 | Polish Music Newsletter |
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December 2003, Vol. 9, No. 12. ISSN 1098-9188. Published monthly. Los Angeles: Polish Music Center, University of Southern California
2003 Paderewski Lecture |
Anniversaries |
Awards |
Calendar of Events | |
PMC's Annual Paderewski Lectures commemorate Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), a pianist, composer, politician
(the first prime minister of independent Poland after WWI), humanitarian, and orator, who was greatly acclaimed as a
virtuoso musician and a statesman. The Lectures highlight his links to California and to the University, which awarded
him an honorary doctorate in 1923. Simultaneously, the lectures spotlight current achievements of Polish music by presenting
composers and musicians of international stature to the American public.
For this year's Paderewski Lecture, the Polish Music Center has invited eminent Polish composer, now living in France, Joanna Bruzdowicz (b. 1943) as lecturer and honored musical guest. This year's Lecture series will consist of three wonderful evenings of music, discussion, and film presentations.
 Music and Film at IGM Art GallerySaturday, December 6, 7:30 p.m. Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery, USC Health Science Campus, 2250 Alcazar St. Featuring a screening of French avant-garde filmaker Agnes Varda's "The Gleaners and I", introduced with a performance of Ms. Bruzdowicz' solo violin work "Il Ritorno" and followed by a reception. This event is organized by the USC HSC Cultural Events Guild, led by Lynn Crandall, and Young-Nak Church, in conjunction with "Quiet Time," an exhibition of Korean art at IGM Art Gallery. Tickets: $10. Parking: Free. 2003 PADEREWSKI LECTURE: JOANNA BRUZDOWICZSunday, December 7, 4:00 p.m. USC Bing Theater, University Park (Main) Campus, 3500 Watt Way Ms. Bruzdowicz will discuss here concert and film music, illustrated with fragments of films by Agnes Varda, and live performances of her String Quartet No. 2, "Spring in America" for violin and piano, and "Song of Hope and Love" for cello and piano. Suggested donation: $10. Parking: $6. Polish Birthdays ConcertMonday, December 8, 7:30 p.m. United University Church, USC University Park (Main) Campus, 817 W. 34th St. Marek Szpakiewicz, cello, and Radosław Materka, piano will present a program celebrating the birth anniversaries of Poland's greatest 20th century composers: Witold Lutosławski (90th), Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki (70th), and Joanna Bruzdowicz and Marta Ptaszyńska (60th). Suggested donation: $10. Parking on USC Campus: $6. For more information, including parking and venue details, click here.
Poland's parliamentary commission for culture unanimously voted to
declare 2004 as Witold Lutosławski Year on the occasion of the 10th
anniversary of the composer's death on 7 February, 1994. To learn more about this great composer, visit his Composer Page
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki's 70th birthday year has brought the premiere of a new unaccompanied choral work, 5 Kurpian Songs. The 25-minute work sets Polish folk texts from the wooded north-eastern Kurpie region of Poland that developed distinctive cultural traditions due to its inaccessibility. The Polish Radio Choir conducted by Wlodzimierz Siedlik gave the first performance of the new work in Warsaw on 30 March, as part of a gala tribute concert at which the composer was presented with the Polish Radio Music Award for "exceptional achievements of special significance to Polish music life". Further performances of 5 Kurpian Songs were given by the Krakow Philharmonic Choir on the 28th and 29th of November. Other unaccompanied choral works by Górecki include Totus Tuus, Lobgesang, My Vistula and Broad Waters.
Górecki's 70th was also celebrated in October in Rome with a performance by
the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra from Katowice. The concert was held in the
city's new auditorium, Arco della Musica. The program was solely dedicated
to the music of composer. Gabriel Chmura conducted Three
Dances for Orchestra, Harpsichord Concerto and the famous Third Symphony.
Soloists were soprano Zofia Kilanowicz and harpsichordist Elżbieta
Chojnacka. Promoting Poland's entry into the European Union, this program is part of the cycle, "Listen to Poland - to Europe through music."
