Wendy Lands – Władysław Szpilman Piosenki Songbook
Songs of Władysław Szpilman: Fall in love again, Turn away, I wish you’d ask to dance with me, Dancing with Antonio, Someday we will love again, Without you, I’m set free, True and tender, Smoke and mirrors, Prisoners of evening, My memories of you, and Hold me a moment
Wendy Lands, vocalist
Polskie Radio PRCD 1912 (Available outside of Poland on Amazon.com)
Originally recorded in Los Angeles as the companion CD to the Roman Polanski-directed movie The Pianist, the 2003 album Wendy Lands Sings The Music Of The Pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman has recently been repackaged by Polish Radioand released for the first time in Poland. The Pianist won Oscars and Golden Globes but, more importantly, it told Wladyslaw Szpilman’s holocaust story of losing his entire family but surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Szpilman was able to return to Warsaw after the war where he became a celebrated composer, pianist and the director of the Popular Music Department at Polish Radio (or Polskie Radio).
According to singer Wendy Lands, the songs on the album are Szpilman’s original compositions, but the lyrics were written by some of the finest songwriters in North America. Produced by John Leftwich (who also worked with Carmen McRae, Rickie Lee Jones, Melody Gardot), the sound of the album is also very American—rootsy and jazzy.
[Sources: Boosey & Hawkes press release, wendylands.com]