Nonesuch Górecki Retrospective
Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective
Lerchenmusik: Recitatives and Ariosos, Op. 53: I – III.; Symphony No. 3: I – III.; Already It Is Dusk: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 62; Quasi una Fantasia: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 64: I – IV.; Miserere, Op. 44; Amen, Op. 35; Euntes Ibant et Flebant, Op. 32; Wislo Moja, Wislo Szara (My Vistula, Grey Vistula), Op. 46; Szeroka Woda (Broad Waters), Op. 39; Kleines Requiem für eine Polka: I – IV.; Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra: I – II.; Good Night: I – III. ; …songs are sung: String Quartet No. 3: I – V.; Symphony No. 4: I – IV.
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Nonesuch Records (January 22, 2016)
After several delays, Nonesuch Records will finally release the a 7-disc retrospective featuring late Henryk Górecki’s final composition, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, on January 22, 2016. The recording was made during the 2014 world premiere performance at Royal Festival Hall with co-commissioner London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrey Boreyko. The piece, which pays homage to Górecki’s fellow Polish composer Aleksander Tansman, was incomplete at the time of Górecki’s 2010 death and thus missed its previously scheduled premiere. However the score had precise indications for orchestration, which Górecki’s son Mikołaj, also a composer, used to complete it. The Daily Telegraph said the piece “caps Górecki’s reputation as an orchestral composer, but it also contains some surprises. The music … features some brutal juxtapositions of massively powerful music with slow, intimate passages for solo instruments, including prominent parts for piano and organ.”
Symphony No. 4 will be released individually and as part of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective, a seven-disc box set containing all Nonesuch recordings of Górecki works—Lerchenmusik; Symphony No. 3; String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Miserere; Kleines Requiem für eine Polka; Harpsichord Concerto; and Good Night. The first vinyl LP of the beloved 1992 Nonesuch recording of Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 also will be released on October 16. Pre-orders of all of these releases are available in the Nonesuch Store.
[Sources: nonesuch.com]
Martha Argerich: The Complete Recordings on DG
Martha Argerich: The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon
Works by … Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Schumann, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claude Debussy, Johann Sebastian Bach, Sergey Vasil’yevich Rachmaninov, Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alan Ridout, Frieder Meschwitz, Leos Janácek, Olivier Messiaen, Dmitri Shostakovich, Franz Joseph Haydn, Peter Kiesewetter, César Franck, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud.
Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra; London Symphony Orchestra; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Concertgebouw Orchestra; Amsterdam Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, Mischa Maisky – cello; Nelson Freire – piano; Gidon Kremer – violin; David Zinman, Kiril Kondrashin, Giuseppe Sinopoli – cond.
Deutsche Grammophon (September 4, 2015)
It is universally agreed that there is no greater living pianist than Martha Argerich. On this mammoth and beautifully presented 48-disc box set . . . you’ll hear the music that convinced the modern classical world of the 71-year old pianist’s supremacy beginning in the ’60s . . . Her 1977 recording of Stravinsky’s “Les Noces” with Leonard Bernstein and 1981 recording of Bartok’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra with Nelson Freire and David Zinman are as Olympian as her performances of Beethoven and Brahms. Nothing seems to daunt her . . . [she has] become in our 21st century world the pianist who prevails, in many views, over all others. In this gigantic box set, anyone who can understand why that is. [Jeff Simon, Buffalo News / 11 October 2015]
[Source: deutschegrammophon.com]
Maksymiuk at 80 Celebrated on Warner Music
Maksymiuk | Sinfonia Varsovia
Works by … Mozart, Bach, Rossini, Debussy, Bela Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Adam Jarzębski, and Jerzy Maksymiuk
Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra; Polish Chamber Orchestra; Jerzy Maksymiuk, cond.
Warner Music Poland (January 29, 2016), Info: sinfoniavarsovia.org
The appearance of the unparalleled talent of Jerzy Maksymiuk on our musical landscape and the ensuing artistic phenomenon that bears the name of the Polish Chamber Orchestra was a sui generis earthquake for all of us – Adam Rozlach, liner notes
The new album ‘MAKSYMIUK | Sinfonia Varsovia’ records the history of an unusual artistic friendship written down in music. It displays the quintessence of the style and repertoire of the charismatic Maestro on his 80th birthday and his beloved orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, whose international renown he helped create and to which he is strongly attached to this day.
[Sources: polmic.pl, sinfoniavarsovia.org]
Sinfonia Viva – Polish Music
Sinfonia Viva – “Polish Music”
Op. 4 No. 3; Serenade, Op. 2.; Cello Concerto; Etude in B flat minor; 5 Folk Melodies; Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2
Sinfonia Viva Orchestra; Dorothy Wozniak-Mocarska – cello; Wojciech Proniewicz – violin; Thomas Radziwonowicz – cond.
