The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

Downloads by surname => Downloads: discussion without links => Topic started by: jowcol on August 16, 2012, 02:06:02 am



Title: Polish Music
Post by: jowcol on August 16, 2012, 02:06:02 am
Music of Alexandre Tansman
(http://francewithsimone.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Tansman_Alex.jpg)

1. Stele- In Memoriam I Stravinsky
Orchestre Nationale, M. Seizan
Radio Broadcast   Jan, 24, 1973

2.  Sinfonietta Nr. 2
Nouvel Orch. Phil. Radio France
V. Karanjiev
Radio Broadcast, October 12, 1981

3-8. Alexandre Tansman: Suite Baroque
New York Philharmonic
Vladimir Golschmann, conductor
Radio Broadcast, 23 February, 1961

Note: you may view the program from the latter performances here:  http://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/3935c4eb-5aff-4691-b4ed-7fc262d3d6c9/fullview (http://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/3935c4eb-5aff-4691-b4ed-7fc262d3d6c9/fullview)

Here are some excerpts from the Wiki Bio on Tansman:


Alexandre Tansman (12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish-born composer and virtuoso pianist. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life. His music is primarily neoclassical, drawing on his Polish and Jewish heritage as well as his French musical influences.[1]

Early life and heritage
Tansman was born and raised in the Polish city of Łódź during the era when Poland did not exist as an independent state, being part of Tsarist Russia.
The composer wrote the following about his childhood and heritage in a 1980 letter to an American researcher:
"... my father's family came from Pinsk and I knew of a famous rabbi related to him. My father died very young, and there were certainly two, or more branches of the family, as ours was quite wealthy: we had in Lodz several domestics, two governesses (French and German) living with us etc. My father had a sister who settled in Israel and married there. I met her family on my [concert] tours in Israel. ... My family was, as far as religion is concerned, quite liberal, not practicing. My mother was the daughter of Prof. Leon Gourvitch, quite a famous man."[citation needed]

Career
Though he began his musical studies at the Łódź Conservatory, his doctoral study was in law at the University of Warsaw. Shortly after completing his studies, Tansman moved to Paris, where his musical ideas were accepted and encouraged by mentors and musical influences Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, as opposed to the more conservative musical climate in his native Poland. While in Paris, Tansman associated with a crowd of foreign-born musicians known as the École de Paris; though Honegger and Milhaud tried to persuade him to join Les Six, he declined, stating a need for creative independence. (Tansman later wrote a biography of Stravinsky that was extremely well received.)
Tansman always described himself as a Polish composer, though he spoke French at home and married a French pianist, Colette Cras.

In 1941, fleeing Europe as his Jewish background put him in danger with Hitler's rise to power, he moved to Los Angeles (thanks to the efforts of his friend Charlie Chaplin in getting him a visa), where he made the acquaintance of Arnold Schoenberg. Tansman composed the score for at least two Hollywood movies: Flesh and Fantasy, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and a biopic of the Australian medical researcher Sister Elizabeth Kenny, starring Rosalind Russell. He scored six films in all. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946 for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, for Paris Underground (there was a huge field of 21 nominations, and the winner was Miklós Rózsa for Spellbound).

Though Alexandre Tansman returned to Paris after the war, his disappearance from the European musical scene left him behind the musical currents of the time, and no longer fresh in the minds of the public, which slowed his previously fast-rising career. No longer in tune with the French fashions, which had moved on to the avant-garde style, Tansman returned to his musical roots, drawing on his Jewish and Polish background to create some of his greatest works. During this time he began to reestablish connections to Poland, though his career and family kept him in France, where he lived until his death, in Paris, in 1986.

According to the Paris-based Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs, Tansman used the name "Stan Alson" when he composed jazz music.
Today the Alexandre Tansman Competition for promising musicians is held in his honor every other year in his birthplace of Łódź, in order to promote his music and the local culture.

Music
Tansman was not only an internationally recognized composer, but was also a virtuoso pianist. From 1932-33 Tansman performed worldwide for audiences including Emperor Hirohito of Japan and Mahatma Gandhi; he was regarded as one of the greatest Polish musicians. Later he performed five concert tours in the United States, including as a soloist under Serge Koussevitsky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as having a thriving career in France as a concert performer.

