OPAŁKA PREMIERE AT ŁAŃCUCH FESTIVAL
Co-written by PMC staff and
Maria Peryt, musicologist

Because of this year’s centenary celebrations, the 10th Łańcuch [Chain] Festival organized by the Witold Lutosławski Society differs from previous Festivals in its splendor and diversity of events. The variety of repertoire and ensembles engaged in this year’s Festival is stunning, and it presents primarily the lesser known and rarely performed of Lutosławski’s compositions. Thanks to partners and sponsors of the Festival, concerts are taking place in the greatest concert halls in Warsaw from January 24 – February 9, 2013.

On February 1, an extraordinary concert featuring compositions by current and previous Lutosławski Sholarship recipients took place in the Hall of the Warsaw National Philharmonic. The repertoire of the concert included: Grażyna Krzanowska’s Silver Line for 15 string instruments, Aleksander Lasoń’s Suibusium felix for two violins and strings, Andrzej Krzanowski’s Symphony No. 2 for 13 string instruments, Tadeusz Wielecki’s Time of Stones for amplified double bass and chamber orchestra, Paweł Mykietyn’s 3 for 13 for 13 instruments, and Tomasz Opałka’s D.N.A. Concerto for bass clarinet and instrumental ensemble.

Commissioned by the Witold Lutosławski Society, this last piece is interesting in that it is one of few concertos written for bass clarinet in the Polish music literature. The soloist was the extraordinary bass clarinet player Jadwiga Czarkowska, performing with the Łańcuch Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Wojciech Michniewski.

Jadwiga Czarkowska
Photo source: www.polskamuza.eu

The premiere was a great success and was received warmly by the audience. “I was surprised by the reception. It’s very rare that after the concert strangers write to you to congratulate you, which happened this time” – said Tomasz Opałka. On Opałka’s website one can read opinions about the D.N.A. Concerto such as: “The premiere of D.N.A. was in my opinion the biggest event of this year’s Festival. I haven’t heard such fresh, communicative and passionate music for a long time. Mastery of form plus a huge dose of emotions! Congratulations and thank you for an unforgettable experience!” or “I have to join the enthusiasm after the premiere of your D.N.A. It’s not enough to say that the piece was enjoyable. You brought a spontaneous joy combined with artistic craftsmanship to the concert, with high demands for the audience. It’s a very rare combination at a concert of contemporary music.”

The Concerto has a very interesting structure, and also serves as a manifesto of Opałka’s approach to the contemporary music—it is an example of how one can create music that is both attractive to the listener, and at the same time complex and sophisticated. The conception of the piece is based on a DNA sequence. This is a tribute to Witold Lutosławski and at the same time an attempt to go beyond Lutosławski’s chain theory. In Opałka’s D.N.A., we can find four 6-step scales. Each of them is assigned to one of four instrumental groups. Opałka chose three protein models—A-DNA, B-DNA and Z-DNA—each of which has a different number of bindings before the helical turn—respectively 10, 11 and 12 bindings in each protein model. According to that sequence, the musical scales are subject to rotation and permutation just like in the double helix DNA chain. After each turn the scales change their place in the structure of the piece by being transferred to the other instrumental group.

Although it sounds like the piece should be rather difficult to approach, Opałka always thinks of his audience and, within this complicated conception, he has created a piece that is pleasurable to experience. The aspects most important to the listener’s enjoyment are the rhythm and orchestration as well as the extended techniques used in bass clarinet part. D.N.A.’s expression is based on explicit rhythmic structures—complex at the beginning of the piece and clarifying in the final part, with repetitive motifs that imply a distant reflection of minimalist music. In his orchestration, Opałka used a small but varied ensemble, giving him the opportunity to surprise the audience with the richness of colors and strength of the sound. An uncommon sonic atmosphere is created by the use of Tibetan bowls and a waterphone. Most importantly, the bass clarinet soloist performs several different multiphonics, virtuoso staccatos, didgeridoo-like effects and other sounds both interesting for the listener and difficult for the performer.

Tomasz Opałka (b. 1983, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski) began his musical education at the age of 14 and, from the very beginning he strove to be a composer. He graduated with honors in 2011 from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he is currently working on his PhD and teaching. His compositions have been performed by such orchestras as the: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wawel Royal Castle Symphony Orchestra, New Music Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra in Łódź, Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and several chamber ensembles and soloists. He has won numerous awards in Poland and abroad, and has received commissions from major Polish cultural institutions such as: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Witold Lutosławski Society, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Royal Castle in Warsaw and others. His percussion concerto, Vitality, was one of two Polish composers' works chosen by the international jury for the World Music Days 2014. According to the recently published book Dźwięki, szepty, zgrzyty by Agnieszka Lewandowska-Kąkol, Tomasz Opałka is considered to be one of 16 most important living Polish composers, alongside Krzysztof Penderecki, Zygmunt Krauze and Jerzy Maksymiuk. His compositions were performed in Poland, China, Slovakia, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Belgium.

