Juliusz Łuciuk is a composer, born on 1st January, 1927, in Brzeźnica near Radom, died on 18th October 2020. He studied musicology at the Jagiellonian University under Zdzisław Jachimecki from 1947 to 1952. At around the same time, from 1947 to 1956, he studied music theory with Aleksander Frączkiewicz (diploma in 1955) at the State Academy of Music in Kraków, composition under Stanisław Wiechowicz (diploma in 1956), and piano under Sergiusz Nadgryzowski and Jan Hoffman, as well as organ under Józef Chwedczuk. He continued his musical education in Paris, where from 1958 to 1959 he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger and Max Deutsch and participated in seminars lead by Olivier Messiaen. In addition, in 1959, he took part in the International Courses for Composers in Darmstadt.

Since his studies, he has been involved solely in composition and he has received numerous awards for his works, including first prize for Symphonic Sketch No. 4 for orchestra (1958) and second prize for Symphonic Allegro for orchestra (1957) at the Competition of Graduates in Composition; in 1960, a silver medal at the International Composers' Competition in Vercelli for Sen kwietny / Flowery Dream [version 1], 5 songs for voice and piano with lyrics by Julian Przyboś (1959); an award bestowed by Netherlands Radio at the International Competition for Composers in Holland, in 1962, for Pour un Ensemble for voice and 24 string instruments (1961); second prize at the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composition Competition for Poéme de Loire, 5 French Songs for soprano and orchestra, in 1968; an honourable mention at the same competition for Skrzydła i ręce /Wings and Hands for baritone and symphonic orchestra (1972); Prix de Composition Musicale Prince Reinier III de Monaco for Portraits Lyriques for mezzo-soprano, 2 violins, cello and piano (1974); and in 1982 – second prize in the Competition of Organ Works in Gambaronyo Lake Maggiore for Preludia Maryjne /St Mary’s Preludes for organ (1982).

In addition, Juliusz Łuciuk was presented with the Prime Minister's Award for his piano works for children (1976), the Award of the City of Kraków (1983), the Brother Albert Award for his achievements in the field of sacred music (1983), the Award of the Governor of Kraków (1992), the Award of the Ministry of Culture and Arts (1995), the Award of the President of the City of Częstochowa (1997), the Award of the Association of Polish Composers (1998), the Order of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2001), the Special Award of the Ministry of Culture (2004), the Medal of Małopolska Region (2004).

Gary Guthman – composer, jazz musician, trumpet player – originally from Portland Oregon, Gary Guthman began his career with the Stan Kenton Jazz Summer Band Camp series, was a winner of the US National Championship for Bands, and studied composition at Portland State University as well as composition, arranging, and orchestration techniques under the tutelage of Henry Mancini and Don Costa (arranger for Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and Tony Bennett). Later, he was on the faculty of music at the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and Grant MacEwan University. Mr. Guthman has composed, arranged, and performed for the “ITV in Concert Series”, “Celebrity Review”, “The Palace”, and "The Tommy Banks Show”. He has written and arranged for premier performances with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Austin Symphony, and the New York Pops (Carnegie Hall). Gary Guthman has cooperated in concert with such renowned artists as Stan Kenton, Louis Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers Big Band, Clark Terry as well as the Bee Gees, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, Paul Anka, Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, Michel Legrand, Anne Murray, Neil Sedaka. From 1999 to 2001 he was musical director for Michael Bublé. Mr. Guthman currently resides in Warsaw Poland.

Andrzej Nikodemowicz (1925–2017) was a versatile composer. His music was inspired mainly by broadly understood spirituality, close to the sphere of sacrum – a large part of his achievements are cantatas, rooted in the tradition of religious music, but he also tried his hand at instrumental forms, not shying away from modern techniques and sonic quests. The piano was a particularly important instrument for the composer. He knew how to extract from it a cosmos of colours, a condensed sonic matter, the spectrum of which contained a palette of orchestral-like sounds. Those qualities can be perfectly heard in the compositions presented on the album: three Piano Sonatas, Op. 7, 16 and 22, composed in 1947–1958. This album is also the world recording premiere of those works.

