Mother, Maksim Gorki

Repression and censorship; optimism and freedom; renewed constraints. If this sounds like a now all too familiar story of political progress achieved and then reversed, then this stunning survey of chamber works by two of Poland’s leading post-war composers suggests that music was there to bear witness to each twist and turn of the tale.

The year 1802 proved to be a year of true challenge for Beethoven, as he finally realized that his decline into deafness was irreversible. However, in this year Beethoven composed some of his most radiant and life-affirming works in that period. Possibly as part of the determination to push the boundaries of his art in pursuit of solace and fulfillment, Beethoven demonstrates a remarkable stylistic shift between the Op. 12 and the Op. 30 Sonatas (written in 1801–2, published in 1803).