Opałka is currently in Los Angeles participating in Christopher Young's Tilden House Residency Program for Composers. As a guest of the Polish Music Center, he is also working on his Violin Concerto commissioned by National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and dedicated to Janusz Wawrowski, who will premiere the piece in April this year. Tomasz Opałka is a member of ZAiKS and the Polish Composers Union.

Clarinetist Jadwiga Czarkowska (b.1986, Warsaw) studied with prof. Roman Widaszek at the Music Academy in Katowice and graduated in 2011. During her undergraduate work she developed an interest and second specialization in bass clarinet. Since 2012 Jadwiga Czarkowska is a PhD student at Music Academy in Katowice, with her thesis dedicated to bass clarinet performance and Polish music literature for this unique instrument.

Czarkowska has taken part in several master courses with such artists as: Eduard Brunner, Oriol Romani, Florent Héau, Antonio Saiote, Arnaud Leroy, Mathias Müller, Andrzej Janicki, Wojciech Mrozek, Aleksander Romański and Jan Jakub Bokun. As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed several concerts and festivals throughout Poland, and has performed with such orchestras as: City of Tychy Chamber Orchestra – AUKSO, New Music Orchestra, Krakow Festival Orchestra, Capella Cracoviensis, and more. She is the laureate of competitions such as VIII Clarinet Festival in Piotrków Trybunalski and II Clarinet Festival in Szczecin. In 2011, Czarkowska recorded Andrzej Krzanowski’s “Con vigore” with the Silesian Quartet (Polish Radio Katowice) and the recording was nominated for a prestigious “Fryderyk” award in 2012. She also took part in recordings of composers such as: Krzysztof Penderecki (St. Lucas Passion), Paweł Mykietyn (Symphony No. 3), Józef Michał Ksawery Poniatowski (opera Pierre de Medicis) etc. 

LUTOSŁAWSKI RECORDINGS

Lutosławski: The Symphonies

One of the 20th-century's great symphonists, Lutoslawski created an impressive, always progressing body of music in the most difficult of circumstances. With their live recordings of Lutosławski’s Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic and Symphony No. 1 made during the Lutosławski Centenary celebration last November, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen finished the last installment in their recordings of the complete Lutosławski symphonies. Released by Sony Music Entertainment, the complete set is now available on iTunes.

From Steven Stucky’s program notes for Chester Novello:

Lutoslawski’s four symphonies reflect the course of his development rather neatly. The First Symphony, composed from 1941 to 1947, closes his first style period; it became a cause célèbre when Lutoslawski was criticized by the Soviet-dominated Polish government for “formalism” (i.e. music that is modern, or that dares to think for itself, or that dullard politicians can’t understand at first hearing). The work was banned in 1949 and was not heard again for ten years. Lutoslawski waited twenty years to write another symphony, and then he used the Second Symphony (1966-67) to consolidate the discoveries of his third period on a large orchestral scale. The Third Symphony (1981-83) was the first major work in the late style period to capture public attention. The new Fourth Symphony, arriving after more than decade of refining this late manner, reflects the lessons of the intervening works, especially such gems as the Partita for violin and piano (1984), Chain 2 for violin and orchestra (1984-85), and the Piano Concerto (1988). All these works have been heard on Los Angeles Philharmonic programmes, most recently the Piano Concerto, performed by Krystian Zimerman in January 1991.

[Sources: laphil.com, itunes.apple.com, chesternovello.com]

Polskie Nagrania – Gold Collection

The Polskie Nagrania label has decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Witold Lutosławski and the Lutosławski year by issuing an 8-CD album devoted to the composer's works. This publication is an invaluable collection, including premieres of works by Lutosławski with the participation of leading Polish artists and orchestras, many times under the direction of the composer himself.

Soloists for the collection include: Stefania Woytowicz, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Roman Jabłoński, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Ewa Pobłocka, Marek Drewnowski, Jacek Łukaszczyk, Maciej Łukaszczyk, Halina Łukomska, Szabolcs Esztenyi, Eugeniusz Knapik, and Krystyna Borucińska. Conductors include: Witold Lutosławski, Witold Rowicki, Jan Krenz, Kazimierz Kord, Andrzej Markowski, and Wojciech Michniewski. Ensembles include: National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Silesian Philharmonic Choir, and Polish Radio Choir.

The collection also includes a rich 44-page booklet with commentary by Ludwik Erhardt and graphic design by Jerzy Matuszewski, and is further distinguished by the sound quality and the fact that the discs are pressed on gold.

The album was released under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Polish Music Publishers (PWM) and the Polish Composers' Union (ZKP) are also partners in this project.