Tansman's music is written in the French neoclassical style of his adopted home, and the Polish styles of his birthplace, drawing on his Jewish heritage. Already on the edge of musical thought when he left Poland (critics questioned his chromatic and sometimes polytonal writing), he adopted the extended harmonies of Ravel in his work and later was compared to Alexander Scriabin in his departure from conventional tonality.

One of Tansman's letters states that "it is obvious that I owe much to France, but anyone who has ever heard my compositions cannot have doubt that I have been, am and forever will be a Polish composer."[citation needed] After Chopin, Tansman may be the leading proponent of traditional Polish forms such as the polonaise and the mazurka; they were inspired by and often written in homage to Chopin.[citation needed] For these pieces, which ranged from lighthearted miniatures to virtuoso showpieces, Tansman drew on traditional Polish folk themes and adapted them to his distinctive neoclassical style. However, he did not write straight settings of the folk songs themselves, as he states in a radio interview: "I have never used an actual Polish folk song in its original form, nor have I tried to reharmonize one. I find that modernizing a popular song spoils it. It must be preserved in its original harmonization."[citation needed]

He is perhaps best known for his guitar pieces, mostly written for Andrés Segovia—in particular the Suite in modo polonico (1962), a collection of Polish dances. Segovia frequently performed the work in recordings and on tour; it is today part of the standard repertoire. Tansman's music has been performed by musicians such as Segovia, Walter Gieseking, José Iturbi, Jane Bathori, Joseph Szigeti, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Igor Zubkovsky and most recently Chandos Records has increased his profile, with the start of a series of his orchestral works, recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Caetani.








Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Caostotale on August 16, 2012, 09:12:07 am
Thanks for the great Tansman post, Jowcol. He was the first L'ecole de Paris composer I got interested in, after finding a used copy of his string quartet cycle at the Princeton Record Exchange some years ago. His polytonal harmonic language and brisk style just swept me off my feet and I've been an enthusiast ever since. At this point, I have almost all of his available music on CD or MP3 and have been slowly accumulating his scores for further study. In my most recent foray into the library system, I found scores for his first piano concerto (not recorded), a ballet based on Tolstoy's Resurrection, and his opera Sabbatai Zevi. Having completed lists for his comrades Mihalovici and Harsanyi, I've been meaning to assemble a works list for him for years, but haven't yet gotten around to it. Maybe I'll do that next. His catalogue is a little spotty, since (a.) he didn't use opus numbers and (b.) a number of early works are lost, including his first string quartet and his first piano trio.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: jowcol on August 20, 2012, 07:35:04 pm
Artur Malawski: Tryptuk Goralski (1949-1950)
(Translation: Moutaineer’s or Highlands Triptych)
(http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/malawski.jpg)

Orchestration  of piano version with radio intro and outro 
Polish RN Symphony Orchestra
Maciej Zoltowski, conductor
11 November 2005

From the collection of Karl Miller

I had hesitated in posting this to UC because there was already a performance posted there.

Bio from the USC Polish Music Center

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Artur Malawski was born on 4 July 1904 in Przemyśl and died on 26 December 1957 in Kraków. He graduated from the Kraków Conservatory of Music (studies under J. Chmielewski) with a high distinction as a violin virtuoso in 1928, and then from the Warsaw Conservatory of Music with two diplomas - in composition under K. Sikorski and conducting under W. Bierdiajew in 1939. He lectured on composition, conducting and theory at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków from 1945 until his death, where his pupils included Penderecki and Schaeffer. He also taught conducting at the State Higher School in Katowice (1950-54). In addition, Malawski appeared as a conductor of symphony orchestras in concert halls and on the radio. In the years 1948-51 he was President of the Polish Section of the ISCM. His conducting activities were restricted largely to his own works as he devoted most of his time and energy to composition.

Malawski received many awards for his works, among them in 1946 the Award of the Kraków Voivodeship; in 1949 - the Second Prize at the Chopin Competition for Composers in Warsaw for his Symphonic Variations, and the Third Prize at the same competition for Toccata and Fugue in the Form of Variations; in 1952 - the State Award of the Third Degree for The Peaks; in 1955 - the State Award of the Second Degree for his composer's and teaching activities in the previous decade; in the same year - the Prize of the Festival of Polish Contemporary Music and the Award of the Minister of Culture and Art for Symphonic Studies and for Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello; in 1956 - the Award of the Polish Composers' Union for the whole of his composer's and teaching activity; in the same year - the Order of the Banner of Labor of the Second Degree; in 1957 - the Music Award of the City of Kraków for his creative work, especially for his Symphony No.2.






Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: jowcol on September 02, 2012, 05:20:50 pm
Koscielec 1909 by Wojciech Kilar
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Wojciech_Kilar_2.jpg/220px-Wojciech_Kilar_2.jpg)

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Jerzy Maksymiuk, conductor

Radio broadcast, date unknown

From the collection of Karl Miller

The radio intro here describes a LOT about the work.



Wikipedia Bio


Biography
Wojciech Kilar is one of Poland’s esteemed composers. Born in 1932 in Lwów (now a city in Ukraine, it was part of Poland at the time). [1] His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress. Kilar has spent most of his life since 1948 in the city of Katowice in Southern Poland,[2] married (from April 1966 to November 2007) to Barbara Pomianowska, a pianist.[3] Kilar was 22 years old when he met 18 year old Barbara, his future wife.[4]

Education

Kilar studied at some of Poland's finest music academies, including the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, under the composer and pianist Władysława Markiewiczówna, graduating with top honors in 1955. He continued his post-graduate studies at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków from 1955 to 1958 under composer and pianist Bolesław Woytowicz. In 1957 he participated in the International New Music Summer Course in Darmstadt. Kilar expanded on his musical education in Paris in 1959-60, when a scholarship from the French government allowed him to study composition under Nadia Boulanger[5].

Music career
 Wojciech Kilar belonged (together with Boleslaw Szabelski, his student Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki) to the Polish Avant-garde music movement of the Sixties. In 1977 Kilar was one of the founding members of the Karol Szymanowski Society, based in the mountain town of Zakopane. Kilar chaired the Katowice chapter of the Association of Polish Composers for many years and from 1979-81 was vice chair of this association's national board. He was also a member of the Repertoire Committee for the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music. In 1991 Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi made a biographical film about the composer titled Wojciech Kilar.

Having received critical success as a classical composer, Kilar scored his first domestic film in 1959, and has since gone on to write music from some of Poland's most acclaimed directors, including Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Wajda. He worked on over 100 titles in his home country, including internationally recognised titles such as Bilans Kwartalny (1975), Spirala (1978), Constans (1980), Imperativ (1982), Rok Spokojnego Slonca (1984), and Zycie za Zycie (1991), plus several others in France and across other parts of Europe. He made his English-language debut with Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Dracula. His other English language features — Roman Polanski's trio Death and the Maiden (1994), The Ninth Gate (1999) and The Pianist (2002), and Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996) — were typified by his trademark grinding basses and cellos, deeply romantic themes and minimalist chord progressions.

In addition to his film work, Kilar continues to write and publish purely classical works, which have included a horn sonata, a piece for a wind quintet, several pieces for chamber orchestra and choir, the acclaimed Baltic Canticles, the epic Exodus (famous as the trailer music from Schindler's List), a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra dedicated to Peter Jablonski, and his major work, the “September Symphony” (2003).[6]

Having abandoned Avant-garde music technical means almost entirely, he continues to employ a simplified musical language, in which sizable masses of sound serve as a backdrop for highlighted melodies. This occurs in those compositions that reference folk music (especially Polish Highlander Gorals folk melodies) and in patriotic and religious pieces.

Awards

Wojciech Kilar has received numerous awards for his artistic activity and achievements, including prizes from the Lili Boulanger Foundation in Boston (1960), the Minister of Culture and Art (1967, 1975), the Association of Polish Composers (1975), the Katowice province (1971, 1976, 1980), and the city of Katowice (1975, 1992).[7] He has also been awarded the First Class Award of Merit of the Polish Republic (1980), the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Prize in New York City (1984), the Solidarity Independent Trade Union Cultural Committee Arts Award (1989), the Wojciech Korfanty Prize (1995), the "Lux ex Silesia" Prize bestowed by the Archbishop and Metropolitan of Katowice (1995), and the Sonderpreis des Kulturpreis Schlesien des Landes Niedersachsen (1996).

