Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 2, no. 10


News


LUTOSLAWSKI‘s music on a NAXOS release performed by Poland’s top elite orchestra, WOSPRiT – Wielka Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia i Telewizji (The Great Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and Television of Katowice) received the prestigious French Award, Diapason d’or. Antoni WIT, conducting; Krzysztof BAKOWSKI, violin.

Mr. Wit and WOSPRiT also received this year’s Orpheus Award from the association of Polish music writers and critics at the conclusion of the Warsaw Autumn International Contemporary Music Festival.


During WOSPRiT’s opening concert of the season, conductor Jan KRENZ (director from 1953-1968) was awarded the title of Honorary Director on the occasion of his 70th birthday and 50th anniversary as a conductor.

A new book has just been published in Poland on the eve of Krenz’s birthday by author Elzbieta MARKOWSKA. Title: Jana Krenza 50 lat z batuta. Rozmowy of muzyce polskiej [Jan Krenz’s 50 years as a conductor. Conversations about Polish music]. Taken from interviews from many years on Polish Radio between the author and the conductor.


A new book on another great Polish conductor, Grzegorz FITELBERG (1879-1953) was published on the occasion of the V G. FITELBERG INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTOR’S COMPETITION. It is the first book about this outstanding champion of SZYMANOWSKI’s music. Sponsored by Fibak Marquard Press S.A.


You can rent Polish video cassettes from Albin WOZNIAK (301) 774-4560 of Brookville, MD for only $3 per week plus postage. He also has a variety of classical, folk and jazz recordings for sale.


Calendar of Events


DEC 1: “CHOPIN CHRISTMAS CONCERT.” WINNERS of the FIRST SAN
FRANCISCO CHOPIN COMPETITION FOR YOUNG PIANISTS,
1996. Music Salon of the Polish Arts & Culture Foundation,
1290 Sutter St., San Francisco. Sunday, 4 p.m. $5.

DEC 4: MASTERS OF CHAMBER MUSIC Roman JABLONSKI, cello,
Krystyna BORUCINSKA, piano. Music of LUTOSLAWSKI,
PTASZYNSKA and HAYDN. 7 p.m. Chopin Music Academy, Warsaw.

DEC 8: The KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDATION CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES.
Program 3. The NEW YORK VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE. Brahms, Strauss,
Christmas Carols from Poland and around the world. Kosciuszko Foundation Concert
Hall, 15 E. 65th St. NY City. 3:00 p.m. Recorded live on Radio Station WQXR-FM
hosted by June LeBell.

DEC 9: The Mother of black-winged dreams.
Premiere of Hanna KULENTY’s opera in one act, composed in 1995 to a libretto by
Paul Goodman. Munchener Biennale 1996, HAMBURG OPERA.
Director: Claus GUTH. Repeat performances 10-13 December.

DEC 18: CHRISTMAS CONCERT. CHOPIN ACADEMY OF MUSIC CHOIR.
Ryszard ZIMAK and John Paul JOHNSON (USA), conductors. Andrzej
CHOROSINSKI and Stanislaw MORYTO, organ. Roman LASOCKI, violin.
Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw. 7:00 p.m.


Polish-American Christmas Gala. Lira Singers, Lira Dancers, Lira Chamber Chorus, Lira Chamber Orchestra.

DEC 1: In South Bend, IN. Bendix Theatre. 3 p.m. $13-$20. Co-sponsored by the Chopin Fine Arts Club of South Bend. 7th Annual performance.

DEC 8: Chicago Area. Featuring a guest appearance by Dzieci (The LIRA CHILDREN’S CHORUS), Marilyn BYKOWSKI, cond. Morton East Auditorium, Cicero, IL. 3 p.m. $6 – $22.

DEC 15: Milwaukee Area. Bellarmine Hall at Cousins Center.
St. Francis, WI. $13 – $20.


Recent Performances


Illuminata, a ballet by Jerzy SAPIEYEWSKI was performed at the Kennedy Center. It is one of three ballets commissioned for the Washington Ballet for Simon, choreographer. The sold out performance received good reviews from the Washington Post and Washington Times.

Pianist Alan GAMPEL performed the music of Chopin at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California on Sunday, October 27th.

A Holiday Feast in Old Krakow featuring Legends & Music of Old Poland took place at the American Polish Cultural Society Center in Troy, Michigan. Legends were narrated in Polish and English and Renaissance music was performed by the Good Company under the direction of Anne C. BURNS. The society has been producing, since 1990, the Biesiada Starokrakowska, a festival reminiscent of feasts held during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Renaissance city of Krakow.

Professor Jan GORBATY, director of the Chopin Foundation in New York, presents a cycle of piano recitals each year in the residence of the Polish Consulate. Pianist Camille BUDARZ and Mary Ann SCIALDO performed in the first concert of this season in October. On November 17th a musical couple from Poland, Teresa KABANand Henryk BLAZEJ presented a program of music for flute and piano. A week later they performed in Miami, FL for the American Institute of Polish Culture in an evening of music and poetry. Reading of recent Nobel Prize winner Wislawa SZYMBORSKA’s poetry was accompanied by music of CHOPIN, DOBRZYNSKI, WIENIAWSKI and MONIUSZKO. Prof. GORBATY recently returned from a trip to Poland, where he performed in Zelazowa Wola (Chopin’s birthplace) and in Krakow.