Below are the works in this collection by CD:

• CD 1: [1] Lacrimosa, [2-5] Symphony No. 1, [6-8] Concerto for Orchestra, [9] Musique funebre
• CD 2: [1-4] Jeux vénitiens, [5-7] Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux, [8-9] Symphony No. 2
• CD 3: [1] Postludium No. 1, [2] Paroles tissées, [3] Livre pour orchestra, [4] Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
• CD 4: [1-2] Preludes and a Fugue, [3] Mi-parti, [4] Novelette
• CD 5: [1] Symphony No. 3, [2] Chain 1, [3-6] Chain 2*, [7] Chain 3
• CD 6: [1] Two Studies, [2] Variations on a theme by Paganini, [3-7]  Five Songs to poems by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, [8] String Quartet*, [9] Epitaph*, [10] Grave, [11] Partita
• CD 7: [1-4] Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, [5-13] Chantefleurs et Chantefables*, [14] Symphony No. 4*
• CD 8: [1] Parita, [2] Interludium*, [3-6] Chain 2

*Polish premiere recording

This 8-CD collection is available for purchase on the Polskie Nagrania website.

[Source: pwm.com.pl]

UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS OF LUTOSŁAWSKI’S MUSIC AT PWM

Lullaby for Anne-Sophie for violin and piano is a composition written by Witold Lutosławski in 1989. Unpublished during the composer’s life, the manuscript of the work was kept by the Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. This composition was a wedding gift from Lutosławski to German violin virtuoso, Anne-Sophie Mutter and—along with Łańcuch II (1985) and Partita (1988), two works for violin and orchestra—it represents his third opus connected to this prominent German artist.

According to Krzysztof Meyer, “… the barely 40-bar long piece is a work filled with beauty and refinement. One can detect [in the Lullaby for Anne-Sophie] all traits of Lutosławski’s late compositional style—a long melodic line, harmony that is built upon carefully wrought multi-pitch combinations and the irregular rhythm in the solo violin part. One also hears echoes of Lutosławski’s earlier compositions, like the monotonous, lullaby-like triplet motion in the piano part at the beginning of the work that recalls the opening song from the set of Five Songs to texts by Iłłakowiczówna.” This Lullaby was published on January 25, 2013 – the composer’s centenary.

Two volumes of Lutosławski’s Popular Songs will be published in June 2013. Issued under the pen name “Derwid” during Lutosławski’s life, the collection contains 25 songs, written to texts by Artur Międzyrzecki, Jerzy Miller, Jerzy Ficowski, and Adam Hosper, among others. Many of them became well-known hits and were performed by such popular Polish artists as Kalina Jędrusik, Rena Rolska, or Violetta Villas.

Finally, Twelve Songs for Children by Lutosławski are also planned for publication in June of 2013. This set of original melodies written to words of such great poets as Julian Tuwim for example, also feature harmonically advanced piano accompaniment that would prepare young performers for more modern musical style.

[Source: pwm.com.pl]

SALONEN & STUCKY IN CONVERSATION

Salonen and Lutosławski / Stucky and Lutosławski
[Photo source: Los Angeles Philharmonic website]

London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and its series Woven Words—"Music begins where words end"—has been a leader in the movement to celebrate Witold Lutosławski’s anniversary year. Woven Words Series Advisor, Steven Stucky, and Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Esa-Pekka Salonen both knew the Polish composer’s well. In a short film available on vimeo.com, the two composers reminisce about their friend and mentor and discuss his work.

[Sources: esapekkasalonen.com, vimeo.com]

LUTOSŁAWSKI & SALONEN IN TOKYO

During his short tour of Tokyo concert venues, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will lead his Philharmonia Orchestra and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a concert of music by Lutosławski and Beethoven on February 7, 2013. In addition to Lutosławski’s Symphony No. 4, the program will include Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 7. The performance marks just one of a series of Philharmonia concerts throughout 2013 that celebrate Lutosławski’s Centenary year, and which will see his music performed in London, Japan, Spain and the composer’s native Poland.

Lutoslawski's Fourth Symphony, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with generous support from Betty Freeman, was completed on August 22, 1992 and was premiered by the L.A. Phil on February 5, 1993, with the composer conducting. As the Phil’s former Artistic Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen is perhaps the conductor most familiar with this great work, which was the crowning achievement of the Lutosławski’s distinguished career. After the premiere, Salonen and the orchestra quickly made the work their own, repeating it in Los Angeles, touring it in Europe and introducing it to New York audiences in 1994. The premiere recording of the Fourth Symphony was made by Salonen and the L.A. Phil for Sony in the fall of 1993, just three months before the composer passed away.

7 February 2013 | 7:00pm
Philharmonia Orchestra with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes
Tokyo Opera City Hall
Info

[Sources: philharmonia.co.uk, esapekkasalonen.com, laphil.com]

MUTTER PLAYS LUTOSŁAWSKI IN SWITZERLAND & GERMANY

On February 7-9, German violin virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter—forever connected with Lutosławski since her premiere of his Łańcuch II [Chain 2] in 1986—will perform a concert of music by Witold Lutosławski and Antonín Dvořák with the Berlin Philharmonic and conductor Manfred Honeck. The program includes: Dvořák – Romance for violin and orchestra in F minor, Dvořák – Violin Concerto in A minor, and Lutosławski – Concerto for orchestra.