Kilar's film scores have also won him many honors. He received the best score award for the music to Ziemia obiecana / The Promised Land (dir. Andrzej Wajda) at the Festival of Polish Films in Gdansk in 1975. This was followed by the Prix Louis Delluc, which Kilar was awarded in 1980 for the music to an animated film titled Le Roi et l'Oiseau / The King and the Mockingbird, (dir. Paul Grimault). One year later he collected an award at the Cork International Film Festival for the music to Papież Jan Pawel II / Pope John Paul II / Da un paese lontano: Papa Giovanni Paulo II (dir. Krzysztof Zanussi).

Perhaps his greatest success came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, for which Kilar received the ASCAP Award 1992 from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in Los Angeles and the prize for best score in a horror film in San Francisco in 1992. The Polish State Cinema Committee honored Kilar with a lifetime achievement award in 1991, while in 1976 he was decorated with the Cavaliers' Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In November 2008 Kilar was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.





Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Dundonnell on November 29, 2012, 12:59:18 am
Thank you very much indeed, Matthias, for the Skrowaczewski Symphony :) :)


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Dundonnell on November 29, 2012, 01:10:51 pm
You will have to excuse me. I am pretty sure this was disccused at the time at UC but I cannot remember and have no access to that site.

In my catalogue of downloads I have-

Skrowaczewski Symphony for Strings(1947-49) and a work which I have entitled "Symphony No.3(1946)" but the Symphony 2003 dowloaded is clearly the same piece as the "Symphony No.3".

Can anybody clear up my confusion ???


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: mjkFendrich on November 29, 2012, 03:33:40 pm
Hello Colin,

the UC-archive entry concerning the above Symphony is exactly identical to what "britishcomposer" has posted.

The entry related to the Symphony for Strings is:

Quote
Stanisław Skrowaczewski Symphony for Strings
St Pauls Chamber Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor.
Date Unknown

From the collection of.Karl Miller

Link http://www.mediafire.com/?sa4cy9hp24g6rct


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Elroel on November 29, 2012, 04:31:43 pm
Gentlemen,

I'm afraid the Symphony (2003) of Skrowaczewski is exactly the same as on my cd OEHMS OC 712.
On the cd a subtitle: in memory of Ken Dayton
So they must have either been relaying a cd, or it came afterwards on cd.
(the tinings on  the cd are only differing because the timing of part 1 is 16:01 part 2 only 5:49. (on the dowload the time for mvmt 1 and 2 are ident.)  Listening to it: it is the same.

Sorry,

Elroel


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: britishcomposer on November 29, 2012, 05:16:21 pm
Tanks, Elroel! I have deleted the reposting.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: markniew on November 29, 2012, 06:39:06 pm
as to upload of Symphony 2003 by Skrowaczewski I did it in March 2012.

I took it off radio in May 2005. It is recording of the live performance done during the Polish Radio 8th Festival „80 years on the air” in  W. Lutosławski Studio/Warsaw on 15.05.2005.

movements were announced by the speaker, division into parts were made by myself just roughly so it can be as elroel says.
For sure  the performers were as below:
STANISŁAW  SKROWACZEWSKI  (1923)
Symphony 2003   (2003)     
 1     Lento misterioso     10:46
 2     Presto tenebroso   10:59
 3     Adagio      15:17   
Polish Radio National SO
cond. Stanisław Skrowaczewski



Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Elroel on November 29, 2012, 10:59:37 pm
Markniew/britishcomposer,

About Skrowaczewski again: I listened to the first part and compared the timings and concluded they were the same.
After Marek's comment I saw that the orchestras were different. In the following movements there were slight differences.
And listening to the complete symphony, the sound is not exactly the same, but very close.
So Skrowaczewski stayed very close to his other performance.

On the Oehms cd Skrowacewski is leading the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken.

So I must apologize for being to hasty with my conclusion and I think one of them could decide to re-upload it, for benefit of the other members..


Best regards


Elroel




Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Dundonnell on November 30, 2012, 05:37:27 pm
So....(and you will please excuse me if I appear incredibly stupid).....there is NO Symphony No.3, written in 1946 by Skrowaczewski.