(November 27, 2015)
The Sinfonia Viva Orchestra adds a new album to their extensive collection of recordings in honor of the orchestra’s 17th anniversary. This British virtuoso ensemble was founded in 1982 and has since become a leader in creative musical experiences around the world. The organization has fostered enriching collaborative environments for all ages in the UK through education and outreach programs. Sinfonia Viva has also participated in many music festivals and has even hosted the Association of British Orchestra’s national conference in 2012. ,
[Source: polmic.pl, vivaorch.co.uk]
Meyer & Moszkowski on NAXOS
MEYER, K.: Instrumental Music
Krzysztof Meyer: Canzona, Op. 56; Imaginary Variations, Op. 114; Moment Musical; Misterioso, Op. 83; Piano Trio, Op. 50
Poznań Piano Trio
Naxos 8.573410 (January 2016)
This recording presents chamber music by Krzysztof Meyer (b. 1943) composed over a 30-year period and for a variety of instrumental combinations. The lyrical Canzona, the bravura cello solo Moment musical and the atmospheric Misterioso are all miniatures, the latter a competition test piece demanding expressive melodic shaping and delicate sustained harmonics. The substantial Piano Trio develops over recurring motifs, taking flight through striking contrasts over a tonal center of C. The Imaginary Variations suggest Classical form through constant change, with piano and violin interacting in a rich interplay of layers, rhythms and imitation.
The Poznań Piano Trio was formed on the basis of prior cooperation among three Poznań-based women instrumentalists of the rising generation, and a successful recital debut in Carnegie Hall in NYC in October 2002 by two of its members. The pianist Laura Sobolewska is an Associate Professor at the I. J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, a versatile artist and a valued chamber musician who collaborates with renowned soloists. The violinist Anna Ziółkowska gives solo concerts and performs with the T. Szeligowski Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra as the concertmaster. The cellist Monika Baranowska also collaborates with the T. Szeligowski Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra – previously she used to performed with the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra Amadeus.
MOSZKOWSKI, M.: Violin and Piano Works
5 Spanische Tanze, Op. 12; 4 Morceaux, Op. 82; 2 Concertstucke, Op. 16; Suite for 2 Violins and Piano, Op. 71; 8 Morceaux caracteristiques, Op. 36: No. 6. Etincelles; Guitarre, Op. 45, No. 2; 6 Stucke, Op. 15: No. 1. Serenata
Daniel Grimwood – piano; Nazrin Rashidova – violin
Naxos 8.573410 (December 2015)
Moritz Moszkowski has been hailed as the Chopin of the 19th century for his exquisite compositions. Before developing a nervous condition in his thirties, he earned international recognition for being a talented violinist, conductor and composer. Moszkowski’s success continued to grow through his countless arrangements for ensembles and solo instruments despite his troubles. This new Naxos album consists of light piano and violin compositions performed by renowned pianist Daniel Grimwood and violin virtuoso Mazrin Rashidova, who plays both violin parts in Suite for 2 Violins. In addition, it concludes with various encore arrangements by dual violinists and composers, including Jascha Heifetz, Fabian Rehfeld, Pablo de Sarasate and Emile Sauret.
[Sources: newsletter, naxos.com]
Szymanowski & Lutoslawski with Liebreich & NOSPR
Szymanowski: Symphony No. 2 / Lutosławski: Livre / Musique funèbre
Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 19; Livre Pour Orchestre; Muzyka Zalobna (Musique Funebre)
Polish National Radio Symphony; Alexander Liebreich – conductor
Accentus Music ACC30349 (January 2016)
A new recording of Szymanowski’s Second Symphony and two works by Lutosławski (Livre pour orchestre and Musique funèbre) was just published by Accentus Music in cooperation with the Polish Radio. It features the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra [NOSPR] led by Maestro Alexander Liebreich. This is one of the very first recordings made in the new and splendid concert hall of this Katowice-based orchestra.
Reviewing this CD Dorota Szwarcman admitted that although she thought Szymanowski’s Second was “impossible to listen to,” the Symphony “had to find a conductor from Munich in order to discover the beauties of this work that were inspired by Richard Strauss.” As to the interpretation of Lutosławski on this recording, Ms. Szwarcman favorably compared Liebreich’s Livre pour orchestra to the legendary Jan Krenz interpretations and praised the NOSPR strings in their reading of Lutosławski’s Musique funèbre.
[Source: nospr.org.pl, naxos.com, prestoclassical.co.uk]
Piano Recital by M. Szymanowski
Piano Recital: Michał Szymanowski
Fryderyk Chopin: Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60; Nocturne No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 1; 3 Mazurkas Op. 59 No. 1-3; 12 Etudes, Op. 25 (excerpts); Polonaise No. 5 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44; Waltz No. 5 in A – Flat Major, Op. 42; Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Nocturne in B flat major Op. 16 No. 4; Polonaise in B Major, Op. 9: No. 6; Karol Szymanowski: 2 Mazurkas, Op. 62; Józef Wieniawski: Concert Waltz in D flat major, Op. 3
Michał Szymanowski, piano
CDAccord ACD219 (November 2015)
Michał Karol Szymanowski is one of the most promising Polish pianists of the young generation. He was born in 1988 in Bydgoszcz into a musical family. He graduated with honors from the F. Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano with Katarzyna Popwa-Zydroń and orchestra and opera conducting with Zygmunt Rychert. At present, he continues his piano education as a doctoral student at his alma mater. He is simultaneously developing his skills with Eldar Nebolsin at the Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
[Source: naxos.com]