From the program notes by Mark Schulze Steinen (translation by Richard Evidon):

Barely a century after Dvořák had paved the way to a brilliant composing career, Witold Lutosławski confessed that he only created “music that I enjoy listening to”. Not an atypical statement from a 20th-century composer, one will suppose – and yet perhaps one that may also help to explain the success of Lutosławski’s music: the high level of tonal and rhythmic construction in this mathematic student’s multi-layered and meticulously wrought scores have found and continue to find, not only the admiration of musical experts, but also unusually wide popularity among the public. The reason for this acceptance may be that the greatly varying compositional techniques he has employed over the years, including experimental structures, have never represented a compositional end in itself but have always been directed towards the listening experience.

Lutosławski was of two minds in his relationship to folk music. Like many composers before him, he saw it as a chance to breathe new life into the increasingly timeworn system of major-minor tonality. At the same time, working with such melodies also ran the risk of criticism for propagating a populist agenda in the service of socialist realism. The ambivalence of this situation became clearly apparent when Lutosławski was awarded the Polish Prime Minister’s Prize – for a cycle of children’s songs! “I was decorated by the authorities for writing functional music,” Lutosławski later recalled. “They thought I had composed them to do justice to the aesthetic guidelines.”

In the Concerto for Orchestra, which Lutosławski worked on from 1950 to 1954, folk music – as the composer explained – was “merely a raw material used to build a large musical form of several movements which does not in the least originate either from folksongs or from folk dances. A work came into being, which I could not help including among my most important pieces, as a result of my fleeting connection with folk music and in a way that for me was quite unexpected. This work is the Concerto for Orchestra.”

…

Although the Concerto for Orchestra was the work that made Lutosławski famous in the West, he claimed in later years: “I don’t especially care for this work, but apparently it has managed to retain a certain freshness.” For Lutosławski, there were unpleasant memories connected with the necessity he once felt to defend his compositional language’s modernity when resorting to folk material, apparently in reference to the character of the Concerto for Orchestra. But his originality in this work in successfully reconciling folk music and the avant-garde represents a stroke of genius about which we today should think as little of quarrelling as about spring.

7-9 February 2013 | 8:00 p.m.
Berlin Philharmonic with Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Berlin Philharmonic Hall
Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1, 10785 Berlin
Info

Mutter will also perform the Partita for Violin and Orchestra with Sinfonia Varsovia (left) and conductor Michael Francis in Basel, Viersen, Ludwigshaven and Cologne from February 13 - 18. In addition to the Partita, music by  Benjamin Britten – Variation on a theme by Frank Bridge op.10, Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, and Antonín Dvořák – Violin Concertip op.53 will also be included on the program. Lutosławski dedicated the orchestral version of the Partita to Mutter, who will take the work’s original version for violin and piano on a ten-city U.S. tour that begins on the March 2 on the West Coast, and includes concerts in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

13-18 February 2013
Sinfonia Varsovia with Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
More info:
February 13 in Basel
February 14 in Cologne
February 15 in Viersen
February 18 in Ludwigshafen

[Sources: culture.pl, sinfoniavarsovia.org]

ZIMERMAN PLAYS LUTOSŁAWSKI PIANO CONCERTO IN BERLIN

Witold Lutosławski and Krystian Zimerman, Warsaw Autumn 1988
Photo: Grzegorz Rogiński / Reporter / East News [Photo source: culture.pl]

On February 14-16, conductor Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic will be joined by another musician connected with Lutosławski—pianist Krystian Zimerman—and soprano Barbara Hannigan. The program will include: Robert Schumann - Genoveva Overture and Symphony No. 3 in E flat major “Rhenish”; Witold Lutosławski - Piano Concerto; and Henri Dutilleux - Correspondances for soprano and orchestra.

In this program, two modern works written by Witold Lutosławski and Henri Dutilleux contrast with Schumann’s romantic music. Lutosławski, who died in 1994 and is one of the most versatile and significant Polish composers of the 20th century, is represented by his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Lutosławski’s countryman Krystian Zimerman, for whom the work was written and who premiered it in 1988, will take on the solo part.

Whereas Lutosławski’s person and oeuvre have long been known to music lovers who need not have a particular predilection for the avant-garde, Henri Dutilleux, three years younger, and his compositions continue not to have attracted much notice in concert programming. Wrongly so, as his Correspondances for Soprano and Orchestra shows, premiered on 5 September 2003 by Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. The soloist in this work, which can boast of an almost romantic sense of tonal color, is the versatile Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan—long familiar on the stage of the Berlin Philharmonic as a specialist for contemporary music.

14-16 February 2013 | 8:00 p.m.
Pianist Krystian Zimerman & soprano Barbara Hannigan with the Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmonic Hall
Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1, 10785 Berlin
Info

[Sources: culture.pl, berliner-philharmoniker.de]

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC CONCERTS IN LONDON

In 2013, London’s Royal College of Music and the Philharmonia Orchestra are joining forces for Woven Words: “Music begins where words end”, a celebration of the music of Witold Lutosławski. Orchestral music, chamber concerts, study days, film, online resources and commissioned articles will commemorate the centenary of the birth of one of the century’s most influential musical voices.