Other Polish tributes to Górecki this year have included: the opening concert of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (with Canticum Graduum, September), the Seventh Festival of Contemporary Music in Bielsko-Biala, where Górecki was the featured composer (October), and "Henryk Mikołaj Górecki's Jubilee" in Kraków (November). Anniversary celebrations were also marked in Kalisz, Lódz, Bydgoszcz, Poznan and Warsaw.
On December 6th, Katowice, Górecki's hometown, will be celebrating with music all day. The "Górecki Marathon" will go from 10 a.m. to at least 11 p.m., with concerts in venues all over the city. For a full list of the day's events, visit www.nospr.org.pl/EN_komunikaty.htm on the website of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The 70th birthday and 50th anniversary of the composing career of Krzysztof Penderecki are also bring celebrated this year. The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra with the Polish Radio Choir of Cracow, Choir of the Cracow Philharmonic, Boy Choir of the Cracow Philharmonic gave concerts featuring the composer's Seven Gates to Jerusalem, Benedictus, and Credo. Penderecki's music was also part of the cycle, "Listen to Poland - to Europe through music," which promotes Poland's entry into the European Union. In Finland, Polish conductor Jacek Kaspszyk led an orchestra of students from the Music Conservatory of Helsinki in two works by Penderecki — Sinfonietta per archi and Concerto for viola in a cello version with soloist Rafał Kwiatkowski, as well as Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra.
Composers Joanna Bruzdowicz and Marta Ptaszyńska also celebrate their 60th birthdays this year. The Polish Music Center will be celebrating all of these anniversaries in our "Polish Birthdays" concert on Monday, December 8th at 7:30 pm (see above).
The National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra dedicated two special
concerts this season to its founder Grzegorz Fitelberg on the occasion
of the 50th anniversary of his death. On October 10th, Gabriel Chmura featured a program of Fitelberg's favorite
composers: Lutosławski's Symphonic Variations, Szymanowski's Second
Symphony and Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. On October 12th, Jan Krenz, who succeeded Fitelberg as director of the orchestra, conducted the Overture to Moniuszko's opera, Paria (in an orchestral
arrangement by Fitelberg), Song of the Falcon by Fitelberg, as well
as another Fitelberg arrangement of a Bach aria, and Richard Strauss's
tone poem, Don Juan.
The NPRSO also commemorated the 100th birthday of Jerzy Fitelberg
(Grzegorz's son) with the release of a recording of his Second Violin
Concerto and a Nocturne. Trois Mazurkas has been previously recorded
by the orchestra under maestro Joel Suben.
In the U.S., a special concert dedicated to the memory of Grzegorz Fitelberg was
organized by violinist/composer Walter Legawiec under the auspices of
the Polish Cultural Foundation in Clark, New Jersey. Legawiec was
Fitelberg's only private student in composition. The program also
recognized composers Jerzy Fitelberg, Karol Szymanowski (whose music
Fitelberg widely promoted), Zygmunt Stojowski, Ignacy Paderewski and
Walter Legawiec.
The program reflected the music of Polish composers who were influenced
in one way or another by Grzegorz Fitelberg, who, as the chief
initiator and designer of the Young Poland publishing cooperative
(Szymanowski, Karlowicz, Rozycki & Szeluto), sacrificed his own career
as a composer to propagate the works of other Polish composers, mainly
Szymanowski, on an international scale. The program consisted of Grzegorz Fitelberg's Berceuse, Jerzy
Fitelberg's Mazurka, Szymanowski's Chante de Roxanne and Prelude No.
6, Stojowski's Fluerette, Paderewski's Krakowiak and famous Minuet,
and Legawiec's Mazurka No. 3, Polish Dance, Sonata in D for violin and
piano and To a Lonely Shepherd Girl. Walter Legawiec, Paul Keuter and Carolle-Ann Mochernuk were the
featured soloists.
Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski can be found on the cover of the
November 2003 issue of BBC Music magazine with the caption: "Ideal Man.
