Polish Music

[Mark Thomas]

Absolutely. A gorgeous listen. Thanks very much for the link.

[eschiss1]

the Maliszewski (at least I think that's the right spelling) is his opus 29- don't actually know what his opus 27 is (though as with the odd and annoying case of Sgambati's works published under different opus numbers consistently by different publishers apparently and causing a right mess..- it might be both?) Published in 1939 (of course perhaps earlier too- I don't know.)
(Also, Worldcat says "h-molli"- as in, B minor- not B-flat. Unfortunately, a taped broadcast is not going to settle that, of course (not when that tape of Wellesz sym. 2 in E-flat minor _sounds_ in C-sharp minor-ish in a way that will might people with perfect pitch- what is the expression- hissing and barking fits?... probably will take reference to the score, or to a reference on Maliszewski if ever there is. And given e.g. the versions of Rimsky's first symphony as an example, a reference to "the" score doesn't establish that it's "the" score the performance is working from, not right offhand... oy...)

[lechner1110]

  Hello Jerry.

  Thank you very much for your many uploads.
  I listened Novak's May symphony and Dvarionas's concerto today.
  I like both of these very much!  Thanks again!


  By the way, I have recording of Maliszewski's concerto.
  My recording sound is very good condition ( I think ).
  But I can't upload it because I don't know what of the source of recording.
  Maybe, I think this is from radio broadcast...

  Does anybody know what of the source of recording?


  A.S
 
 
 
  My recording data

  Maliszewski, Witold (1873-1939) Piano Concerto in B-flat minor, Op. 27 (1938)
  Andrzej Stefański, piano
  Polish Radio National SO

[eschiss1]

Re the Maliszewski concerto: most sources except Worldcat do have B-flat minor, www.pwm.com.pl (which sells the work) included. Hinson and Worldcat have opus 29, not opus 27 fwiw; again without at least seeing the score (and possibly not even then- what "settles" opus number seems an unsettled question) it's hard to say- but I don't know where either number comes from (though I am guessing the librarians who contribute to Worldcat have at least seen the score- which doesn't prevent them from making some understandable mistakes in other circumstances it's true.)

[markniew]

Hello A.S.

Maliszewski's cto played by Stefanski is - of course - Polish Radio archive recording. There is no commercial release of it.
I have just dowloaded the version with Kalecki - new to me, must listen to it. I did not know that it exists, never heard it off radio. This recording must have been done in 60s? - conductor Jerzy Gert died in 1968.

[markniew]

I correct myself - no, I do have two recordings of the Maliszewski's cto. and now can see that the version with Kalecki was recorded in 1959. And the only (?) recording of his Kuyavian Fantasy for pf and orchestra (of 1928) was done in 1952 (Wladyslaw Kedra, Polish Radio Orchestra of Bydgoszcz, cond. Arnold Rezler). I don't know if that piece is known to some of you.
Marek

[eschiss1]

It's been mentioned here in earlier Maliszewski threads and in the composer's Wikipedia article.

[Greg K]

Anyone interested in a BC recording of Grazyna Bacewicz's Cello Concerto No.1 I've discovered I have? 

[eschiss1]

Bacewicz? Yes, thank you (especially as I think I have access to a score or reduction of that particular work up at the uni library where I'm an alum, so I may be able to fill in the tempo headings if I need to. more importantly, I like a lot of her music, middle and late and some inbetween, and the more I hear the better )

[Dundonnell]

The Bacewicz Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 4 have not been recorded- as far as I know.

Anyone have access to broadcasts?

[eschiss1]

Hrm. It may be good to collect what information one has about them (or is that just being pedantic? Sorry...)
Sym. 4 (1953, premiered Krakow 1954) - instrumentation and publisher page Here (inst.: 4343-4331-batt (4esec) ar-archi )

Sym. 2 (1951) instr. 3.2.2.2 - 4.3.3.1 - perc - str (from http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/VEPM/bacewicz/bac-wrks.html) (premiere: 13 April 1951, Warsaw: National Philharmonic Orchestra (Warsaw), Witold Rowicki - cond.)