February celebrations at the RCM begin with a chamber program that brings together string quartets by some of the most significant musical voices of the twentieth century. Lutosławski’s own String Quartet, written in 1964, is one of the most significant examples of the compositional technique that he called 'controlled aleatorism', in which the rhythmic coordination of parts is subject to an element of chance. It is presented alongside String Quartet No. 1 in C Major (Op. 37) by his Polish compatriot, Karol Szymanowski, as well as quartets by György Ligeti and Albert Roussel. The program will be performed by members of the Royal College of Music.

4 February 2013 | 7:45pm
Chamber Music by Lutosławski & Szymanowski
Purcell Room, Royal College of Music, London
Admission is free but tickets are required
Box office: 0870 405 6666
Info

Another in the Woven Words concert series will feature Lutosławski's Symphony No. 3, commissioned by Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1972 and premiered by them in 1983. It was described by its first reviewer as “so dazzling in its originality, so powerful in its use of the orchestra's resources and so remarkable in its ability to communicate that a person had to think of it immediately as a 20th-century masterwork ... a landmark to stand beside masterpieces by Bartók, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.”

This program from one of the world's great youth orchestras—the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra with conductor Franck Ollu—places Lutosławski's modern symphonic masterpiece alongside attractive French vignettes by two of Lutosławski's favorite composers: Claude Debussy – 3 Nocturnes for orchestra and Albert Roussel – Bacchus and Ariane, Suite No.2. Also on the program will be Lutosławski's Jeux Vénetiens [Venetian Games] for chamber orchestra.

Above: Excerpt of Lutosławski's Symphony No. 3
Photo source: academiaparalanuevamusica.blogspot.com

6 February 2013 | 7:30pm
Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra with Franck Ollu, cond.
Queen Elizabeth Hall - South Bank Centre
Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
Info

Chopin / Szymanowski / Lutosławski

This RCM chamber concerts presents Lutoslawski’s piano music in the context of Chopin, Szymanowski, Debussy and Ligeti. The program will include Chopin: Etudes, Debussy: Etudes L 136, Lutosławski: Two Studies for piano, Lutosławski: Bukoliki for piano, Szymanowski: Mazurkas op. 50, and Ligeti: Etudes. The performers are the following RCM pianists: Dinara Klinton, Jun Ishimura, Yoshio Hamano, Diana Galakhova, and Gwenaelle Rouger.

The next in the RCM chamber series, on Wednesday, March 6  features an unbroken sequence of Lutoslawski’s magical miniatures.

27 February 2013 | 6:00pm
Woven Words: Piano Music
Recital Hall, Royal College of Music, London
Info

[Source: woven-words.co.uk]

For more information and events, visit the official website of Lutosławski Year 2013:
lutoslawski.culture.pl

6 WORLD PREMIERES IN POZNAŃ

Composers shown above as listed below, from top left to bottom right

Soprano Maria Rozynek and the Polish Radio Amadeus Chamber Orchestra led by Agnieszka Duczmal will present a concert of world premieres by six Polish composers of the new generation at the Mickiewicz University Auditorium in Poznań on February 17. The works presented will include:

• Jasności promieniste—małe misterium na sopran [Rays of Brightness—a Small Ritual for Soprano] by Mikołaj Górecki (b. 1971), a PWM commission
• Aby jednak pieśni nie zgasły [May the Songs Never Die] for string orchestra by Justyna Kowalska-Lasoń (b. 1985), a PWM commission
• Ukiyo-e for string orchestra by Marcel Chyrzyński (b. 1971), an Institute of Music and Dance commission
• RiFFFonia for string orchestra by Paweł Piotr Pietruszewski (b. 1988), First Prize winner at the Tenth Ochlewski Competition for Composers
• Semi-Overture for string orchestra by Adam Porębski (b. 1990), an Honorable Mention winner at the Tenth Ochlewski Competition for Composers
• Offenbarungen und Eingebungen for string orchestra by Ewa Fabiańska (b. 1989), an Institute of Music and Dance commission

[Source: pwm.com.pl]

POLISH CONTEMPORARY MUSIC IN PARIS

Barbara Kaszuba, Artur Kroschel and Grzegorz Pieniek

World premieres of works by Barbara Kaszuba, Artur Kroschel and Grzegorz Pieniek were given at the Théâtre Dunnois in Paris on February 7 during a program entitled "Polska Muzyka." Ensemble Aleph, a group specializing in performances of contemporary music, performed Kaszuba’s Les rêves des fous sont encore plus beaux, Kroschel’s Suspension, and Pieniek’s Jede Nacht besucht uns ein Traum. Ensemble Aleph’s members are: Monica Jordan – voice, Dominique Clément – clarinet, Lutz Mandler – trumpet, Noëmi Schindler – violin, Christophe Roy – cello, Sylvie Drouin – piano, Jean-Charles François – percussion. The ensemble was joined by Michel Pozmanter – conductor and Jean Grison – “comédien à bicyclette.”