(I have not been able to compile a catalogue of his orchestral music :()


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: kyjo on December 12, 2012, 12:57:18 am
Thanks, Sicmu, for the Zulawski Suite in the Old Style :)! I had never heard of this composer before. As well as being a musician, Zulawski was also an eminent alpinist, but, unfortunately, this career led to his tragic early death at age 41 when he died during a rescue action on Mount Blanc :(. I wonder, what is it with Polish composers dying in mountain climbing accidents (Karlowicz is the most notable and tragic of these)? Here's his Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawrzyniec_Zulawski


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: JimL on December 13, 2012, 03:52:58 pm
Thanks, Sicmu, for the Zulawski Suite in the Old Style :)! I had never heard of this composer before. As well as being a musician, Zulawski was also an eminent alpinist, but, unfortunately, this career led to his tragic early death at age 41 when he died during a rescue action on Mount Blanc :(. I wonder, what is it with Polish composers dying in mountain climbing accidents (Karlowicz is the most notable and tragic of these)? Here's his Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawrzyniec_Zulawski
Actually, Karlowicz was a cross-country skier, not an alpinist.  I think that's what he was doing when the avalanche killed him.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: cilgwyn on December 13, 2012, 04:55:40 pm
Wow! I can just seeing him whizzing off in his ski pants & goggles! Fair play to him! A man of action!! ;D


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: JimL on December 13, 2012, 08:14:20 pm
Wow! I can just seeing him whizzing off in his ski pants & goggles! Fair play to him! A man of action!! ;D
And he was an amateur photographer.  Which, in those days, involved quite a bit of work!


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Elroel on December 14, 2012, 03:49:24 pm
A Bloch's The Very Sleeping Beauty

It seems that the first of the rar-files was lost somewhere. I re-uploaded the file and corrected the link


Elroel


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Dundonnell on February 20, 2013, 06:30:09 pm
Many thanks to Matthias for the new recording of the Penderecki Double Concerto :)

A much superior, crisp recording of a work which-quite definitely-represents some sort of new (or should that be "old") direction for the composer ;D


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: fr8nks on February 21, 2013, 01:20:18 pm
Thanks from me also for the Penderecki Double Concerto. I find much of his music difficult to grasp but this was most enjoyable. Thanks for sharing it.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Caostotale on March 07, 2013, 05:33:47 pm
Many thanks to A.S. for the Tansman choral pieces!


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Caostotale on March 08, 2013, 07:21:49 pm
Simply remarkable, RBert12!


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: ttle on October 08, 2013, 01:40:37 pm

(http://static.polskieradio.pl/files/85eff4e3-b0e5-42a4-9344-edd649238574.file)

Kazimierz Serocki (1922 to 1981): his final orchestral work, Pianophonie for piano, "elektronické zvuky" and orchestra (1978)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ka3f78aaup17pzi (http://www.mediafire.com/?ka3f78aaup17pzi)

From a wireless broadcast. Performed by Szabolcs Esztényi and the Baden-Baden Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Bour. Duration thirty-one minutes.

My Czech dictionary (Fronek) does not run to "zvuky" - the closest it comes is "zvykacka" meaning "chewing-gum." According to Grove's, "Pianophonie, with its incorporation of electronic transformation of much of the soloist's music, is a logical and memorable outcome of the composer's ceaseless and energetic application of performing techniques to expressive ends. Serocki was a musical abstractionist for whom colour was both decorative and substantive, both transitory and structural." So, this is posted in the hope that some will admire it - although I am impelled to confess that it doesn't appeal to me much . . . (I must now listen to the two early symphonies - thanks to Dundonnell - and see how they compare).


This is surprising, "zvuk" does mean "sound" in Czech and in some other Slavic languages, albeit not in Polish...  :-\


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Jolly Roger on October 08, 2013, 04:13:05 pm
I have just heard this - and while the very beginning is a quite acidic, stay with it.
I am still stunned by some of the fine orchestral effects:

Wojciech, Kilar — Krzesany
Antoni Wit - Polish Natl RSO - Cracow Phil Chorus

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/38131


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest54 on October 08, 2013, 05:10:04 pm
. . . "zvuk" does mean "sound" in Czech . . .