The traditional rules of the sonata genre were modified here; the sound is massive and saturated, and the expression is intensified by the extraordinary technical challenges faced by the performer. However, it is not only about bravado and showmanship; the compositions adhere to an iron compositional logic, and it is to that logic that the virtuosity is subordinated. Nikodemowicz’s Sonatas are performed by Gajusz Kęska, an extremely talented Polish pianist, winner of numerous national and international piano competitions, soloist and chamber musician performing at many prestigious festivals and in renowned concert halls in Europe. Moreover, he has outstanding achievements in the field of music pedagogy.

Marek Domański has great experience in music scoring for film, animation, commercial and TV. He composed music for TV commercials for clients such as: WWF, Tesco, Rossmann, Tymbark, Kotlin, Toyota, Kasztelan, Santander Bank, Suzuki, Gripex, Netia and many more. He was a music producer for many Polish artists including Paresłów (EMI Music), Gonix i Dore (WCHY). His album Ironia – Paresłów was nominated for the Frederyk Awards in the “Best hip-hop album of the year” category.

Grażyna BACEWICZ was born on 5 February 1909 in Łódź. In 1919, she joined the Helena Kijeńska-Dobkiewiczowa Music Conservatory in Łódź, where she took violin and piano lessons. After her family had moved to Warsaw, she continued her education at the local conservatory under the supervision of Kazimierz Sikorski (composition), Józef Jarzębski (violin), and Józef Turczyński (piano). In 1932 – thanks to a scholarship funded by Ignacy Jan Paderewski – she began a two-year study at the École Normale de Musique in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. In 1934, she returned to the French capital, this time to complete her education with respected violinist Carl Flesch. A year later, she was awarded the first honorable mention in the 1st International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. Since then, for 18 years, she had also been active as a concert violinist.

In 1953, Bacewicz abandoned stage activities, focusing almost exclusively on composing and teaching. In 1966, she took the composition class at the Higher State School of Music in Warsaw. The artist died on 17 January 1969. The present release is a showcase of her music for string orchestra.

Piotr A. KOMOROWSKI (b. 1977), is a composer, teacher, organizer of musical life. He currently serves as assistant Professor at the School of Music Education of the Casimir the Great University in Bydgoszcz. He is also a teacher of general music subjects at the Primary and Secondary State Music School in Kutno, and organizer and one of the originators of the ‘New Music’ Contemporary Festival in Bydgoszcz. He is an ordinary member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the president of the Polish Composers’ Union Kuyavian-Pomeranian Branch in Bydgoszcz. This new release is a showcase of his compositions, composed between 2014 and 2019.

The fact that music has a communicative power has been known for a long time by its creators and performers. It has also often been used to emotionally move the listeners, to convey to them the values supporting the attitudes promoted in society: nobility of feelings, sensitivity to beauty or love of such values as the homeland. The present recording fits into this trend. The originators of the present album return to the concept of supporting music – uplifting, warming the heart. This was exactly the idea that accompanied Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819–1872), an outstanding Polish composer active in the 19th century, while he was creating his works. He is known mainly for his vocal output – almost all Poles are familiar with his Songbooks For Home Use, which were developed with home, amateur music making and communing with the Polish word during partitions in mind, at a time when Poland was not on the map of Europe. Moniuszko’s operas are probably even more recognizable, including The Haunted Manor, an aria from which we will hear on this album. His oeuvre had an integrating effect on Polish society, speaking not only with a rich language of symbols, but above all with beautiful, original melodies. On the presented album, Moniuszko’s music will be performed by Zbigniew Stepniak, an acclaimed Polish singer of international renown. He will be accompanied by Krzysztof Kiercul at the piano.

Juxtaposing recordings of two composers on one album, one of which is known all over the world and the other completely forgotten, is surprising and requires breaking mental patterns. Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) needs not be introduced to anyone; his oeuvre is performed, admired and commented almost all over the globe. In turn, we know almost nothing about Florian Stanislaw Miladowski (1819–1889). Therefore, the DUX initiative, which restores the memory of this forgotten output by putting it in the context of an era whose best showcase is Chopin’s music, is all the more valuable. It is no coincidence that the works presented on the album represent similar music genres, belonging to romantic resources, intimate in their reception. We can find here mazurkas, impromptus and the Polonaise in B-flat Major by Miladowski as well as mazurkas and nocturnes by Chopin. The latter is better represented on our two-disc album: we will also find here four Scherzi and the Variations in D Major on Là ci darem la mano from the opera Don Giovanni by Mozart. Therefore, listeners can prepare for a genuine piano feast, in which two different individuals, two voices from the past speak a similar musical language, testifying to the era of romanticism with their music. Lukasz Kwiatkowski, a talented young Polish pianist with many prizes, honorable mentions and performances with famous orchestras under his belt, will play the piano. He also develops his musical passions by working as a scientist – he is associated with the Academy of Music in Lódz as a researcher and lecturer.

