsen, Otto Mortensen, Niels Viggo Bentzon, and Carl Nielsen are performed by an outstanding ensemble of musicians.

This new release was inspired by Lukasz Krupinski’s trip to Italy. He writes: “Espressione- to express something, esprimersi- to express yourself; these are the words that I will remember most from my musical journey to Italy.”The pieces that the artist has chosen are the ones that he feels express his own musicianship the best- music from Haydn, Chopin, and Scriabin. Lukasz Krupinski recently won the 7th International Piano Competition in San Marino, as well as the Audience Award, the Music Critics Award, and the Orchestra Award. That same month, he was accepted into the finals of the International Competition of Feruccio Busoni in Bolzano. Born in 1992 in Warsaw, Poland, Lukasz began piano lessons at the age of 5. He is a graduate of the Frederick Chopin University of Music in Warsaw where he studied under Professor Alicja Paleta-Bugaj and Dr. Konrad Skolarski. Currently he studies under Professor Arie Vardi at Hannover University of Music, Drama, and Media.

This is the second album of Estonian pianist, Mihkel Poll (b. 1986). The pieces Mihkel has chosen are from the 20th and 21st centuries, and are by Hungarian, Romanian, and Estonian composers George Enescu, Bela Bartok, Erkki-Sven Tuur, and Tonu Korvits. Mihkel Poll enjoys a busy career of performing worldwide, both in solo recitals and alongside orchestras. He has given concerts across Europe, as well as in the USA and Asia.

In the works of Krzysztof Penderecki, the cello occupies a special place, being the main protagonist of numerous chamber and orchestra compositions of this outstanding composer. This CD, which continues the series of Krzysztof Penderecki's chamber music, was devoted entirely to cello, as a solo instrument and as a multiplexed composition. The next compositions on the record illustrate the richness of the artist's work, which in the long-term process of searching and improving his musical language reached both the avant-garde and the old epochs. So we will hear the full sonoric experiments of Capriccio per Siegfried Palm, referring to the tradition of Baroque and Romanticism. Suité, virtuosic and lyrical compositions of Agnus Dei, in a word full of palette of cello artistry and expression. Everything is performed in full concentration of performance by Jakob Spahn, a young German cellist, whose chamber music has accompanied the most prominent Polish virtuosos of this instrument.