The maverick pianist strives for perfection." Inside, the article's title is "Independence Day. No one can tell Piotr
Anderszewski what he should be doing — but his own standards are so
high that the results are always riveting. Stephen Johnson meets the
Polish pianist on a lonely beach in Suffolk to talk about Mozart,
Beethoven and his new Chopin disc."
The new CD is Virgin Classics 5 45620 2. Anderszewski performs a
recital of Chopin Polonaises, Mazurkas & Ballades. The interview
informs us about the award-winning pianist's reluctance to perform
Chopin because when he was "starting to do well as a pianist in Poland, people immediately started saying that because I am Polish I must play Chopin, and I must take part in the Warsaw Chopin competition.
Maybe it's because I have a nature that tends to go against this kind
of pressure, but I totally closed myself to this music and refused to
take part in this game." And now we find that the "exacting Polish
pianist has finally come round to Chopin", and the way he "got back to
him was through Bach...Chopin was a great admirer of Bach, and you can
see this in so much of his music."
There is a new, impressive Polish-language music magazine on the market called Twoja Muza. It is published in Poland but is available in the U.S. Visit www.twojamuza.pl for a preview or to subscribe. Information and subscriptions also available at : Twoja Muzaul. Podmiejska 12 01-498 Warszawa POLAND Tel: (0-22) 861-41-58 Tel/fax: (0-22) 861-41-57 Email: biuro@twojezdrowie.com.pl
Masterpieces by Wajda, Polanski, and Rybczynski in meticulously produced DVDs (in most cases rich in bonus "add-ons" and available in VHS) stand out among the many works by Polish filmmakers that are available for home viewing. As candidates for Christmas gifts we especially recommend:
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INTERNET NEWS | 
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS |
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DISCOGRAPHY |
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Penderecki: Sextet, Clarinet Quartet, Divertimento for solo cello, Three Piano Miniatures and Piano Prelude. Reviewed in BBC magazine's Dec 2003 issue by Anthony Burton who gives this recording of Penderecki's chamber music four stars. "The performers, a group of expert French and Finnish musicians, brought together under the auspices of the Naantoli Festival, seem perfectly attuned to each other and to the music, helped by a generally sympathetic recording."
Penderecki: St. Luke Passion. Antoni Wit leads the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir and the Warsaw Boys' Choir with soloists Klosinska, Kraszewski, Tesarowska and Kallberger.
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) - Piano works Anita Krochmalska, piano Including: Concert Cracovienne (world premiere recording), Three Grotesques, Children's Suite, Piano Sonata No. 1 (world premiere recording), Two studies for Double Notes, Scherzo. Vivace, Sonatina, Rondino, Piano Sonata No. 2, Little Triptych.
Paderewski: Violin Sonata, Allegro de Concert and Melodia, Op. 16 No. 2. Konstanty Kulka, violin; Waldemar Malicki, piano. Jan Smaczny tells us this is a "real find; only one other recording of the violin sonata is available (Pavane) and none of the Allegro." He adds that the Sonata, which was "praised by Brahms for its brilliance and subtlety" has "real distinction." He also commends the pianist for being able "to navigate the composer's tempestuous piano part with great virtuosity."
Paderewski: Violin Sonata, Allegro de Concert and Melodia, Op. 16 No. 2. Konstanty Kulka, violin; Waldemar Malicki, piano. Jan Smaczny tells us this is a "real find; only one other recording of the violin sonata is available (Pavane) and none of the Allegro." He adds that the Sonata, which was "praised by Brahms for its brilliance and subtlety" has "real distinction." He also commends the pianist for being able "to navigate the composer's tempestuous piano part with great virtuosity."
