Recordings of Gorecki's Third Symphony (Nonesuch, with Zinman and Upshaw) and Polish composer Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conducting Bruckner's Symphonies have been selected as the Top 10 Discs of the Decade in the BBC Music Magazine, November issue.

The BBC Music Magazine's picks of the month included, in the orchestral category: Szymanowski, Janacek and Haas String Quartets arranged for orchestra. Erik Levi writes: "Three string quartets arranged for orchestra survive unscathed thanks to the Australian Chamber Orchestra's dazzling playing." Richard Tognetti's "transcription ...is convincing in almost every respect, the performers effecting a miraculous unanimity of ensemble while achieving the necessary elements of spontaneity and urgency...in the Szymanowski...makes one instantly forget that the work was originally conceived for only four players." Chandos CHAN 10016 received 5 stars.

This disc is also reviewed in the Gramophone Award Issue by Ivan March, who praises the Szymanowski and Haas quartets. "The sensuous textures of Szymanowski's Second Quartet, too, seem enhanced, when the playing yearns with underlying intensity without becoming over-voluptuous." In the instrumental category, the BBC picks of the month include: Chopin: Etudes, Opp. 10 & 25. Murray Perahia, piano. Reviewed by Adrian Jack who gives it 5 stars and says, "Perahia's long-awaited recording of the 24 Etudes emphasises the music's emotional content as much as its technical challenges." Jack states that the "wait has certainly been worth it. Not only are these 24 pieces still the cornerstone of modern piano technique, but they are also - and it's been said often enough - great music which satisfies our deepest spiritual needs, whose textural innovations and harmonic adventures still amaze."

This disc is also selected as the Editor's Choice and "Record of the Month" by the November Gramophone magazine. Bryce Morrison writes that this is "artistry of the highest calibre. Listen and wonder at such unalloyed perfection."

Zayas Masterworks ZMICD 102 Chopin: Piano Sonatas, etc... Pianist Juana Zayas gets high marks from Jeremy Siepmann (5 stars) for this and for the other CD ZMICD 101 where she plays works by Bach/Busoni, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt & Debussy. Never heard of this artist before, but according to Siepmann "this is a musician deserving of the highest respect."

GRAMOPHONE REVIEWS

Naxos Historical Mono 8 110684. Ignaz Friedman. Complete Recordings, vol. 1 These are superbly remastered by Ward Marston from English and American Columbia originals recorded from 1922-1953. In this first volume of the pianist's pianist, Ignaz Friedman, plays miscellaneous Chopin, Moszkowski's "Serenata," Op. 15 no. 1 and his own composition, "Elle danse," Op. 10, no. 5.

RATTLE TO RECORD SZYMANOWSKI

According to Gramophone Sir Simon Rattle will soon join his former City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to record Szymanowski's "Love Songs of Hafiz" and the ballet, "Harnasie" on EMI. Looks like the new conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic will soon have recorded most of Szymanowski's works. Hopefully, he will garner awards for these as well.

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE REVIEWS

Paderewski, 2002 Booklet by Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, Poland

Inspired by Chopin's idea of burying his heart where his love was, the dying Paderewski told his sister, Antonia Wilkonska, that no matter what happened to his body, his heart should remain in the United States. President Roosevelt, wishing to bestow the nation's highest honor on Paderewski, ordered that he be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. When Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, told him that only U.S. citizens could be buried at Arlington, Roosevelt directed that Paderewski's body be interred in a crypt surrounding Arlington's Mast of the Battleship Maine, to lie there until Poland was once again free. For the next several years, Paderewski devotees pondered the mystery, where is Paderewski's heart? While his body was being prepared for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, his heart was removed and disappeared. Paderewski's sister died two years later and his longtime agent continued to search for the heart. Years later, by a stroke of luck, one of Lech Walesa's American relatives saw the initials I.J.P. on a crypt while visiting a cemetery in New York. The caretaker confirmed that it did indeed held Paderewski's heart. In 1986, under the auspices of the Polish-American Congress, the heart was removed from this cemetery and placed in a shrine dedicated to his patron saint, Our Lady of Czestochowa, in Doylestown, Pa..

