During the gloriously sunny summer months in Los Angeles, just as it seemed that vacation time is upon us with slower-than-usual traffic on campus, we were kept rather busy at the PMC. Besides working on preserving items from the Stojowski Collection with great and invaluable assistance from Anna Czajka, our expert in residence visiting from Poland in late June/early July, we were receiving an abundance of gifts for our library arriving by mail or in person, on site in LA as well as during PMC Dir. Marek Zebrowski’s time in Poland.
Summer Bounty at Our Doorstep
In the first category of gifts received by post, our friends at the Polish Academy of Sciences sent us their two recent publications. The first is the magazine Muzyka (No. 2/277 – 2025) featuring, as usual, an array of attractive articles assembled for this issue by Editor-in-Chief, Paweł Gancarczyk. They include Szymon Paczkowski’s In the Shadow of the Dresden Hofkapelle, Jakub Chachulski’s essay on the search for the Polish polonaise aria in Dresden, Anna Ryszka-Komarnicka’s research into an unknown episode from the stage career of Antonina Ciampi, and Sławomir Wieczorek’s observations on music aesthetics, criticism and history. The other item received from the Academy of Sciences is a beautiful, limited-edition book published by the Archivum Helveto-Polonicum Foundation: Julia Kisielewska—korespondencja rodzinna, a second volume in the series of correspondence between the Opieński and Krzymuski families, expertly edited by Magdalena Bilska-Ciećwierz with translations from the French provided by Anna Rydz.
Other summer gifts delivered to the PMC library in person began with Dr. Grzegorz Mania who, during his Los Angeles vacation, stopped by to deliver the latest two issues of Notatnik Pianistyczny, No. 8 (2)/2025 and No. 9 (3)/2025. It seems that with every new issue this quarterly publication gains in size and content. No. 8 opens with a fine article on Chopin’s E minor Nocturne by Paweł Wakarecy and is followed by Hanna Holeksa’s detailed look at Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 24 no. 2. In the “Graj bez nut” [Play without the score] article—part of the Notatnik’s running series—the reader can learn how to improvise on various chord patterns. Many pages in this issue are also devoted to sightreading in an article by Dr. Mania jointly authored with Monika Gardoń-Preinl. Further on, Dr. Wojciech Kocyan’s thoughts on piano sound (Part II) round off his views on this subject first posed in the previous Notatnik issue. This essay is followed by articles about two lesser-known nineteenth century musicians, Józef Nowakowski and Józef Krogulski. As usual, scores for a few short piano pieces by Agnieszka Kulikowska-Owsiak, Teresa Makowiecka-Hanke, Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler as well as a short Waltz by Zygmunt Noskowski, round off this publication. No. 9 of Notatnik features a short introduction from pianist and guest editor, Dr. Marek Szlezer and is followed by articles on interpreting Chopin (Mazurkas Op. 7 no. 2 and Op. 63 no. 3) and Faure’s Berceuse from Dolly Suite, Op. 56. Further on, an extended interview with the President of Kraków Music Academy, Dr. Mariusz Sielski centers on French music, a particular specialty of this fine pianist and educator. The remaining pages in this issue are devoted to reviews (Weinberg’s biography by Danuta Gwizdalanka), CD recordings (works by Ravel, Laks, Weinberg, Rathaus), portraits of lesser-known composers (Edward Wolff, Wojciech Sowiński), more sight-reading exercises, short pieces by Mołodyńska-Wheeler and Makowiecka-Hanke, as well as (surprise!) a score of Polonaise nouvelle by Franciszek Lessel. Pianists of all levels and others interested in Polish music are heartily invited to read this fine journal and make new discoveries in all sorts of areas.
A Trunkful of Treasures
Another tranche of July gifts was received in person by dir. Marek Zebrowski during his visit in Poland and Germany in July. Dr. Andrzej Ślązak, a noted pianist and professor at Kielce University, donated several copies of his Polish Hollywood recording. With music by Bronisław Kaper, Wojciech Kilar and Henryk Wars, this release is a direct result of Dr. Ślązak’s semester-long research as a Fulbright Scholar at the Polish Music Center just over two years ago. Ślązak’s Opus Series CD features his solo piano arrangements of Kaper’s music to the 1962 feature, Mutiny on the Bounty, as well as cues from Kilar’s music to Dracula (1992), The Pianist (2002), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), and The Shadow Line (1976). The remaining tracks on this CD are devoted to the American songs by Henryk Wars (known as Henry Vars in the U.S.), presented in transcription for violin and piano by Mateusz Strzelecki and Andrzej Ślązak. Ranging from the 1948 lullaby, Sleep My Child (a song dedicated to children orphaned during World War II) to the mid-1960s It’s a Cotton Candy World from Flipper’s New Adventure, the selection of titles also includes 1950s hits from Westerns (Ev’ry Hour, Good Love), as well as Over and Over and Over—Vars’s biggest success with over half-million records sold—and the beautifully nostalgic stage song, I Remember.
Composer and pianist Tomasz Kamieniak resides in Berlin and dedicates his efforts as pianist to discovering and recording lesser-known solo piano repertoire. During a meeting in Germany’s capital, he donated to the PMC two of his latest recordings, the Toccata Classics 0747 CD featuring music by Walter Niemann (1876-1953) and a Brilliant Classics 96809 CD with music by Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937). Niemann’s late romantic piano miniatures are presented by Kamieniak with an engagingly warm tone, romantic charm and, when needed, a sparkle of virtuosity. This presentation of Opp. 43, 49, 68, 99, and 161 is Kamieniak’s second volume of Niemann’s output and, as such, represents only a fraction of about one thousand piano pieces written by this very prolific composer. The other gift from Tomasz Kamieniak is his recording Echoes of Harmony with music by Valentin Silvestrov. Here is a selection of largely post-romantic and generally contemplative music by yet another very prolific composer who is represented on Kamieniak’s recording by several sets of miniatures written between 2005 and 2021. Interestingly, this album opens with Kamieniak’s own Albumblatt V.S., Op. 6 dedicated to Valentin Silvestrov and ends with the collaborative version of the same piece, dubbed “Ukrainian” that represents a joint effort by Kamieniak and Silvestrov. Both CDs also bear the composer’s dedication to the USC Polish Music Center, and we are naturally very grateful to Tomasz Kamieniak for this friendly and generous gesture.
