Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 2, no. 1
News
The PMRC now has its own URL address on the World Wide Web. It is ../index.html. A home page is being designed and should be ready by the end of the month. The gopher file will still remain for those unable to access the World Wide Web.
Information on competitions and festivals will be updated. To begin with additional information will include: Sources for scores and recorded music and repertoire lists for various voices and instruments (solo & chamber music).
The First CD-ROM on Polish music (to my knowledge) has been created by Mieczyslaw TOMASZEWSKI, former director of PWM (Polish Music Publications). It is on Fryderyk Chopin and was prepared to coincide with the recent Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Two others will follow and should be completed by the end of the year. An illustrated text to match the CD-ROM is being published by Ars Nova of Poznan. It is a 1,000 page monograph by Tomaszewski.
Good & Bad News In Poland:
The music community in Poland is elated with the appointment of a new director of PWM (Polish Music Publications). Leszek Polony, a highly regarded musicologist, took over the directorship on October 1, 1995. It is expected that he will follow the paths outlined by the founder of PWM, Tadeusz Ochlewski, and his successor, Mieczyslaws Tomaszewski.
It is also hoped that he will be able to repair some of the damage left by his predecessor, who was a businessman set on putting the publishing firm on an income producing basis. Some important ongoing research was sidelined, such as Teresa Chylinska’s work on Karol Szymanowski’s Correspondence and Writings of which two volumes had been published. Volume three has been completed and waiting for funding. The bad news is that Volume four still needs to be written, but the author’s computer crashed and she is in desperate need of a reliable machine. The author has spent more than thirty years collecting material on the great composer and not to be able to complete the fruit of her lifetime’s endeavor will indeed be a tragedy!
Anniversary Commemorations For 1996
Birthdays
120 – Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (Dec 11, 1876).
100 – Tadeusz Szeligowski (Oct 13, 1896).
95 – Szymon Laks (Nov 1, 1901).
85 – Stefan Kisielewski (Mar 7, 1911).
80 – Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz (Oct 17, 1916).
75 – Andrzej Dobrowolski (Sep 9, 1921).
60 – Edward Pallasz (Aug 30, 1936).
60 – Marek Stachowski (Mar 21, 1936).
45 – Eugeniusz Knapik (Jul 9, 1951).
Deaths
165 – Maria Szymanowska (Jul 25, 1831).
75 – Wladyslaw Zelenski (Jan 23, 1921).
55 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Jun 29, 1941).
50 – Feliks Nowowiejski (Jan 19, 1946).
30 – Apolinary Szeluto (Aug 22, 1966).
15 – Kazimierz Serocki (Jan 9, 1981).
15 – Tadeusz Baird (Sep 2, 1981).
5 – Andrzej Panufnik (Oct 27, 1991).
Wanda Wilk’s Top CD Choices For 1995
(Listed alphabetically by composer)
- Bacewicz: Concerto for Strings, Piano Sonata, Violin Concerto no. 7 , Violin Sonata no. 4. Olympia OCD 392.
- Chopin: Complete Ballades. Deutsche Gramophone DG 433090-2.
- Gorecki: III Symphony. Elektra Nonesuch 79282-2.
- Lutoslawski: Piano Concerto, Chain 3, Novelette. Deutsche Gramophone DG 431 664-2.
- Paderewski: Piano Concerto, Fantaisie Polonaise. Newport Classics NPD 85525.
- Panufnik: Concerto Festivo, Katyn epitaph, Concertino, Sinfonia Sacra. Unicorn UK CD2020.
- Ptaszynska: Concerto for marimba, Songs of despair, La novella d’Inverno. Polskie Nagrania PNCD 075.
- Szymanowski: Stabat Mater. Koch Schwann CD 3212652 or EMI Classics CDC 55121.
- Zarebski: Piano Quintet. Bruzdowicz: String Quartet no. 1. Pavane ADW 7218.
- “Polish Early Music” (Jarzebski, Mielczewski, Milwid, Szarzynski). Polish Radio Studio S1.
- “POLSKA” (Various composers: Waclaw z Szamotul, Szymanowski, Bacewicz, Penderecki, Gorecki). United U 88021.
Commemorations In 1995
Roman Maciejewski’s 85th birthday was celebrated on September 26th with a birthday concert in the Royal Castle in Rydzyn, in the region where the composer lived as a child. The composer, who lives in Sweden, was unable to attend because of poor health. His brother brought several manuscripts to Poland.The concert featured some of his solo and chamber works: Trio “Matinata” for violin, viola and cello; Nocturne for flute, guitar and celeste; “Spanish Suite” for two guitars; “Lullaby” and 6 Mazurkas for piano; “Lullaby” for violin trio, flute, 2 guitars & celeste. Among the soloists was pianist Karol Radziwonowicz.
Note: Some Angelenos may remember the world premiere of Maciejewski’s “Requiem” at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 1970s.
Congratulations To
The Kosciuszko Foundation (an American Center for Polish Culture in New York) on its 70th Anniversary! In addition to hosting an annual Chopin Piano Competition and scholarships, the KF sponsors an excellent chamber music series each year!
Marta Ptaszynska, who was commissioned to compose a work for this anniversary celebration in December, is also to be congratulated for the honor bestowed upon her by former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, for outstanding achievement in the arts. She really deserved it, if only for the successful Polish Music Festival she organized at the New York Public Library at the Lincoln Center a year ago!The world premiere of her “Silver echoes of distant bells” written for mezzo-soprano and string quartet was performed on December 10, 1995 by Mary Henderson and the Halcyon String Quartet. During the program Marta freely spoke of the influence of Witold Lutoslawski on her music.
Latest Publications
The National Library in Warsaw is now publishing books on its own:
“Piano Mazurkas of Polish composers. An anthology of mazurkas from the National Library archives.” Elzbieta Wasowska, ed. 3 vol. 1995.75 works arranged chronologically (from the oldest, Jozef Elsner, (1803) to the latest by Marian Sawa, 1994) in two volumes. Volume 3 has an editorial introduction, biographical notes and commentary along with an index of names and a bibliography. Illustrations include facsimiles of manuscripts. English translation by Aleksandra Krupina.The editor made her selections from the National Library’s collection of approximately 1,550 mazurkas by 370 composers. Some interesting ones: by composers Noskowski, Stojowski, Statkowski, Michalowski, Koczalski, Leschetitzky and Badarzewska.
Another publication: “Chopin’s 2 Nocturnes, op. 55” with commentary by the former director of the Biblioteka Narodowa, Wanda Bogdany-Popielowa. Text in Polish, English, French and Japanese. Published for the occassion of the 13th Int’l Chopin Competition.
A Rare Treat For Angelenos!
On FEBRUARY 11, 1996 the PMRC will present a recital of the violin and piano music of Grazyna Bacewicz! Soloists: Arnold Belnick, violin and Sergei Silvansky, piano. Sunday, 3:00 p.m. in Hancock Auditorium on the USC campus. Arnold Belnick, who already recorded the Violin Sonatas of Grieg and Prokofiev on two CDs, also recorded the Bacewicz Violin Sonatas for the Cambria label. We hope the CDs will be ready and available in time for the recital! $5/$2.