Scored for bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion, violin and cello, Kroschel describes his composition Suspension as, “… fluent overlaying of two different sound plains… One of them is temporarily halted, then it returns but in a different guise. One of such ‘subjects’ is more prominent in terms of time and more widely used throughout the piece. The other is somewhat more ‘traditional’ and shorter, and basically serves the function of suspending a musical thought.” This composition was written in 2012 and is dedicated to Ensemble Aleph.

Barbara Kaszuba’s Les rêves… for soprano and chamber ensemble was written in 2012 for Ensemble Aleph as well and was inspired by Baudelaire’s poem, La Voix. The composer admitted that “… the sound of the words and poetic meaning influenced the dramatic structure of the work. The vocal part utilized a number of special techniques and was written for Monique Jordan of Ensemble Aleph.”

For more information, see the website of the partner for this concert, the Polish Institute in Paris.

[Source: polmic.pl, institutpolonais.fr]

PRZYBYLSKI PREMIERE

The Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated the 50th anniversary of Tadeusz Szeligowski’s death with a special concert on February 2, 2013. The title of this musical evening, Niebieski ptak [Bluebird] is taken from Szeligowski’s orchestral suite that was performed on this concert, alongside a world premiere of Four Darks in Red by Dariusz Przybylski (pictured above). This new composition was commissioned by the Poznań Philharmonic and performed by the orchestra led by conductor Jakub Chrenowicz. The soloist was cellist Dominik Połoński.

The composer dedicated his work to its first performers, indicating that Four Darks in Red was inspired by Mark Rothko’s paintings: “…It is another piece in my catalogue influenced by this painter’s works and his desire to immerse the viewer in his painting, drive him into ecstasy, and cross that boundary of mere painterly pleasure of playing with color.”

 [Source: polmic.pl]

KULENTY PREMIERE

E-motions—a new work for accordion, string orchestra and percussion by Polish composer Hanna Kulenty—received its world premiere on January 19, 2013 in the Concert Hall of the Wrocław Philharmonic. Accordian soloist Eneasz Kubit, a member of the faculty at the Academy of Music in Łódź, was joined by the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Ernest Kovacic. Other works heard on the concert included Andante for Strings by Alexander Scriabin, a string orchestra transcription of Alexander Borodin’s famous third movement of his String Quartet No. 2, and Shaker Loops by John Adams.

Hanna Kulenty, a composer honored by many prestigious awards around the world, recorded with the Leopoldinum in 2011 for her “Music 4” CD (DUX 0823), which has been described as follows: “… Leopoldinum orchestra recorded the most outstanding monographic album… Kulenty’s music is hypnotizing … and this full of passion program was with nerve and intensity recorded under the direction of Ernst Kovacic.”

[Sources: filharmonia.wroclaw.pl, polmic.pl, leopoldinum.art.pl]

PENDERECKI PREMIERE & JUBILEE CONCERTS

Over the course of the last decade, Krzysztof Penderecki composed a Sanctus and Benedictus for treble choir, and he has now used these movements as the basis of his newest work, the Missa brevis for children's chorus and male voices a cappella. With this new mass setting, the composer added male voices in fitting with the structure of the German St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig, which premiered this work during its 800th anniversary celebration on January 6, 2013. The concert was led by conductor Georg Christoph Biller.

Penderecki’s oeuvre contains many sacred works, with numerous compositions based on sections of the Catholic Mass. Nevertheless, the Missa brevis is, with the exception of his Polish Requiem, his first complete mass setting.

The Polish premiere of this same work was featured when the celebrations of Krzysztof Penderecki’s 80th birthday year were kicked on January 12, with a Jubilee Concert celebrating both Penderecki’s birthday as well the 35th anniversary of artistic activity of the Polish Chamber Choir [Polski Chór Kameralny].  The concert took place at the Dwór Artusa in Gdańsk.  The all-Penderecki program also included other choral works: “Sicut locutus est” from Magnificat (1974), Veni Creator (1987) , Iže cheruvimi [Song of Cherubin] (1986), Kadisz (2009), “De Profundis” (1996) from the Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Benedictum Dominum (1992), O Gloriosa Virginum (2009), and Kaczka pstra (2008).

Both concerts were attended by the composer.

[Sources: schott-music.com, polskichorkameralny.pl]

2013 – JUBILEE YEAR FOR 5 PWM COMPOSERS

In the coming months, in addition to Lutosławski’s centenary, PWM will also celebrate the following anniversaries of other Polish composers connected to this publishing house, including: the 80th birthday anniversary of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010), the 80th birthday anniversary of Zbigniew Bujarski (b. 1933), the 75th birthday of Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938), and the 70th birthdays of Marta Ptaszyńska and Elżbieta Sikora (b. 1943). Among the recent PWM publications there are two of Ptaszyńska’s compositions (Kochankowie z klasztoru Valldemosa and Blue Line for marimba) and three by Krauze (Canzona for instrumental ensemble, Pour El for harpsichord, and his one act opera, Pułapka).

