Polish Music
Reference Center
Newsletter
January 1996
Vol. 2, no. 1
FLASH NEWS!
The PMRC now has its own URL address on the World Wide
Web. It is http://www.usc.edu/go/polish_music. A home page is being
designed and should be ready by the end of the month. The gopher
file will still remain for those unable to access the World Wide
Web.
Information on competitions and festivals will be updated. To begin
with additional information will include: Sources for scores and
recorded music and repertoire lists for various voices and
instruments (solo & chamber music).
The First CD-ROM on Polish music (to my knowledge) has been created
by Mieczyslaw TOMASZEWSKI, former director of PWM (Polish Music
Publications). It is on Fryderyk Chopin and was prepared to
coincide with the recent Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Two
others will follow and should be completed by the end of the year.
An illustrated text to match the CD-ROM is being published by Ars
Nova of Poznan. It is a 1,000 page monograph by Tomaszewski.
Good & Bad News In Poland:
The music community in Poland is elated with the appointment of a
new director of PWM (Polish Music Publications). Leszek Polony, a
highly regarded musicologist, took over the directorship on October
1, 1995. It is expected that he will follow the paths outlined by
the founder of PWM, Tadeusz Ochlewski, and his successor,
Mieczyslaws Tomaszewski.
It is also hoped that he will be able to repair some of the damage
left by his predecessor, who was a businessman set on putting the
publishing firm on an income producing basis. Some important
ongoing research was sidelined, such as Teresa Chylinska's work on
Karol Szymanowski's Correspondence and Writings of which two
volumes had been published. Volume three has been completed and
waiting for funding. The bad news is that Volume four still needs
to be written, but the author's computer crashed and she is in
desperate need of a reliable machine. The author has spent more
than thirty years collecting material on the great composer and not
to be able to complete the fruit of her lifetime's endeavor will
indeed be a tragedy!
Anniversary Commemorations For 1996:
Birthdays:
120 - Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (Dec 11, 1876).
100 - Tadeusz Szeligowski (Oct 13, 1896).
95 - Szymon Laks (Nov 1, 1901).
85 - Stefan Kisielewski (Mar 7, 1911).
80 - Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz (Oct 17, 1916).
75 - Andrzej Dobrowolski (Sep 9, 1921).
60 - Edward Pallasz (Aug 30, 1936).
60 - Marek Stachowski (Mar 21, 1936).
45 - Eugeniusz Knapik (Jul 9, 1951).
Deaths:
165 - Maria Szymanowska (Jul 25, 1831).
75 - Wladyslaw Zelenski (Jan 23, 1921).
55 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Jun 29, 1941).
50 - Feliks Nowowiejski (Jan 19, 1946).
30 - Apolinary Szeluto (Aug 22, 1966).
15 - Kazimierz Serocki (Jan 9, 1981).
15 - Tadeusz Baird (Sep 2, 1981).
5 - Andrzej Panufnik (Oct 27, 1991).
Wanda Wilk's Top CD Choices For 1995:
(Listed alphabetically by composer).
Bacewicz: Concerto for Strings, Piano Sonata, Violin Concerto no. 7
, Violin Sonata no. 4. Olympia OCD 392.
Chopin: Complete Ballades. Deutsche Gramophone DG 433090-2.
Gorecki: III Symphony. Elektra Nonesuch 79282-2.
Lutoslawski: Piano Concerto, Chain 3, Novelette. Deutsche
Gramophone DG 431 664-2.
Paderewski: Piano Concerto, Fantaisie Polonaise. Newport Classics
NPD 85525.
Panufnik: Concerto Festivo, Katyn epitaph, Concertino, Sinfonia
Sacra. Unicorn UK CD2020.
Ptaszynska: Concerto for marimba, Songs of despair, La novella
d'Inverno. Polskie Nagrania PNCD 075.
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater. Koch Schwann CD 3212652 or EMI Classics
CDC 55121.
Zarebski: Piano Quintet. Bruzdowicz: String Quartet no. 1. Pavane
ADW 7218.
"Polish Early Music" (Jarzebski, Mielczewski, Milwid, Szarzynski).
Polish Radio Studio S1.
"POLSKA" (Various composers: Waclaw z Szamotul, Szymanowski,
Bacewicz, Penderecki, Gorecki). United U 88021.
Commemorations In 1995:
Roman Maciejewski's 85th birthday was celebrated on September 26th
with a birthday concert in the Royal Castle in Rydzyn, in the
region where the composer lived as a child. The composer, who lives
in Sweden, was unable to attend because of poor health. His
brother brought several manuscripts to Poland.
The concert featured some of his solo and chamber works: Trio
"Matinata" for violin, viola and cello; Nocturne for flute, guitar
and celeste; "Spanish Suite" for two guitars; "Lullaby" and 6
Mazurkas for piano; "Lullaby" for violin trio, flute, 2 guitars &
celeste. Among the soloists was pianist Karol Radziwonowicz.
Note: Some Angelenos may remember the world premiere of
Maciejewski's "Requiem" at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the
1970s.
Congratulations To:
The Kosciuszko Foundation (an American Center for Polish Culture in
New York) on its 70th Anniversary! In addition to hosting an annual
Chopin Piano Competition and scholarships, the KF sponsors an
excellent chamber music series each year!
Marta Ptaszynska, who was commissioned to compose a work for this
anniversary celebration in December, is also to be congratulated
for the honor bestowed upon her by former President of Poland, Lech
Walesa, for outstanding achievement in the arts. She really
deserved it, if only for the successful Polish Music Festival she
organized at the New York Public Library at the Lincoln Center a
year ago!
The world premiere of her "Silver echoes of distant bells" written
for mezzo-soprano and string quartet was performed on December 10,
1995 by Mary Henderson and the Halcyon String Quartet. During the
program Marta freely spoke of the influence of Witold Lutoslawski
on her music.
Latest Publications:
The National Library in Warsaw is now publishing books on its own:
"Piano Mazurkas of Polish composers. An anthology of mazurkas from
the National Library archives." Elzbieta Wasowska, ed. 3 vol.
1995.
75 works arranged chronologically (from the oldest, Jozef Elsner,
(1803) to the latest by Marian Sawa, 1994) in two volumes. Volume
3 has an editorial introduction, biographical notes and commentary
along with an index of names and a bibliography. Illustrations
include facsimiles of manuscripts. English translation by
Aleksandra Krupina.
The editor made her selections from the National Library's
collection of approximately 1,550 mazurkas by 370 composers. Some
interesting ones: by composers Noskowski, Stojowski, Statkowski,
Michalowski, Koczalski, Leschetitzky and Badarzewska.
Another publication: "Chopin's 2 Nocturnes, op. 55" with
commentary by the former director of the Biblioteka Narodowa, Wanda
Bogdany-Popielowa. Text in Polish, English, French and Japanese.
Published for the occassion of the 13th Int'l Chopin Competition.
A Rare Treat For Angelenos!
On FEBRUARY 11, 1996 the PMRC will present a recital of the violin
and piano music of Grazyna Bacewicz! Soloists: Arnold Belnick,
violin and Sergei Silvansky, piano. Sunday, 3:00 p.m. in Hancock
Auditorium on the USC campus. Arnold Belnick, who already recorded
the Violin Sonatas of Grieg and Prokofiev on two CDs, also recorded
the Bacewicz Violin Sonatas for the Cambria label. We hope the CDs
will be ready and available in time for the recital! $5/$2.
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The Polish Music Reference Center
Director: Wanda Wilk
This page updated on 4/3/96 by Conrad Hunziker III