October 15th, Los Angeles, California

It is my pleasure to send you this Paderewski program from 1939. My parents must have attended this performance when I was three years old. Knowing that they rarely went anywhere without me at the time, it must have been a very special event in their lives.

My mother loved to shop in Downtown L.A., and very often we would go to Barker Bros. Dept. Store and listen to the organ music played in their big lobby. At Christmas time, a robed boys choir would sing carols from the balcony. I see a barker Bros. ad in this program. I also see Birkel-Richardson and So. Cal. Music Co, ads, and this is where my mother would buy my sheet music, all of which I still have. Ah, what nice memories. I grew up very close to USC, right off Adams Blvd. between Hoover and Vermont, and took piano lessons, as I mentioned, at the Polish Church on West Adams. That's when L.A. seemed a much smaller city.

[To see a larger image of the program, click here].

I would like to donate this program to the Polish Music Library, hoping you don't have several already. Please mention both my mother's name and my name in your credits—Anne Prybelski Neuman [and] Anne Claire Anderson. [...]

• Pieśń Heleny [Helen's Song] for voice and piano from a feature film Ogniem i mieczem [With Fire and Sword]. PWM 1999, 8 pages. (2 copies)
• Theme music from the TV series Klan [The Clan] for voice and piano. PWM 2001, 3 pages
• Country in E for violin and piano. PWM 2001, 10 pages
• Miniatury skrzypcowe [Violin miniatures] for violin and piano. PWM 2000, 9 pages
• Three CDs (Si Music label; vol. 1, 2 and 3), containing the following works:
  -- Nihil Homine Mirabilius - a symphony for soprano, chorus, and orchestra
  -- Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and Organismi for piano solo
  -- Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
  -- Double Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra

PENDERECKI HONORED WITH PRAEMIUM IMPERIALE

The Praemium Imperiale is a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association in Tokyo, to celebrate the human spirit as expressed through artistic genius. Praemium Imperiale honors artists who have contributed significantly to the development of international arts and culture, and at the same time, the prize encourages future generations of artists, promotes increased international cooperation and understanding, and, ultimately, contributes to world peace. The Praemium Imperiale is based on the idea that the arts celebrate man's creativity and are the reflection of his spirit and enduring legacy.

Since its inauguration in 1989, this prize has become a mark of the highest international distinction for achievement in the arts. Six nomination committees, each chaired by an International Advisor, propose candidates in five fields, without regard to nationality: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, and Theatre/Film - fields which are not covered by the Nobel Prizes. On 21 October 2004, His Imperial Highness Prince Hitachi awarded this distinction to Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki at a ceremony in Tokyo. Penderecki joined Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ravi Shankar, and Oscar Peterson among the laureates in music to date, and becomes the second Pole, after Andrzej Wajda, to be so recognized. This year’s winners also include American sculptor Bruce Nauman, German painter Georg Baseitz, Iranian filmaker Abbas Kiarostami and Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The Japan Art Association commends Penderecki, a child of the Nazi occupation, in his desire to, "communicate his sense of post-war alienation, horror at the crimes of the Holocaust and the cold war and, paradoxically, his hope for the future... A tribute to the effectiveness of his work is that despite their physical, logistical, and economic difficulties, they are performed so often. "

To learn more about this prize or the Japan Art Association, visit

The 6th International Paderewski Piano Competition will be held in Bydgoszcz from 6-18 November 2004 in the concert halls of the Academy of Music and the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz. The winners will receive the prizes on November 17th, 2004 during the prize-winners' Gala Concert in the Pomeranian Philharmonic of I.J.Paderewski.

During the last competition, held on 6 - 17 November 2001, awards were given as follows: I prize - STEPÁN KOS (Czech Republic), II prize - ALEXEY KOMAROV (Russia), III prize - BARBORA SEJÁKOVÁ (Czech), IV prize - SŁAWOMIR WILK (Poland), V prize - not awarded and VI prize - (ex aequo) VSEVOLOD VARTANOV (Russia) and VIATCHESLAV ZUBKOV (Ukraine). Special mentions were given to MACIEJ GAŃSKI (Poland), MAREK KAMOLA (Poland), and NATALIA SAWOŚCIANIK (Poland).