[Source: pwm.com.pl]

NEW DIRECTOR FOR PWM

A musicologist and music journalist, Daniel Cichy was appointed the new Editor-in-Chief of the Polish Music Publishers [PWM] on January 1, 2013. A graduate of musicology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Heidelberg University, Cichy is also a lecturer in music history and analysis at the Music Institute of the Uniwersytet Śląski in Cieszyn as well as lecturer at the Theatre Department at Jagiellonian University. A laureate of the Robinson Musicology Award (2005) and scholarship recipient of Deutscher Musikrat, Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation, Polityka, and the Foundation for Polish Science, Cichy is also an author of a book about the Darmstadt Music Festival, published by Musica Iagellonica in 2009.

Cichy is a frequent contributor of articles and essays for Tygodnik Powszechny, Ruch Muzyczny, Polish Radio-Program 2, Glissando, Didaskalia, Teatr, Neue Musikzeitung, MusikTexte, and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. In his first official message quoted in the PWM Newsletter, Cichy emphasized the importance of PWM for Polish music and culture, the upcoming anniversaries of Lutosławski and Górecki, and several new editions planned by PWM for the coming year.

[Source: pwm.com.pl]

CONFERENCE: CALL FOR PAPERS

The Musical Worlds of Polish Jews, 1920-1960: Identity, Politics & Culture
Arizona State University | November 17-18, 2013
Call for Papers

The Center for Jewish Studies and the School of Music at Arizona State University in collaboration with The OREL Foundation announce an international conference devoted to the musical worlds of Polish Jews from 1920 to 1960. The conference will be held at Arizona State University in November 2013.

For the past three years, the Center for Jewish Studies at ASU has focused on the recovery, study and performance of music composed by Jews whose music was suppressed by the Third Reich. Previously we have featured music of German-speaking Jewish composers; this conference will focus on Polish-Jewish composers. The goal of the conference is to shed light on the richness of Polish-Jewish music from WWI to the decades after WWII and its relation to the complex problem of identity formation.

At the end of the First World War, almost three million Jews from the Russian, German, and Austrian Empires found themselves in the newly re-created state of Poland. In the subsequent two decades, this Jewish community, the largest in Europe, faced the challenge of becoming �Polish Jews.� Out of this challenge was born a rich and vibrant culture that deserves more recognition by music lovers and close analysis by scholars. Even under German occupation, the cultural and musical creativity of Polish Jews did not cease but became an important element of camp and ghetto lives. For years after the war, whether in exile or at home, the art of Polish Jews continued to reflect the complex relationship with Polish-ness and Polish culture.

Papers on the following themes are solicited:

1. Poland and Its Jews: Between Empires and Nation-States.
2. Polish-Jewish Music: Within and Between Modernism and Nationalism
3. Polish Jews/Jewish Poles: Culture and the Quest for Identity
4. Jewish Music under Nazi Occupation
5. Polish-Jewish Composers in Exile
6. Music Outside the Concert Hall: Cabaret, Theater, and Film

This will be a two-day event featuring both scholarly presentations and performances. We cordially invite submissions that deal with the work of particular composers or related topics. Scholarly papers should not be longer than 20 minutes and lecture recitals should not exceed more than 30 minutes. Abstracts (500 words) along with a short biography of the presenter should be submitted by March 30, 2013 to:

Professor Anna Holian
Interim Director, Center for Jewish Studies
P.O. Box 874302
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-4302
Anna.Holian at asu.edu

Organizing Committee: Ann Cichopek-Gajraj, Assistant Professor of History, ASU; Robert Elias, President, OREL Foundation, Los Angeles; Sabine Feisst, Professor of Music History and Literature, ASU; Anna Holian, Associate Professor of History, ASU; Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Irving and Miriam Lowe Chair of Modern Judaism and Director of Jewish Studies, ASU; Bret Werb, Musicologist and Curator of Music Collections, United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial, Washington DC

[Source: press release]

ZARĘBSKI AT LE SALON DE MUSIQUES IN L.A.

The February edition of the Los Angeles chamber music concert series Le Salon de Musiques will include the Piano Quintet in G minor op 34 of Polish composer Juliusz Zarębski (1854 –1885), as well as the Fantasy Piano Quartet by English composer Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941). The concert will be introduced by musicologist Julius Reder Carlson and performed by Tereza Stanislav and Sarah Thornblade – violins, Rob Brophy – viola, Cecilia Tsan – cello and Steven Vanhauwaert – piano.

This fifth concert of Le Salon de Musiques’ third season is sponsored by the Consulate General of Poland in Los Angeles. The performance will be followed by a one-hour informal conversation between the musicians and the audience where they can share ideas, concepts and impressions about the music performed while sipping Champagne and enjoying a gourmet buffet prepared by Patina. 

