Music in Sound and Print
Dr. Andrzej Ślązak, a longtime PMC friend and Fulbright Scholar who conducted research of our Bronisław Kaper Collection last year, came for a visit in early September. It was connected Dr. Ślązak’s East and West Coast concerts this fall that, among others, featured his solo piano transcriptions of Kaper’s lush film score to the 1962 feature, Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard.
Besides his Fulbright-sponsored research into Kaper’s film music, Dr. Ślązak is also recognized as a preeminent Bach specialist. During his recent visit he presented us with his recording of Bach’s magisterial Die Kunst der Fuge (DUX 2053/2054), recently issued in Poland on the DUX label. Our score library was also enriched by Dr. Ślązak’s piano transcription of Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582.
Dr. Ślązak considerable scholarly activity also extended to his editorial work on a variety of solo piano and chamber works by several Polish composers. Most important in this context are Roman Palester’s Sonata for Two Violins and Piano (PMW 12299), a 1939 composition newly issued by PWM, edited by Dr. Ślązak and his partner for many chamber music performances around the world, violinist Mateusz Strzelecki.
The other rarely-heard work edited by the Strzelecki-Ślązak team is Roman Padlewski’s Berceuse from his unfinished Suite for Violin and Piano (PMW 13276). Written in 1941 in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, this is the only Suite movement that survived to this day. A great deal of Padlewski’s music was lost during the war and the composer died during the August 1944 Warsaw Uprising, after his brave service in the underground resistance. It’s wonderful to have a new PWM edition of this work in the PMC library.
Still more newly published scores were given to us by Dr. Ślązak. As the editor of the piano music series called Twórczość kompozytorów świętokrzyskich [Works by composers from the Świętokrzyskie Region] attractively published by Ars Musica Edition and supported by the Kochanowski University in Kielce (where Dr. Ślązak is the Chair of Piano Studies), the six separate volumes contain music by Paweł Michał Korepta, Paweł Łukowiec, Mirosław Niziurski, Jerzy Mądrawski, Konstanty Wileński and Łukasz Woś. These interesting repertoire rarities will enrich our score library considerably and, like all our resources, will be shared with interested students, faculty and researchers.
Chopin De Luxe
Pianist and USC Thornton School of Music alum, Stewart Uyeda, recently travelled to Poland to participate in the Sixth International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Amateur Pianists.
Held in Warsaw September 9-14 and organized by the Chopin Society, this contest attracted a total of 42 pianists, including 12 from Japan, six each from the U.S. and France, and five from Poland. Other countries represented at the year’s Competition included Canada, China, Italy, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. French pianists took the First and Third Prize and a contestant from China won the Second Prize. Honorable mentions went to three Japanese pianists and to pianists from Italy, South Africa and South Korea. The Winners’ Concert was held in Warsaw September 15.
Following his performance at the Competition, Stewart and his wife, Mayra Gallo, explored all kinds of music-related and culinary attractions in Warsaw. Besides their expedition to Chopin’s birthplace in Żelazowa Wola, they also found some time to acquire gifts for the Polish Music Center, including a deluxe manuscript facsimile edition of Chopin’s Polonaise fantaisie, Op. 61 (published by the Chopin Institute in Warsaw), one of Chopin’s works performed by Stuart at the Competition. This elegant, clothbound volume with extensive source commentary in Polish, English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese will take pride of place on our library shelf. On a less intellectual note, we were also showered by Stewart and Mayra with a large selection of Polish biscuits and tea cookies that will keep the PMC tradition of afternoon teas going for quite a while!
Silent Keyboard Treasure
In the old days, pianists on tour used a small, portable silent keyboard to keep their fingers in shape. Today the situation is quite different, with a profusion of electronic keyboards of every kind available to the professional and amateur alike.
Teresa McWilliams, a longtime resident of Santa Barbara, whose father Tomasz Gliński was an accomplished pianist and composer, just presented the PMC with a rare gift of an original early 20th century silent keyboard. Housed in a solid oak case, it covers 4 octaves from C to C, and is 30 in. long, 13 in. wide, and 8 in. deep. With a small brass handle, it is relatively easy to carry and can be set on any tabletop or flat surface before it can be used for practicing.
This fascinating instrument (if one can call it that), was acquired by Ms. McWilliams in Santa Barbara many decades ago and may have even been used by Paderewski, as he performed there on several occasions during the early 1900s. In any case, it was subsequently given by Ms. McWilliams to a noted pianist Jerome Lowenthal, who for many years was on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. After he moved to New York City to chair the piano department at Juilliard School of Music, Lowenthal returned this keyboard to Ms. McWilliams, who recently passed it on to us. This rare artifact will join the PMC collection of museum-quality objects and serve as an additional item of interest related to our extensive Paderewski—Paso Robles Collection of music, photographs, books, and other exceptional memorabilia.
To all our donors, Thank you! Dziękujemy!