The first competition took place in 1961; Henryk Sztompka, one of Paderewski's students, was the president of the jury and Jerzy Maksymiuk received the first prize. The second competition was held in 1986, and Jerzy Sulikowski was the president of the jury. Wojciech Kocyan was the winner of the first prize. In 1994, during the third competition, there was no first prize awarded. The fourth competition in 1998 ended with the first prize being awarded to Tomomi Okumura from Japan.

For more information, please visit www.konkurspaderewskiego.pl.

On Tuesday, 30 November 2004, the Symphony Nova Scotia will give a performance featuring works by W. A. Mozart, Samuel Barber and Polish-Canadian composer

Euphonia was written in memory of the outstanding Polish composer Tomasz Sikorski, one of the early pioneers of minimalism (albeit much more serious, much more emotionally and philosophically involved than minimalism of, say, Philip Glass) and is dedicated to the Polish philosopher Bohdan Pociej. The main idea behind the piece was to write music which would, oddly enough, harness dodecaphony, serialism and tonality, and turn them into something aurally pleasant, stylistically familiar, and yet expressively substantial (although not necessarily "Romantic"). After having written a great deal of extremely dark, complex and intense pieces, I wanted to try my hand at music which would combine structural elegance and simplicity with elements of intelligent, unconstrained flow of sophisticated emotions. In other words—a late twentieth century, courteous bow to both avant-garde (from serialism to minimalism) and tradition. I felt the urge to demonstrate that these two worlds are, indeed, compatible—and friendly. I am very grateful to Professor Monte Keene Pishny-Floyd who was the proverbial spiritus movens behind the commission.

Bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, who prefers to go by the abbreviated moniker Oles, has gradually been establishing a name for himself on the West Coast scene over the past decade, playing on notable recordings by artists including Dianne Reeves, Jackie Ryan and Charles Lloyd. Now, with his Cryptogramophone debut as a leader, Like a Dream, he sheds a spotlight on his compositional skills. On a programme of eleven originals and one standard, Oles demonstrates a style that crosses a number of musical boundaries much like Eric von Essen, who came before him in the LA scene and figures prominently in Oles' work.

The album presents Oles in three different and contrasting contexts. First is a series of duets with pianist Brad Mehldau. While there is the inevitable lineage to Scott LaFaro and Bill Evans, Oles also combines a certain economy of style that is reminiscent of Charlie Haden. Oles and Mehldau seamlessly shift between being drivers and passengers on what are the most mainstream compositions of the album. Oles' tone, while woody like Haden's, also has a certain Gary Peacock-like edge to it. Mehldau displays the contrapuntal style he has become known for, with left and right hands sometimes playing call-and-response, other times playing independent lines that inevitably cross paths and come together into a common theme. Oles' compositions are lyrical and immediately memorable. One wonders if his inclusion of the Raye/DePaul standard You Don't Know What Love Is is to simply give context to Oles' compositions, which are fresh, while at the same time oddly familiar.

Two pieces by Oles' longstanding cooperative, the L.A. Jazz Quartet, place him in a clearly comfortable ensemble setting. Oles aside, the star of this group is guitarist Larry Koonse, who, with a warm and elegant style that is similarly spare, contributes heartfelt accompaniment and solo work on the tender ballad Precious Moments. The folksy 5/4 Before the Journey is an aptly-titled, strongly visual piece that hints at Americana without being blatant. Oles' solo is remarkably singable considering the register of his instrument; a characteristic, in fact, of most of his work.