Many thanks for that translation! I now see that in my ignorance I had not realized that in the dictionary the "ž" section was separate from the "z" section. And the reason why the programme notes were in Czech is simply that the broadcast came from Czech radio.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Gauk on August 27, 2015, 08:28:22 am
Krzysztof Meyer

Symphony No 6 Op. 57 "The Polish"

1. Adagio
2. Allegro Molto
3. Andante con moto
4. Allegro - Largo

North German Radio SO - Christopher Keene

One movement of this was linked in a discussion thread here two years ago; now here is the whole work, which as far as I can find is not available elsewhere.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: jowcol on September 03, 2015, 03:45:10 pm
Under the "United States" composers downloads, I post a collection of Karl Miller's tracks of American Pianist Byron Janis's interpretations of some Chopin Mazurkas.  Enjoy.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Jolly Roger on September 05, 2015, 06:37:46 am
Krzysztof Meyer

Symphony No 6 Op. 57 "The Polish"

1. Adagio
2. Allegro Molto
3. Andante con moto
4. Allegro - Largo

North German Radio SO - Christopher Keene

One movement of this was linked in a discussion thread here two years ago; now here is the whole work, which as far as I can find is not available elsewhere.
Thanks for the K. Meyer symphony, his music is not easy to find..
A very gifted and unique composer
His very powerful and compelling 7th can be heard here..don't miss it..

Meyer,Krzystof - Symfonie nr. 7
Nationaal Pools Radio Symfonie Orkest Katowice olv. Gabriel Chmura
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
http://www.concertzender.nl/programmagids/?date=2010-10-26&month=-51&detail=46086


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: ttle on November 03, 2016, 09:23:28 am
Prodowski, Stefan Boleslaw [1902-1967]

Double Bass Concerto, Jurek Dybal (double bass), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ruben Silva (conductor)

Broadcast BBC Radio 3 October 29 2016

http://www.mediafire.com/file/3p7abzjgslwp4ap/Prodowski_Db_Conc.mp3
As discussed with calyptorhynchus, the Radio 3 programme probably mixed the composer's name up a little bit. This is certainly the Double Bass Concerto by Stefan Bolesław Poradowski, completed in 1929. A note about him can be found here (no English version available):
http://www.polmic.pl/index.php?option=com_mwosoby&id=749&view=czlowiek&litera=18&Itemid=5&lang=pl
and his Eighth symphony can be heard on YouTube, it may have been posted here before.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: shamus on October 09, 2017, 05:40:28 am
Bacewicz Cello cto no. 2 uploaded, not sure of provenance, so if needs taken down tell me


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest224 on October 09, 2017, 11:51:00 am
I have posted (in both the Belarusian and Polish sections) up some piano music and songs by the Belarusian/Polish composer Yan Tarasevich (also spelt Jan Tarasiewicz).  The below is google-translated from his Belarusian-language Wikipedia page:

Yan Tarasevich (Polish: Jan Tarasiewicz; September 23, 1893, Sokolka now Podlasie, Poland - June 18, 1961..) - Polish and Belarusian composer, pianist and teacher.

He received his musical education in St. Petersburg. He participated in the creation of the Belarusian People's Republic. He worked in the Belarusian school in Grodno. Then he lived mainly in Sakolshchyne.
He wrote music for piano, choral and desktop, as well as songs. Inspired by Belarusian folklore. He left behind 113 compositions and one unfinished concerto.
In 2013, in Bialystok took place Yan Tarasevich Festival, dedicated to the music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.


https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ян_Тарасевіч (https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ян_Тарасевіч)

(https://zbsb.org/upload/sites/default/files/content/M_images/Polszcza/tarasievicz_j.jpg)

(http://referatdb.ru/pars_docs/refs/185/184856/184856_html_m72e234ff.png)


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest224 on October 09, 2017, 11:51:38 am
More on Tarasevich/Tarasiewicz:

from a Russian-language essay on Belarusian composers (google-translated):  http://elib.bspu.by/bitstream/doc/2769/1/1.%20Ян%20Тарасевич,%20Евгений%20Карлович%20Тикоцкий,%20Николай%20Щеглов-Куликович,%20Григорий%20Константинович%20Пукст.pdf (http://elib.bspu.by/bitstream/doc/2769/1/1.%20Ян%20Тарасевич,%20Евгений%20Карлович%20Тикоцкий,%20Николай%20Щеглов-Куликович,%20Григорий%20Константинович%20Пукст.pdf)

Yan Tarasevich (23/10/1893 - 06/18/1961), composer, pianist and teacher. He was born in the county town of Sokolka in Grodno province (now Sokółka, Podlasie, Poland). The father of the future composer was a Lieutenant colonel and a hero of the Russian-Turkish war. His parents died when he was seven years old, and he was taken into the care of his mother's second cousin. On the estate of this aunt the boy had a governess, who gave him his first knowledge in musical literacy and taught him to play the piano.