The Glière Quartet was founded in 2017 in Vienna. It consists of excellent musicians who are passion-ate about chamber music, especially about quartet works: Polish-Austrian violinist Dominika Falger (leader of the 2nd violin section of the Wiener Symphoniker), German violist Martin Edelmann, since 2018 (Wiener Symphoniker), Hungarian cellist Endre F. Stankowsky (Solocello Budapest Opera), and Ukrainian-Austrian first violinist and founder of the ensemble Wladislaw Winokurow specializing in the interpretation of pieces by Ukrainian and Russian composers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. On this release, the Glière Quartet showcases their namesake’s String Quartets, Nos 1 and 2.

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 Bellarti Trio was formed in 2004. The members of Bellarti Trio met during their studies at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music and immediately realized that in spite of their different backgrounds they represented the same values in music making. Since then the trio has made regular performances and continuously broadened their repertoire. On this release they present a program of works by Anton Arensky and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Duo KALLOS (kallos [κάλλος] means ‘beauty’ in Ancient Greek) was established in 2016. It is consists of the Polish clarinetist Krzysztof Grzybowski and the Greek pianist Fil (born Triantafyllos) Liotis. The ensemble has performed on numerous European stages at prestigious music festivals, receiving great reviews from critics and gaining wide recognition from the audience. Duo Kallos has been awarded on a number of occasions, e.g. in the Max Reger European Chamber Music Competition. The Duo cooperates with many outstanding performers, presenting chamber music in various instrumental casts. On this release they perform a selection of works by Weinberg, Prokofiev, Penderecki, and Patterson.

Clarinetist Andrzej Cieplinski and pianist Tymoteusz Bies present a new album of works by Debussy, Penderecki, Poulenc, and Weinberg.

Andrzej Ciepliński is a distinguished Polish clarinetist who has gained recognition from a wide audience, performing as a soloist with such orchestras as: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (NOSPR), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw, Opole Philharmonic, Lviv Philharmonic, Slovak Sinfonietta, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Aukso. He has given concerts under the baton of Krzysztof Penderecki, Elim Chan, John Axelrod, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Marek Moś, Zsolt Hamar, Boon Hua Lien, Tung-Chieh Chuang, Yaron Traub, Christian Zacharias, Boian Videnoff.

Tymoteusz Bies is a twenty five year old pianist, graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied under the guidance of Professor Zbigniew Raubo. He is a laureate of a number of prestigious piano competitions, including the National Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, Friuli Venezia Giulia Piano Competition, and Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition.

From the artist: “I had hesitated a long time before recording another album featuring Fryderyk Chopin’s music. I did not want to make it in a hurry, knowing that I would have to make numerous choices, e.g. regarding the selection of the repertoire itself; I also knew that I needed space and time to reflect on the final result. Paradoxically, it was the pandemic, which paralyzed the concert life for a few months, that created this space. Consequently, after many years, I was able to spend a few weeks with Chopin’s music all by myself and enjoy its beauty in peace. I realized that it was this rare moment of reflection that I had been waiting for; a moment thanks to which I would be able to critically evaluate my own interpretations without the time pressure usually associated with such a process.”

The cycle of Nine Preludes, Op. 1 gained recognition already two years before its official release. In 1904, Arthur Rubinstein – fascinated by the first contact with the Preludes, as well as with several other compositions of his later friend – used the following words to describe them: ‘This music indeed touched my deepest emotions; I have not experienced anything similar since the discovery of Chopin. Who is that man? Where does he live? Where is he now? I need to meet him!’ Undoubtedly, op. 1 can be considered the first great showcase of Karol Szymanowski’s talent. In each of the miniatures, a smooth synthesis of Romantic influences and harmonic and textural procedures typical of many of the composer’s works occurs. These works are beautifully performed by flutist Agata Igras and pianist Mariusz Rukowski.