During the Małopolska Talent Academy held in Łącko in early July, violist Maria Shetty was one of several distinguished faculty members in residence. In between working with her students and performing at Academy’s concerts, Ms. Shetty presented the PMC with her latest recording dedicated to music by Paul Hindemith. Her DUX 2074 CD features Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola Op. 25 no. 1 and two Sonatas for Viola and Piano (Op. 11 no. 4 and Op. 25 no. 4), where pianist Monika Wilińska-Tarcholik proved to be Ms. Shetty’s most able chamber music partner. In Hindemith’s solo viola work, Shetty uncannily captures the great passion and nobility of this music, and her deep understanding of the composer’s intentions reaches a poignant climax in this Sonata’s Sehr langsam third movement. The other two Sonatas for viola and piano receive from both artists a thoughtful and varied treatment: Op. 11 is appropriately post-romantic and carefree whilst Op. 25 is fittingly driven and dramatic, with Ms. Wilińska-Tarcholik setting up the mood in the extended opening of the Sehr lebhaft first movement. Maria Shetty’s great virtuosity and splendidly assured interpretation shines throughout this fine recording. Listening to it will be an unforgettable musical journey for anyone. This gift also came with a lovely dedication, which is deeply appreciated.
Dr. Artur Szklener, a noted musicologist and since 2012 director of The Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, was instrumental in assisting this year’s Cultural Exchange Program that is carried out jointly by the Polish Music Center and Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles. Thanks to Dr. Szklener, two young California pianists were able to see the Chopin Museum in Warsaw as well as the composer’s birthplace in Żelazowa Wola (see our 2025 Exchange article for a full description of this year’s incredible opportunities).
During their Chopin Museum tour, the visitors were also able to view the exhibit Życie romantyczne/Romantic life—Chopin, Scheffer, Delacroix, Sand, which was organized in conjunction with the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition. With over fifty artworks from the Musée de la vie Romantique housed in an elegant Restoration-era space on Rue Chaptal in Paris, this Warsaw vernissage focuses on the artists’ colony in early to mid-nineteenth century Paris that truly included le tout Paris artistique et intellectuel: Chopin, George Sand, Eugene Delacroix, Pauline Viardot in addition to many other Polish emigrees who frequented Ary Scheffer’s residence for musical and artistic soirees. With illustrations and fascinating texts on Ary Scheffer in the Heart of Romantic Life, Ary Scheffer: the Force of a Romantic Portrait, Ballade, The Peasant Face of Polish Romanticism, Realism of the Romantic Life, A Fan with Caricatures, The Enlightened Mind and Mickiewicz’s Slavic Inspiration, George Sand and Pets, and Give Me a Blue Ribbon by such authors as Gaëlle Rio, Seweryn Kutner, Artur Szklener, Agnieszka Lajus, Andrzej Pieńkos, Urszula Król, Ewa Hoffmann-Piotrowska, and Charlotte Piot, this exhibit catalogue brings to life the artistic circle surrounding Chopin during his two decades in Paris. Besides fascinating artworks reproduced in this publication, we also find a treasure trove of precious memorabilia, including bracelets, jewelry and pocket watches, a medallion with George Sand’s hair as well as a cast of her right arm and cast of Chopin’s left hand (made by sculptor Auguste Clésinger), notebooks (including one belonging to Baroness d’Est with the autograph of Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu), small sculptures, miniature portraits and more. This catalogue is certain to become an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Chopin’s life. It was donated to the PMC library after a visit to the Chopin National Institute in July, and it is a princely gesture indeed!
Finally, another dear PMC friend, composer Marcel Chyrzyński presented us with one of his latest recording in Kraków during a very quick lunch meeting. This DUX 2001 CD features Chyrzyński’s chamber music, including In C, Quasi Kwazi III, Dance of Death, For MS…, Reflection No. 8, Betelgeuse, and Death in Venice. Performers on this disc include Piotr Lato (clarinet), Wojciech Koprowski (violin), Jan Kalinowski (cello), and Marek Szlezer (piano). This outstanding group of soloists and chamber musicians, all close friends of the composer, provide a convincing—and indeed an exemplary—interpretation of these musically challenging and deeply emotional compositions. The excellence of this recording has quickly garnered international attention with Chyrzyński receiving a Silver Medal at the International Global Music Awards in the Composer—Contemporary Classical category in March 2025. Just a few months later, in June 2025, Chyrzyński’s Orpheus Classical CD Clarinet Pieces with clarinetist Kamil Janas, pianist Magdalena Duś and Al Pari String Quartet received a Silver Medal in the same Global Music Awards Composer—Contemporary Classical category. We hereby join the world audience in congratulating Maestro Chyrzyński for these latest honors and happily acknowledge our longstanding collaboration in presenting his music to California audiences. It began in March of 2014 with the Kalinowski-Szlezer performance of Chyrzyński’s Farewell for Cello and Piano and since then this important Polish composer’s music continues to resonate and be appreciated in this part of the world. In fact, another world premiere of Marcel Chyrzyński’s music is planned for the PMC Spring Concert in late March 2026. Stay tuned!
See more summer gifts in our August 2025 PMC News article, and thank you to all donors! Dziękujemy!