The programme closes with five tracks that feature pianist Adam Benjamin and drummer Nate Wood, with reedman Bennie Maupin guesting on Conclusion Part Two, another folk-tinged piece that is the most outgoing piece of the album. Conclusion Part One and Conclusion Part Three are darker, more introspective pieces, as is the melancholy That Night. Oles shows his abilities as a thoughtful accompanist who, while occasionally unpredictable, always keeps a strong pulse.

Oles may not be a secret on the LA scene, but he is less well-known on larger national and international stages. With "Like a Dream" he proves that he has what it takes, as a performer and composer, to reach the next level; once again the adventurous Cryptogramophone label brings a deserving artist to a broader public.

In the International Feature Competition, Symmetry [Symetria] (2003, 100 min., in Polish with English subtitles) by Konrad Niewolski will be screened on 5 November 2004 at 7:00 pm and 6 November 2004 at 2:30 pm. This film won the Critics Award at the Polish Film Festival Gdynia 2003. Konrad Niewolski & Arek Detmer will be at the festival.

In the Latin Cinema Series, Jonathan Jakubowicz's Secuestro Express (2004, 88 min., in Spanish with English subtitles) will be shown on 6 November 2004 at 9:45 pm and 9 November 2004 at 3:00 pm.

Mi-Parti is a brilliant essay in form. Despite its relatively brief duration (the score gives fifteen minutes), it manipulates form, scoring, melodic material and textures into an intense musical drama that reveals more on every hearing. It is the deliberately hesitant but totally confident opening of textural and melodic conjunction which sets the tone for the exciting developmental central section and the slow winding down of the melodic fragments at the end. Osmo Vänskä's handling of the score was both illuminating and breathtaking. Untypically the opening string textures with their eerie glissandos sounded almost melodic instead of slightly characterless, while the disconnected wind melodies emerged with all the style and emotion that could be imagined. One was reminded of a similar melodic build-up in the introduction to Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, which may have influenced Lutosławski. Each of the three phrases rose to its natural climax with the third overwhelmingly presented. The stunning entry of the brass in the central part came as the shock that Lutosławski must have intended with the interaction with the rest of the orchestra meticulously coordinated. The motivic activity was articulated with a luminescence which helped one to follow the composer's thought processes. The final "collapse" into the slow overlapping lines of the Lento section with the intermittent fanfares and the almost disembodied and transformed fragments from the opening which followed was beautifully gauged. The performance was greater than the sum of its parts: the structure had a tautness and clarity that may have been also the result of the duration, around eleven and a half minutes.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the composition of the Concerto for Orchestra with the performance conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste proved an excellent choice. Just like Mi-Parti it is a brilliant exercise in the manipulation of form, giving some acknowledgement to tradition but in its way completely original. The composer's use of folk melodies continues to impress, as a model of how to use folk melodies in a symphonic context. Certainly, too, it is a work that treats melody in a flexible and ever-developing way, which is something that Lutosławski continued to do in his later works. Above all, though, the Concerto for Orchestra is a virtuoso piece that will tax the skill of any orchestra. Saraste coaxed his BBC players to a wonderful performance, full of technical brilliance, especially from the woodwind, but always full of character and presence. The folk melodies of the first movement were presented with a no-nonsense panache that stressed the virtuoso qualities, while the dreamlike sound of the Capriccio section of the second movement was brilliantly realized. The articulation of the toccata section the finale was all that one could want, while the climactic chorale showed the brass section of the orchestra to good advantage.

As is usual with the performances of Lutosławski's music at the Proms, these two works were set in an excellent European context. Mi-Parti opened the earlier concert and was followed by Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No.2 and Sibelius's Second Symphony, while the Concerto for Orchestra was the thrilling concluding item in the later concert, following Enescu's First Rumanian Rhapsody, Bartók's Viola Concerto and Koechlin's orchestration of Debussy's Khamma. Good company indeed for the well-traveled music of one of Poland's most distinguished composers of the 20th century.

This review was written by Niall O'Loughlin and published on the website of PWM. The Proms is an annual music festival in London that, at 110 years old, still remains true to its original aim: to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences at reasonable prices.

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