A selected program of music for piano, violin and voice of Karol SZYMANOWSKI was ably performed in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on October 12th by Anna MARCHWINSKA, piano, Krzysztof WITEK, violin and Izabela KOBUS-SALKIN, mezzo soprano. On the program: (violin) Mythes, op. 30; Sonata in d minor, op. 9; Nocturne & Tarantella; and Romance (piano) Masques, op. 34 and (songs): Labedz, op.7, 2 Kurpie songs and Jestem i placze, op. 5 no.2.

A concert of live music and video projection by Jaroslaw KAPUSCINSKI, a graduating doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) was performed by John FONVILLE, flute, Steven SCHICK, percussion and the composer (piano). November 12th at Mandeville Recital Hall, San Diego.

Soprano Laura Grazyna KAFKA appeared in a recital with Irena JAROCKA sponsored by the Polish American Congress in Los Angeles on October 25th. A Californian, Laura is presently teaching in the Maryland public school system. She earned a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her dissertation was on the opera King Roger by Karol SZYMANOWSKI.


Discography


Christmas Shopping

Buy CDs or cassette tapes of Polish Carols and hymns or folk songs from the LIRA ENSEMBLE of Chicago. (800-547-5472).

Last chance for bargains from the MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY! Limited quantities of discontinued stock. P.O. Box 3006, Oakhurst, NJ 07755-3006. FAX: (908) 517-0438.

CD: 512190T “Four Works for violin and piano.” Beverly SOMACH, violin.
Stephen LAZARUS, piano. Includes SZYMANOWSKI‘S Mythes.
Super sale price:$7.98. Cassette: 3312190Y $2.98.

Cassette: 33122-2T Chopin: 19 Waltzes Special price $2.00.

CD: 5222688A Music of the Romantic Pianist/Composer.
includes music of CHOPIN, GODOWSKY, HOFMANN, MOSZKOWSKI,
PADEREWSKI, FRIEDMAN. David DUBAL and Stanley WALDORFF,
piano. Set of 2 discs. $19.96.

CD: 523422A Claudio ARRAU performs CHOPIN: The Nocturnes.
Sale Price: $19.96. Cassette: 323422K $7.96

CD: 70632Y Frederic Chopin: Preludes & Nocturnes. Hung- Kuan CHEN, piano.
Sale Price $9.98.


Newest Releases

KOCH CLASSICS CD:364 142: LUTOSLAWSKI SZYMANOWSKI PIANO CONCERTOS. Ewa KUPIEC, piano. BAMBERG SO, James JUDD, cond.

BIS CD673: CHOPIN PIANO WORKS. Roland PONTINEN, piano. Selection of Mazurkas, Barcarolle, Ballade, Nocturnes, Scherzo.

KONTRAPUNKT 32223 (Allegro): GORECKI: Domina Nostra and GUBAIDULINA. Anne-Lise BERNSTEN, sop. Jens CHRISTENSEN, organ. Danish Royal Academy Percussion.

OPENING DAY 9305 (Allegro): SZYMANOWSKI: Etudes, op. 4, Variations, op. 10, Metopes, op. 29, Masques, op. 34. Janina FIALKOWSKA, piano.

IRON NEEDLE 1327: CHOPIN: Chopiniana. Minneapolis Symphony. Dimitri MITROPOULOS, cond. Together with SCHUMANN’Second Symphony.

PEARL 9215 (Koch): Operatic arias, MONIUSZKO and Ukrainian folksongs. Salomea KRUSZELNICKA, sop. Recorded in 1902, 1904 and 1928.

MARCO POLO 8223757 (Naxos): TANSMAN: Concerto for Orchestra. Etudes, Capriccio. Moscow Symphony. Antonio de Almeida.

DUX (1996): GOMOLKA: Melodie na psalterz polski. IL CANTO vocal group, Michal STRASZEWSKI. dir. ARS NOVA instrumental group, Jacek URBANIAK,cond. Two elite performing groups of early Polish music perform these psalms for the first time in an instrumental version only (six times here) or in vocal/instrumental arrangements (all arranged by URBANIAK) in addition to the regularly performed a capella versions.


Anniversaries


Born This Month

  • DEC 3: BOLESLAW SZABELSKI (1896-1979)
  • DEC 5: BOLESLAW WOYTOWICZ (1899-1980)
  • DEC 6: HENRYK GORECKI (1933- )
  • DEC 11: MIECZYSLAW KARLOWICZ (1876-1909)
  • DEC 14: MARIA SZYMANOWSKA (1790-1831)
  • DEC 18: ROMAN PALESTER (1907-1989)
  • DEC 29: HENRYK VARS (1902-1978)