Jan loved to play music, but, like most children of aristocratic family, he prepared another for another destiny. The boy was sent to study at the St. Petersburg Cadet Corps. However, his love for music was stronger. Immediately after graduating he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Jan's musical talent manifested itself at the conservatory. His talent was noticed by the outstanding composer A. Glazunov, with whose help the first works of the young composer were published. Yan Tarasevich enjoyed great popularity as a brilliant performer. His abilities were noted by the leading musical lights of the time - Sergei Rahmaninov and Jean Sibelius. Tarasevich was presented at the court of the Russian Emperor, where he performed in concerts. The Tsar's daughter Maria was a fan.

But his success and promising future were interrupted by the October Revolution of 1917. The composer taught for some time at the Grodno Belarusian school. He was also involved in the creation of the short-lived independent Belarusian People's Republic in 1918. But after the establishment of Soviet power, he returned to the estate near Sokółka and completely gave himself to composing. In 1921, as a result of the Brest Treaty, Sokolka - being only a few kilometers from the border with Belarus, was included as part of Poland. Yan Tarasevich found himself outside his homeland. For many years he lived immovably on his estate. According to the recollections of local residents, the composer paid little attention to the farm, giving all his time to music. Many of his works are inspired by the atmosphere that prevailed around the estate. He felt the friendly disposition of local residents. In gratitude, the composer dedicated his "Banal Waltz" to them.

In 1939, after the arrival of Soviet troops, Tarasevich left his estate and travelled to Latvia, to wait out the "hard times." With the advent of Soviet power Tarasevich's estate  was nationalized, and all the land distributed to local peasants. When he returned to his home in 1942, he found it destroyed.

Having survived the war, in 1947 Tarasevich moved to Białystok to a small wooden house, consisting of a kitchen and one room in which the piano and bed could barely fit. Tarasevich lived in this house for fourteen years,  earning his living by giving private music lessons. Many of his students later became well-known musicians. The composer died in 1961, and  was buried in a cemetery in Sokółka, according to the terms of his will.

Living on the territory of Poland, Jan Tarasevicc did not lost his connection to  Belarusian culture. The root of many of his creations was the Belarusian folk music, and his vocal works were based on poems by Belarusian poets.  Tarasevich left behind 110 works of various genres. These include works for piano, choir, chamber and instrumental works, songs and romances, and one unfinished Piano Concerto.

Neither in life or after his death was Tarasevich's work recognised by Polish composers. A revival of interest in his music began only after the broadcast of the musical heritage of the composers of Belarus in 1997. In 2000, at the initiative of "Belarusian Capella" in Warsaw a CD was released, which includes 24 vocal and piano works of the composer, performed by artists of the Belarusian State Philharmonic Society and the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus.

In 2001, a book was published in Minsk by the singer Viktor Skorobogatov called "Without glory: the composer Yan Tarasevich". In mid-2007, Białystok TV recorded a documentary film "The Forgotten composer - Yan Tarasevich."

In 2011, a plaque was unveiled in Sokółka in memory of Jan Tarasevich.

In 2013 in Białystok, the Yan Tarasevich Festival took place, dedicated to the music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.



Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest224 on December 11, 2018, 08:24:03 pm
I have just uploaded the first movement of Piano Concerto No.1 by Henryk Bobiński (1861-1914)

Bio: https://musopen.org/composer/henryk-bobinski/ (https://musopen.org/composer/henryk-bobinski/)

Born: 1st February 1861  -   Died: 24th April 1914  -  Birthplace: Warsaw, Poland
Henry Bobiński was a Polish pianist and composer. In Warsaw, he attended the Institute of Music. He learned piano and composition at Strobel, with Zygmunt Noskowski .He graduated in 1879. After graduation he moved to Krakow . He was employed there as a piano teacher of the Music Society. Then he went to Vienna.