Meanwhile, Paderewski's body lay in the crypt of the Mast of the Maine for two decades, a fact known only to a few. A Paul Hume article in the Washington Post alerted President John F. Kennedy to the sad fact that only few people knew that the crypt contained Paderewski's remains. Kennedy directed that a marker be placed at the crypt's entrance. By a remarkable coincidence, JFK ordered me, the senior Polish-American in uniform, back from Vietnam to witness the unveiling of the marker. President Kennedy, in a moving speech, declared that artists, as free spirits, are uniquely qualified to promote democracy through the arts and education. A tape of this speech is one of my most prized possessions.

In 1981, as President Reagan's chief Arms Control Negotiator, I prevailed upon him to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Paderewski's death. There was a stirring ceremony at the amphitheater of Arlington National Cemetery, overlooking the mast of the Maine. Lane Kirkland, President of AFL-CIO, pledged the active support of American Labor to Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement. President Reagan, referring to President Kennedy's speech two decades earlier, reiterated Paderewski's philosophy that democracy could be promoted by the arts and education. He promised to support Solidarity in wresting Poland from Soviet domination and to return Paderewski's body to a free Poland.

In 1985, serving as President Reagan's Special Advisor on Arms Control, I was sent behind the Iron Curtain to brief the communist leaders of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. When I asked General Jaruzielski if I could speak to Lech Walesa he said "I take note of that." I told Walesa about President Reagan's strong support for Solidarity. In 1988 President Reagan authorized me to tell Mr. Walesa, that when he became President of Poland Paderewski's body would be returned. In 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Cold War ended, and Poland regained its freedom. True to his promise, Reagan planned to return Paderewski's body to Poland on the 50th anniversary of his death, June 29, 1991. However, on a State visit to the United States, President Walesa said he had not sufficiently consolidated the government and requested that the return of the body be postponed until the following year.

On June 29, 1992, there was a magnificent ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Paderewski's casket, draped in an Polish flag, was transported from Arlington Cemetery to Andrews Air Force Base. I, as Honorary Chairman, traveled to Warsaw aboard the Presidential 747 with Paderewski's remains. I was accompanied by a group of prominent Polish-American businessmen, academicians, and cultural leaders. Clarence Paderewski, a renown American architect and second cousin of Paderewski, also traveled with me to Poland. In Warsaw there was another elaborate ceremony at the airport. President Walesa and prominent members of his government greeted the casket. In the group was Dr. Emila Paderewski Chroszicki, a well known physician and professor, and Paderewski's other living second cousin. We traveled in a military procession through streets lined with thousands of Poles waving American and Polish flags, to the Baroque Royal Castle, Zamek Krolowski, in downtown Warsaw where his body lay in state for the next several days. President George Herbert Walker Bush led an emotional ceremony in a square in front of the Castle where President Bush formally delivered the remains to President Walesa. In his address President Bush stressed that this great patriot and statesman had not only been responsible for restoring Poland's freedom, but also had promoted democracy through the arts and education. In accepting the remains President Walesa drew attention to the Polish constitution of 1793, the second oldest in the Free World, which was modeled after the United States Constitution. He thanked the U.S. citizens, especially Polish-Americans, for their undying support. In one final procession, Paderewski's casket was given a military escort to the Basilica of St. John, where it was placed in a crypt.

The Polish government in gratitude for my work in returning Paderewski's remains to Poland, presented me with the Polish flag which draped Paderewski's casket and two books signed by those who paid their respects while Paderewski's body lay in state in Zamek Castle. In turn, I donated the flag to the Polish museum in Chicago and the books to the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington D.C..

Poland's President Kwasniewski declared the year 2001to be the year of Paderewski, commemorating the 60th anniversary of his death. In addition to a number of events in Poland, it was celebrated by gala concerts in Carnegie Hall and Lisner Auditorium. Further events are planned for 2002 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the return of Paderewski's remains to Poland.

The full version of this article may by found on the site www.paderewskirowny.org maintained by Edward L. Rowny, Former Ambassador, LTG USA (Ret.). He may be contacted at fax: (202) 986-4752, e-mail: erowny@aol.com.