Noskowski Symphony 1

[Alan Howe]

Friends will no doubt be interested in the announcement by Sterling of the release of the Symphony No.1 in A (1874/5) by Polish composer, Zygmunt Noskowski. Noskowski wrote the piece while studying with Kiel in Berlin...

http://www.sterlingcd.com/

Another winner from Bo Hyttner! Noskowski is an important unsung composer and this is an absolutely wonderful symphony.

[mbhaub]

This could be very good indeed. I have a recording of his tone poem, The Steppes, and it's marvelous music. Thanks for the heads up. I was very pleased to see that Gabriel Chmura conducts one of the works on the CD. Chmura was a guest conductor here some years ago in a thrilling concert that orchestra members still talk about. When a new conductor search started back then, there was even contingent working to get Chmura here permanently. No such luck.

[Mark Thomas]

Noskowski's Third is a really great work too which is every bit as good as you'd hope from the composer of The Steppes. Confident, colourful, melodious and well put together, it deserves a place in the romantic symphonic repertoire if any unsung symphony does. I understand that Bo Hyttner has secured for Sterling the rights to all three of the symphonies in performances like these, first broadcast by Polish Radio, so we should be in for a series of treats.

[Peter1953]

This made me very curious. I'm fond of Polish composers anyhow, and never heard anything from Noskowski.
Viewing at Sterling's website I noticed a recent release of Von Flotow's two piano concertos. Any member familiar with these works? Well, Alan's topic means an immediate order for two new CDs for a change...

[JimL]

The Flotow concertos are lovely trinkets.  The 2nd is probably the more interesting of the two, due to its 4 movement structure (scherzo 2nd), but it was never performed in the composer's lifetime, so its influence, while potentially great, was nonexistent.  They are charming, attractive works, but slight in stature.  The pianist who performed them is a Forum member, but he hasn't posted anything yet.  Oh, well, between performing and teaching, he's a busy fellow...

[Alan Howe]

An interesting comparison is between Noskowski's 1st and Stanford's 1st (which was written only a year or so later). Both budding symphonists were clearly building on the great Germano-Austrian symphonic tradition, but without the example of Brahms (whose own 1st Symphony was also being written at that time and so was not yet known). Both Noskowski and Stanford came up with substantial symphonies (approx. 44 and 48 minutes in length respectively) - expansions, therefore, of the symphonism of Schumann and Mendelssohn into a more late-Romantic idiom.

So, please, no comparisons with Brahms! Noskowski's is a parallel voice, one which picks up and runs with the symphonic tradition in a direction all of his own.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It is high time the symphonies of Noskowski were committed to disk and I am most encouraged that Bo Hyttner seems to have begun such a project. Another feather in Sterling's cap!

[Mark Thomas]

How interesting that you came up with a Stanford comparison, Alan. The same thought occurred to me, although I had in mind the later Stanford symphonies from No.4 onwards. Noskowski has the same generous expansiveness, rich orchestration and is a born melodist, too.

Today, by the way, marks the centenary of Noskowski's death.

[Alan Howe]

Hats off to Zygmunt, then! Time for a reappraisal, methinks...

[izdawiz]

My Respects to Mr. Noskowski Indeed. Mark you mentioned the 3rd symphony is  nothing to scoff about . That got me thinking .. has any of his symphonies been recorded? and how many symphonies did  Noskowski make?

[Alan Howe]

Only No.1 - but Sterling will eventually bring out all three.

[Mark Thomas]

Well, of course all three have been recorded, by Polish Radio, but so far only one of those recordings, No.1, has been issued on CD. The Polish recording of No.3 has been broadcast a couple of times by the BBC, which is how I come to have a recording of the work.

[Alan Howe]

Having listened to this symphony about half a dozen times over the past couple of days, I am fast coming to the conclusion that it is great music. The idiom is very interesting: I suppose Schumann is in the background, but the scale is bigger and the sonorities richer. There is some wonderful writing for brass at climaxes too. But overall I have to say that this is music all of Noskowski's own.

The release is made all the more attractive and successful because of the wonderful playing of the Polish orchestra and the superb acoustic of the recording venue, beautifully captured in this recording.

Frankly, it's hard to imagine that Sterling have released anything better than this...

[Amphissa]

 
Nice to know it is coming, but I don't see it actually being available at any retailers yet. So, is it available through some other channel? You obviously found it someplace.

[Alan Howe]

One or two sample CDs have been floating around - hence the early auditions. Give it a week or two and it'll be in the shops...