Lutosławski: Grave, Overture, Double Concerto for oboe & harp, Musique Funebre, Dance Preludes. Michel Lethiec, cl.; Isabelle Moretti, harp; Francois Leleux, oboe; Francois Salque, cello. Sinfonietta Cracovia, Robert Kabara, cond. Stephen Johnson lauds the music of Lutosławski. He states, "Where so much Sixties experimentalism sounds dry, abstract, pretentious or just plain anti-human today, Lutosławski's explorations revealed, and go on revealing, new worlds of imagination." He also praises Sinfonietta Cracovia's "very laudable performances" which, unfortunately, "are slightly handicapped by dullish, less than perfectly balanced recordings." Still a four-star rating!
Janacek: Violin Sonata; Lutos: Subito, Partita; Szymanowski: Mythes. Isabelle Faust, violin; Ewa Kupiec, piano. Jan Smaczny thinks the performers "seem happiest in the expansive textures of the Szymanowski" and they are also "highly effective in Lutos's breathless 'Subito' and five movement Partita." |
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CHOPIN FILM AFTERMATH |
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by Wanda Wilk
I was fortunate to be invited to the special screening of Polish director Jerzy Antczak's film, "Desire for Love." The film was presented at the Director's Guild of America as the highlight of the celebration of Poland's Independence Day sponsored by the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles. In last month's issue of News of Polonia, Theresa M. Dudzik gave a full account of the event along with a favorable review of the film about Chopin. I, too, agree that the film was "beautiful to look at and listen to." The scenery was superb, the costumes magnificent and the luxurious background of the home interiors in the Paris circles in which Chopin moved about was elegantly displayed. The selection of music done personally by Jerzy Antczak was the best, although most any Chopin music would do. However, his selection was the best of the best! He also employed some of the best talents of our time to perform this great immortal music. Among them: pianists Jerzy Olejniczak, Emanuel Ax and Yukio Yokoyama; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; violinists Vadim Brodski and Pamela Frank, with music orchestration by Wojciech Gogolewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Henryk Kuzniak. Theresa Dudzik mentioned at the end of her article that an, "audience of Polish Americans were accustomed to a kind of mystique surrounding Chopin," and I can relate to this. As an American of Polish heritage I was brought up on the Hollywood version of the 1945 movie, "A Song to Remember," which also dealt with the "torrid, decade long affair" of George Sand and Fryderyk Chopin. Merle Oberon played the part of the French novelist while Cornel Wilde portrayed Chopin. Even though I knew that Chopin had a short, sad life and that his relationship with Sand broke up before he died, I had built up a glamorous version of this "great love story" between the two. Only natural, when even today, a theatre review in the Patriotic Ledger of July, 2003 describes the play "Romantique" as "one of the world's great romances that took place in the nineteenth century between composer F. Chopin and novelist George Sand, a cross-dressing feminist born Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin." According to the Blockbuster web-site, Columbia Pictures and director Charles Vidor produced, "one of the most successful filmed biographies of the 1940s, `A Song to Remember,' which alleges to be the true story of Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin. Actually, it has about as much relation to the truth as a Heckle & Jeckle cartoon, but with such gorgeous creatures as Cornel Wilde and Merle Oberon in the leads, who cares?" Director Jerzy Antczak presented a more factual film in "Desire for Love." When the film ended my reaction was how true was this film, for I didn't remember some of the details of the problems between Chopin and Sand's children. I remembered that her daughter had developed a girlish infatuation for him but I didn't remember the antagonism from Sand's son and also the jealousy scene from a former lover. I immediately looked into a book I had at home, "Chopin in Paris" by Tad Szulc. This book was based primarily on the correspondence of Chopin, his family and friends. In fact the author wrote to me in 1995 inquiring about several books that he needed for his research, but couldn't find and we had them in our Polish Music Center library. I am happy to say that Mr. Szulc acknowledges this in his book on page 426: "In Los Angeles, Wanda Wilk, Founder and Honorary President of the Polish Music Reference Center at the School of Music at the University of Southern California, rendered me the vital courtesy of loaning - for much longer than she thought at first - the volumes of Chopin's Polish Language correspondence and other