Sounds from New York City Jakub Polaczyk—friend of the PMC, composer and enthusiastic promoter of Polish music in New York City—sent us a monographic CD featuring variety of his compositions. The works on this Albany Records Troy1926 release include compositions for solo trombone, clarinet, percussion, and piano, string quartet, as well as songs for bass…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: May 2023
By Marek Zebrowski Warsaw Autumn Sounds Mieczysław Kominek, President of the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP) and Director of the Polish Music Information Centre in Warsaw (POLMIC), recently sent us the sound chronicles of the 2020 Warsaw Autumn Festival. This time around it is a set of three CDs, featuring the highlights of concerts that took…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: Spring 2023
Pump Out the Music! Virtuoso accordionist Wiesław Ochwat (above) teamed up with maestro Maciej Tworek and the Sinfonietta Cracovia ensemble to record two new concertos for accordion and orchestra for the Opus label (86 | 2022). Their CD features Maciej Zimka’s Concerto for Accordion and Chamber Orchestra and Mikołaj Majkusiak’s Concerto In Between for the…Continue Reading Feb 2023: PMC Gifts
Los Angeles based pianist Nancy Fierro, known for her championship of women composers, has recorded and performed in concert a number of works by Polish composers. A longtime fan of music by Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), and a friend of her late sister, Wanda, Fierro recorded Bacewicz’s monumental Second Piano Sonata some years ago. Fierro also…Continue Reading Szymanowska on Spotify
Together with Polish Music Publishers (PWM Edition) and ANAKLASIS Records, the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society of Poznań will present the online concert “The Legend Anew.” The concert will take place on September 7 at 6:00 p.m. CEST at the Bazar Hotel in Poznań, and will be broadcast via the Wieniawski Society’s YouTube channel. The event…Continue Reading Concert, Recording & Wieniawski Festival Kickoff
Augustyn Plays Bacewicz The month of August began with a parcel that arrived at the Polish Music Center from our friend and collaborator Kinga Augustyn, an award-winning Polish concert violinist based in New York. Her growing discography is now enriched by a new CD dedicated exclusively to Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), a prolific composer as well…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: August 2022
Spring has sprung (as it annually does) and this time around it also brought a shower of fine gifts to the Polish Music Center. There was much excitement around the PMC’s Spring Concert at the end of March, mainly because of the long-delayed world premiere of Mojave—an atmospherically beguiling and deeply musically satisfying work for…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: Marcel Chyrzyński
By Marek Zebrowski Among Polish pianists, Raul Koczalski (1884-1948) is considered among the most important interpreters of Chopin. Born in Warsaw, he made his first public appearance at the age of four and shortly thereafter was admired by the great Anton Rubinstein in St. Petersburg and became a student of Karol Mikuli (one of the…Continue Reading PMC Gifts, May 2022: Koczalski on Record
Leading classical music label NAXOS and its related brands have several exciting new releases featuring Polish creativity. Weinberg Featured on Album of Concertos Concertos for Trumpet and Piano Shostakovich: Piano Concerto in C Minor Op. 35, Weinberg: Trumpet Concerto in B-Flat Major Op. 94, Jolivet: Concerto for Trumpet, Piano, and Strings, Rachmaninov: 6 Songs Op….Continue Reading New on Naxos
By Marek Zebrowski Piotr Sałajczyk, a distinguished pianist, chamber musician and pedagogue, recently issued a recording of Mieczysław Weinberg’s Piano Sonatas No. 1, Op. 5, No. 2, Op. 8 and No. 3, Op. 31. Issued by the Polish Radio/Program Two (PRCD 2386), this disc is a welcome addition to the continuing rediscovery of this fascinating…Continue Reading Review: Weinberg by Sałajczyk