The long-awaited premiere of string arrangements of music by Henryk Wars based on the materials held in the PMC Wars Collection was finally realized thanks to the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association (SPMK) and a grant they secured for this unusual project. They were presented at the Kraków Music Salon, an annual concert series organized by SPMK, at a concert dedicated to Tad Taube (1931-2025) whose transformational gift in 2019 made the digitization of the Wars Collection possible.
One of the goals and challenges of arranging Wars’s film and music cabaret songs for string quartet and piano quintet was to see how these compositions—cherished by several generations of Polish and American audiences—will sound as purely instrumental music on stage. That moment came on September 15, 2025 in front of a standing room only crowd at the elegant and very exclusive Krzysztofory Palace in the heart of Kraków’s Old Town. At this concert, a selection of Wars transcriptions was world-premiered by the V4 Quartet and PMC Director Marek Zebrowski, who was both arranger and pianist for the concert. Zebrowski’s twelve arrangements for string quartet and six for piano quintet were an instant success with the enthusiastic public. Just a day later, the same arrangements were recorded by these performers at the Kielce Philharmonic Chamber Music Hall for a CD release later this year.
Founded in 2021 the V4 String Quartet takes its name from the four Vyšehrad Club countries—Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia—because it represent the international make-up of this talented chamber ensemble. First violinist, Miranda Liu, a Californian permanently residing in Hungary, is the concertmaster of the Concerto Budapest orchestra. Second violinist, Daniel Rumler works with orchestras in Switzerland and teaches in Bratislava. Violist Tomáš Krejbich is a member of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Sedlaček Quartet, as well as a professor of music. Cellist Bartosz Koziak lives in Warsaw and for several years has enjoyed a spectacular career as a freelance soloist, performing and recording worldwide.
The immortal tunes of Henryk Wars (known as Henry Vars in the U.S.) that were presented on September 15 included a mix of compositions written in Poland in the 1930s, as well as those dating from the first decade or so after Wars settled in Hollywood in 1947. Thus, pre-war songs such as Czy tutaj mieszka Panna Agnieszka, Tak dziwnie mi, Ach, jak przyjemnie, Miłość Ci wszystko wybaczy, Kochaj mnie, a bedę Twoją, Nie wiedziałem, Złociste włoski and Sex Appeal were transcribed by Zebrowski for string quartet, along with such American numbers as Sleep My Child, Never Say You’ll Never Fall in Love, Good Love, and the iconic title song from the film Flipper, dating mainly from the 1950s and early 1960s. Moving on to piano quintets, Zebrowski’s arrangements included such songs as Never Trust a Gypsy with Your Heart, Over and Over and Over, and Let the Chips Fall (also known by its Italian title, Vada il mondo), as well as three great old Polish standbys: Gdyby szczęście przyszło dziś, Już nie zapomnisz mnie, and New York Times, the first Polish jazz tune written for a Warsaw music revue theatre in 1927.
In addition to their ambitious Kraków Music Salon offerings, SPMK members continue an autumn full of musical offerings in the US. October dates include:
- Oct 15 @ Southwestern College in Chula Vista, San Diego: Bartosz Koziak (cello) and Grzegorz Mania (piano) present works by Mieczysław Weinberg, Szymon Laks, Roman Ryterband, Fryderyk Chopin and Ignacy Jan Paderewski
- Oct 19 @ University of Southern California & Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles: Bartosz Koziak (cello) and Grzegorz Mania (piano/lecture) collaborate with USC Thornton string quartet on works by Szymon Laks. See details of the 2025 Paderewski Lecture-Recital and Witness to Truth: André Laks events
- Oct 23 @ University of Washington in Seattle – Bartosz Koziak (cello) and Grzegorz Mania (piano) present works by Mieczysław Weinberg, Szymon Laks, Roman Ryterband and Karol Rathaus
- Oct 24 @ Dom Polski in Seattle – Bartosz Koziak (cello) and Grzegorz Mania (piano) present works by Szymon Laks, Roman Ryterband, Fryderyk Chopin and Ignacy Jan Paderewski