February 10th, 2013 | 4:00 pm
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 5th Floor
134 N Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012
Ticket sales & info: (310) 498 0257 or info@angelesconcertsartists.com

[Sources: press release, lesalondemusiques.com]

UPCOMING CHOPIN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Chopin 2: A Birthday Celebration (Los Angeles, CA)

On March 3, the Paderewski Music Society in Los Angeles will present Chopin 2: A Birthday Celebration, an evening of piano and drama featuring pianists Gloria Campaner, Wojciech Kocyan (right), Dmitry Rachmanov and John Perry; actors Jane Kaczmarek and Marek Probosz; and scholars Michael Pawlicki and Priscilla Pawlicki. The musical program will include works by Chopin, Schubert, Debussy, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and more. The event will be held at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles.

March 3, 2013 | 6:00 P.M.
Paderewski Society  presents Chopin 2: A Birthday Celebration
Zipper Hall, Colburn School - Conservatory of Music
200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Tickets: $35 if purchased by March 2, 2013; $45 at the door if available

• Mail – send check payable to Paderewski Music Society to: 8504 Independence Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91304
• PayPal – use the following address: mail@ijpaderewski.org
• CC – visit ijpaderewski.org or call 818-456-7742

[Sources: press release, ijpaderewski.org]

Chopin Birthday Celebration (Key Biscayne, FL)

On March 1, the Village of Key Biscayne presents a performance featuring renowned pianist and University of Miami faculty member Dr. Paul Posnak and young local talent Diego Arevalo, age 14, in an All-Chopin program commemorating the composer’s birthday on March 1, 1810.

March 1, 2013, 7 pm
Chopin Birthday Celebration - Paul Posnak, piano
Key Biscayne Community Center,
10 Village Green Way, Key Biscayne, FL
Admission Free
More information at www.keybiscayne.fl.gov

[Source: chopin.org]

My favorite Chopin compositions (New York, NY)

For the anniversary of Chopin's birthday, pianist Mariusz Adamczak will play some of his favorite Chopin compositions: Ballade g-minor op. 23; 4 Mazurkas op. 24 (g-minor, C-major, A-flat major, b-flat minor); Preludes op. 28 nr 4,6,7,10,15; Scherzo b-flat minor op. 31; Ballade F-major op. 38; Scherzo c-sharp minor op. 39; Nocturne f-sharp minor op. 48 nr 2; and Polonaise A-flat major op. 53.

Sunday, February 24, 2013 | 3:00pm
My favorite Chopin compositions - Mariusz Adamczak, piano
The Kosciuszko Foundation
15 East 65th St., New York, NY 10065
Tickets: $20/$15 KF Members and Students

[Sources: press release, thekf.org]

WRYK AT OPERA COLOGNE

Polish mezzo-soprano Marta Wryk is a first year member of the Opera Studio of the Opera Cologne and has already made her debut as Cherubino in Opera Cologne’s new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. This year she will be featured in several concert performances as follows:

February 17, 22, 24, 28 & March 2, 6, 8, 9
Anna Bolena, Smetone (cover)
Opera Cologne

March 25, 26, 28 & April 2, 11
Aschenputtel, Stiefmutter and Elfe Kinderoper
Opera Cologne

March 29 & April 5, 7, 11, 14
Parsifal, Knappe and Blumenmädchen
Opera Cologne

May 9, 11, 17, 19, 24, 26, 30 & June 1, 7
Suora Angelica, Suora Dolcina
Oper Köln

June 13, 14, 17, 21 28, 29, 30
Orpheus in der Unterwelt, Juno Kinderoper, Oper Köln

[Source: hmartawryk.com]

STEFAN KUDELSKI

The following article was originally published on January 30, 2013 on Deadline.com:

Stefan Kudelski, inventor of the first portable professional sound recorder, died Saturday in Switzerland at the age of 84. Word of his death came in a statement from the Kudelski Group, the company he founded. Kudelski created the Nagra (meaning “will record” in his native Polish) in 1951, revolutionizing the world of audio recording for filmmakers. The device, weighing between 8 and 20 pounds, was “one of the tools that made the French New Wave possible, by allowing the young directors in the late 50s and early 60s … to shoot a scene almost anywhere they could think of shooting one,” Randy Thom, director of sound design for Skywalker Sound, told All Things Considered host Melissa Block. Kudelski sold the device to Radio Luxembourg, Italy’s s RAI and the BBC as well as ABC, NBC and CBS in the U.S., according to the Nagra Audio website. Kudelski went on to win five Oscars and two Emmys for his contributions to sound engineering. He’s pictured at the left with Maggie Smith and Maureen Stapleton at the 1978 Academy Awards. In 1983, Kudelski received the John Grierson International Gold Medal, joining luminaries of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers that include Louis Lumière, Thomas Edison, Lee de Forest, George Eastman, Walt Disney, Samuel Warner, Léon Gaumont, Ray Dolby and Vladimir Zworkyin. The Cinema Audio Society plans a tribute to Kudelski at its 49th Annual CAS Awards on February 16th in Los Angeles.

Photo: Maggie Smith, Stefan Kudelski and Maureen Stapleton. 1978 Academy Awards.
Photo courtesy of The Kudelski Group via www.deadline.com. Used by permission.

[Source: deadline.com]