Tomasz

NICOLA PORPORA'S Germanico in Germania is the latest Baroque opera seria to get worked over by a conductor who confuses over-caffeination with excitement. There’s little drama, shape or contrast when everything’s so loud and frantic, and the whole work sounds like one long string of agitated arie di tempeste. Even without understanding Italian, it’s easy to tell what a Baroque aria is about by the instrumental setup and the vocal writing.

TWET - a music album recorded by Polish jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko and accompanying musicians. LP TWET (a title probably formed from the first letters of the names of the performers) is an album belonging to the free jazz trend. The American bassist, Peter Warren, played with three musicians who collaborated constantly: Tomasz Stanka, Tomasz Szukalski and Finnish drummer Edward Vesala. All songs are joint compositions of the participants of the recording session. The recordings were made on April 2, 1974 in the PWSM hall in Warsaw. The album was included in the Polish Jazz series (vol. 39).

Keine vor 1858 geschriebene polnische Oper wurde so erfolgreich wie Stanislaw Moniuszkos Halka. Capella Cracoviensis präsentiert die erste, zweiaktige Fassung von Halka, die 1848 in Wilna uraufgeführt wurde. Die Wilnaer Fassung ist die erste Orchesterfassung dieser Oper, deren Partitur unsere Zeit nicht überdauert hat. In dieser dramaturgisch sehr dynamischen Komposition werden einzelne musikalische Episoden als Teil der Szenen gestaltet; Rezitative, Arien und Chöre werden kombiniert.

Nuria Rials Aufnahmen für dhm werden in aller Welt hochgelobt. Ihr Album »Muera Cupido« mit dem Ensemble Accademia del Piacere wurde gerade für den Opus Klassik nominiert. Für ihr neues Album hat die Sopranistin zusammen mit dem spanischen Tenor Juan Sancho Arien und Duetten aus G. F. Händels Opern, Oratorien und Kantaten ausgewählt, die die menschliche und göttliche Liebe besingen. Die begleitende Capella Cracoviensis rundet unter der Leitung von Jan Tomasz Adamus das Album mit Tanzsätzen und Ouvertüren ab. In der Barockoper war es üblich, dass die Duette von Sopranistinnen und Kastraten gesungen wurden.

This is probably the most significant recording by Polish trumpeter virtuoso / composer Tomasz Stanko, surely at least among his Polish recordings before his later ECM period. Following Mile Davis, Stanko switched to Jazz-Rock Fusion (albeit a decade later) and his 1980s output with his Freelectronic ensemble is radically different from the Free Jazz he played in the 1970s. This double album consists of one studio recording and one live recording, both expressing Stanko's power as a performer and a composer to the max. The studio album, which was compiled over a period of two years, presents music composed by Stanko at the period when he was experimenting with hallucinogens and was deeply influenced by the writings of the Polish mystic / philosopher / avant-garde artist Witkacy (Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz), who was also an early experimenter with drugs…

In one of the more unique groupings of musicians from the ECM stable, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko assembled his fellow countryman Tomasz Szukalski on tenor and soprano saxes, British bassist Dave Holland, and Finnish drummer/percussionist Edward Vesala to play contemporary jazz with a distinct Euro-classical chamber feel. Those who are familiar with the music of Kenny Wheeler will hear an immediate connection, as Stanko and this ensemble employ techniques of free-floating moods and lightly soaring sounds, with Holland's anchoring bass prodding the slight rhythms forward. The beauty of this concept is in how the quartet plays from an inward direction, with few direct jazz references save improvisation…