Score:  https://musopen.org/music/29908-piano-concerto-op8/ (https://musopen.org/music/29908-piano-concerto-op8/)

Also a Polish wikipedia entry:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Bobiński (https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Bobiński)

Henryk Bobiński (born February 1, 1861 in Warsaw , died on April 24, 1914 ibid) - Polish pianist and composer.
In Warsaw he attended the Musical Institute. He studied at Strobel, playing the piano and composing with Zygmunt Noskowski . He obtained his diploma in 1879. After graduation he went to Krakow . He worked there as a piano teacher at the Music Society. Parallel to his work, he gave concerts (among others: Lublin , Krakow, Warsaw). Then he left for Vienna to complete his education under the direction of Teodor Leszetycki . Later, he studied composition with Szostakowski at the Moscow Philharmonic. There, after obtaining his first degree, he taught piano for the next three years. In 1893, he lived briefly inOdessa , then he moved to Kiev . He became a professor of higher piano class at the school of the Russian Musical Society. In the years 1893 - 1903 performed sequentially in Warsaw, Kiev and Vienna. In 1914 he became seriously ill. He moved to Warsaw in the same year, where he lived for the last few months of his life.

Compositions
Symphonic overture
Piano concert in E minor, Op. 8
Piano concert in A minor, Op. 12
Variations (for string quartet)
Valse-Fantaisie Op. 1
Nocturne op. 3
Legend op. 4
Deux morceaux op. 5
Mélodie and Moment musical
Preludes
Pensée ŕ la mémoire d'un grand artiste
Etudes op. 14
Andante doloroso op. 15
Serenade op. 17 No. 1
Conzonetta op. 17 No. 2
Je t'aime (transcript of the songs by Edvard Grieg)

(google-translate)




Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest264 on December 24, 2018, 10:59:03 am
Large collection of downloadable recordings of music by Panufnik, Gorecki and Lutoslawski here:
https://ninateka.pl/kolekcje/en/three-composers (https://ninateka.pl/kolekcje/en/three-composers)

Many pieces unavailable elsewhere.

Robert


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest128 on December 24, 2018, 06:50:32 pm
Large collection of downloadable recordings of music by Panufnik, Gorecki and Lutoslawski here:
https://ninateka.pl/kolekcje/en/three-composers (https://ninateka.pl/kolekcje/en/three-composers)

Many pieces unavailable elsewhere.

Robert

Wow.  "Large" is right.  There's no Panufnik, however.  You obviously meant Penderecki.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: Dundonnell on December 27, 2018, 12:20:34 am
An admittedly quick scan of the Penderecki would seem to suggest that the (relatively few) unrecorded orchestral and choral works are not available from this site.......unfortunately.


Title: Re: Polish Music
Post by: guest224 on July 25, 2019, 03:55:57 pm
I have posted a recording of Stanisław Moniuszko's "Crimean Sonnets" cantata in the downloads section.  These are based on 8 of the eighteen sonnets written by Poland's favourite Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz based on his travels in Crimea (more here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crimean_Sonnets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crimean_Sonnets).

As follows:

1. Intrada       Introduction
2. Cisza morska      Silent Sea
3. Żegluga      Sailing
4. Burza      Storm
5. Ruina (Bakczysaraj)      Ruins (Bakhchisarai)
6. Noc (Bakczysaraj w nocy)      Night (Bakhchisarai at night)
7. Hymn (Czatyrdah)      Hymn (Mount Chatyr-Dah)
8. Pielgrzym      Pilgrim
9. Epilog (Ajudah)      Epilogue (Mount Ayu-Dag)

Bakhchisarai was the capital in Crimea of the Crimean Tatar Khanate.  The Khan's Palace is still there and is a notable attraction still, particularly its famous fountain. 

Chatyr-Dah is a mountain, its name means Tent Mountain.

Ayu-Dag is also a mountain - its name means Bear Mountain, it looks like a bear stooping to drink from the sea (I've been there, it really does!).

According to a note which came with the recording, "Some of the titles in the score were changed from Mickiewicz's titles (maybe for censorship reasons?). That is why some sonnets have here first the title from the score, followed by the original title of A.Mickiewicz in parentheses."  Mickiewicz was certainly regarded as subversive by Czarist Russia, which ruled much of Poland at the time.  He was even imprisoned and internally exiled.