literary materials without which my book could not have been written. My profound thanks go to Mrs. Wilk and the Center." Mr. Szulc showed his gratitude again in 1997 by donating his research material to the Polish Music Center. It consisted of 26 books on Chopin, over 20 journals and over 50 articles, mostly from Ruch Muzyczny, which helped him write the book and which he no longer needed. So, I am now reading more carefully the award-winning writer's "first definitive English language biography of Chopin," as it is described on the book cover. I now better understand the meaning of the title, "Desire for Love." The endless search for love by the characters in the film, whether manifested in the maternal love and care that "Aurore" gave to "Fryderyk" or by the son, who yearns for and is jealous of his mother's love for Chopin, there was a great need for love on all sides. According to a press conference at the 6th Shanghai International Film Festival, the director wanted to "tell the audience that human beings should understand each other and should understand that everyone needs love." This is the reality of life that Academy nominated director Jerzy Antczak was able to show in his film. He also was able to portray Chopin's love and longing for his family and country. A most poignant part of the film, to me, was his reminiscence of a Christmas Eve of long ago with his family in front of a Christmas tree singing "O gwiazdeczko cos blyszczala" (O star, so brightly shining) with a specially effective moment when the voices trail off and only Chopin's mother's voice continues. Very heart-wrenching! Chopin's mother was lovingly portrayed by the director's wife, Jadwiga Baranska. I also learned from the Chinese film festival web-site that, as a Chopin fan, Antczak spent twenty years writing the screenplay with his wife, after reading many books on Chopin. Writer, director, and producer Jerzy Antczak began his career as an actor, graduating from the famous Theater Academy in Lodz in 1956. He moved to Warsaw in 1963 where he was Chief Director and later Head of the Polish TV Masterpiece Theater. He came to the U.S. and began teaching at the Film School at UCLA in 1985 as a tenured professor. He is the recipient of many awards for his many films, especially for "Nights and Days," which received a nomination for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Category in 1977. This Polish film has been dubbed into Italian, French, German, Spanish and was given English subtitles. Yes, the early 1945 Hollywood film left us with a highly glamorized version of a love story between two prominent people. However, it also had several positive effects. The film gave pianist, "Liberace inspiration for his candelabra sitting on the piano." Liberace also owned, among a total of 29 pianos, the Pleyel piano that was used in the 1945 film. You can see it in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas or on the web-site. The movie was a money maker for the studio. Fifteen years later Columbia tried again with a movie about Franz Liszt, titled, "A Song Without End," but the magic just wasn't there. Some tid-bits about "A Song to Remember" you may or may not know: Jose Iturbi was the behind-the-scenes pianist for Cornel Wilde. Iturbi's recording of the Polonaise in Ab from this film sold over a million copies. A song version based on the Polonaise was written by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman and the lyrics went like this: "Till the end of time, Long as stars are in the blue, Long as there's a spring, a bird to sing, I'll go on loving you." Another song used in this movie was "No Other Love," which was adapted from Chopin's Etude in E major by Bob Russell and Paul Weston and published by Walt Disney Music Co. The words here are "No other love can warm my heart now that I've known the comfort of your arms. No other love. Oh! the sweet contentment that I find with you ev'rytime, ev'rytime!" With songs like this no wonder I always thought this was the greatest love story ever! Jerzy Antczak's film, "Desire For Love" has already been awarded the "Platinum Award" (the highest award) for Best Drama and the "Gold" for the Best Cinematography at the Houston Film Festival in April 2003. We are looking forward to seeing it nominated for an Academy Award next. |
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PMC Newsletters
Copyright 2003 by the Polish Music
Center
Send your comments and inquiries to: polmusic@usc.edu
Newsletter Editors: Wanda Wilk and Krysta Close.
Contributions by Vladek Juszkiewicz and Joseph Herter.
Sources of information: Polish Cultural Institute, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Gazet Beskid
chesternovello.com,
The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, BBC Music Magazine, Acte Préalable,
Polish American Journal,
PAP, Kosciuszko Foundation, Blockbuster Inc.
Formatting by Krysta Close, 12/04/2003.