Polish

Joachim Kaczkowski, a Polish violinist, teacher and composer, was born in 1789 in the city of Tábor in southern Bohemia. He came from a family with strong musical traditions. Joachim Kaczkowski took his first violin lessons from his father. He grew up in Lviv at a time when such outstanding representatives of the musical community as Polish conductor and composer of German origin Józef Elsner and violinist, conductor and composer Karol Kurpinski were active there. The form of violin duo has never gained great popularity and attention among composers of chamber music throughout the musical eras. Due to the relatively limited sound range of the violin, this kind of works, on the one hand, severely hampered the artistic potential of composers, and on the other hand, unlike the much more popular string quartets, it did not arouse much interest among a wider audience. Therefore, Joachim Kaczkowski, an excellent violin virtuoso, had a great opportunity to experiment with a rarely exploited musical form, which resulted in numerous innovative and often surprising textural and sound effects.

It's not at all clear whether this release delivers the promised Polish harpsichord music, but the music contained herein is nonetheless interesting. Composer Józef Elsner was born in 1769, and the sonatas and dances on the program come from a pair of publications that appeared in 1803 and 1805. Harpsichordist Urszula Bartkiewicz argues in her own notes (in Polish and English) that either a harpsichord or a piano might have been used for this music, but she cites no evidence that a harpsichord would have been a common choice for ambitious works like the sonatas here at this late date.

Artistic prodigy of Vilnius residents Alina Rotaru and Darius Stabinskas, Ensemble Morgaine devotes themselves to the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque repertoire, and especially to the Golden Age of the Polish-Lithuanian-Commonwealth. The programme of their debut CD "Evening song" is concentrated on the musical creation of Waclaw z Szamotul, Mikolaj Gomlka, Krzysztof Klabon and Cyprian Bazylik, with the original texts in Polish, as well as with their first translations into Lithuanian language which appeared in the 17th Century.

World premiere recording of Anton Rubinstein monumental opera 'Moses'. The recordings were made by Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra under Michail Jurowski together with Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Artos Children’s Choir and a tremendous cast (staring Stanisław Kuflyuk (Moses), Torsten Kerl (Pharaoh, king of Egypt), Evelina Dobračeva (Asnath, Pharaon‘s daughter) and Małgorzata Walewska (Johebet, Moses’ mother)). The libretto was originally written in German and this recording maintains this language version.

Maria Szymanowska Piano Duo is formed by two pianist associated with the Academy of Music in Łódź. The guiding thought of the joint activity adopted by the artists is to promote Polish music and works of less known composers, whose pieces are gradually being forgotten. Polish music, to which the present CD including four hands piano music is dedicated, occupies a special place in their output.

Of all the Polish violin repertoire, the works of Henryk Wieniawski are the best known, both in his native Poland and abroad. His two violin concertos and various works for violin and piano are performed all over the world. The International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznan (similar to the Chopin Competition in Warsaw) is an internationally acclaimed competition. I find Karol Szymanowski one of the most versatile Polish composers. This CD is intended to bring home the message that this music must not be forgotten. May this release be a token of my gratitude to all the composers whose highly interesting and beautiful works are to be heard on this release.