Sym. 1 (1938) - manuscript in National Library.
From what little I know, all three, like the third, are probably examples of her more tonal style (which in the third suggested to me - ... hrm. In the - not so well reviewed in Fanfare e.g. though I like it plenty Koch CD recording... - well- Some "influences" suggested themselves - well, oddly, the name Borodin if only because his "fate" theme recurs constantly, but maybe it's just me who thinks so, though the treatment is different - ... and in the "antics" of the 4th movement finale second theme... erm - Piston in circus-y/music-hall mode- but for once I actually mean that as a compliment. The more often recorded concerto for strings, which I think I first heard in that recording and enjoyed very much and then later in other recordings too- came off well - reminding me of a lighter but not too light version of some contemporaries' efforts in the string orchestra medium...)

Have trouble considering Bacewicz without remembering that Donal Henahan criticized a publication of her music for being behind the times and conservative (writing at the time, not years later when he would never have written such words, of course.)

[lechner1110]

  Latvian, Thanks to Symphonic music of Fitelberg.
  I think these are very good symphonic poems written in late romantic style.
 
  Thanks, Atsushi

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Atsushi, for Maklakawiecz's hyper-Szymanowskian Symphony No.2!

More information about the composer:

JAN MAKLAKIEWICZ (b. 1899, Chojnata - d. 1954, Warsaw)
 
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Jan Maklakiewicz was born on November 24, 1899 at Chojnata in the Mazowsze region of Poland; he died on February 7, 1954 in Warsaw. Maklakiewicz was a composer, conductor, teacher, critic and publicist. After initial studies with his father, a country organist, he went to Warsaw to study, first at the Chopin Music School with Biernacki (harmony), Szopski (counterpoint) and Binental (violin) and later at the Conservatory of Music (1922-25) with Statkowski (composition). In the years 1926-27 he completed his composer's studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris under Paul Dukas. After his return to Poland he became engaged in composition and was also active as an organizer of musical events, having founded a number of choral ensembles. He was also engaged in teaching, as well as in musical journalism. In the years 1927-29 at the conservatory in Łódz he was in charge of the school choir and lectured on theory of music. From 1929 until his death he was a teacher at the Conservatory in Warsaw. In 1932 he was appointed organist of the Holly Cross, Warsaw, where he also worked as a choirmaster and music critic. After the Second World War, as a musical publicist he contributed reviews and articles to some newspapers and magazines, such as "Daily Morning," "Music," "Choir" and "Polish Daily." In the years 1945-47 he was director of the State Philharmonic in Cracow and then, from 1947-48, he occupied the same position in Warsaw, also lecturing on composition and instrumentation at the State Higher School of Music. He wrote a great deal of church music in the 1930s and a number of mass songs after the war. Many of his works are based on folk themes. Maklakiewicz received the State Music Award in 1932 for his Cello Concerto, the First Prize at the Kronenberg Competition in 1933 for his violin Concerto No. 1 and - posthumously - the Officer's Cross of the Order of Poland's Revival (Polonia Restituta).

LIST OF WORKS

Orchestral Works and Concertos

Symphonic Variations - 1922
Concerto, for cello and orchestra on Gregorian themes - 1930
Violin Concerto No. 1 - 1930
Symphonic Tango, for orchestra - 1931
Concert Overture - 1939
Grunwald, symphonic poem - 1939-44
Prague Overture - 1947
Grand Waltz and Polka from Lowicz, from Ballet Suite The Golden Duck, arranged for wind orchestra by A. Sikorski - 1950
Violin Concerto No. 2 "Mountaineers" - 1952

Chamber Music

Hucul's Suite, violin and piano - 1927
Triptych , for cello and piano - 1927

Vocal-Instrumental Music

Les Vierges Aux Crepuscules , for 2 mezzo-sopranos, flute, viola and harp - 1927
Symphony No. 2 "Holy Lord", for baritone solo, mixed choir and orchestra - 1927
Concertino quasi una Fantasia, for piano, mezzo-soprano and orchestra - 1929
Four Japanese Songs for soprano and orchestra - 1929
Song of our Daily Bread, symphonic poem for mixed choir and orchestra - 1931
Polish Mass, for mixed choir, soprano or tenor solo and organ - 1944
Four Songs Op.5, for high voice and orchestra - 1946
Madonnas, five songs for soprano and orchestra - 1947
Silesia Works and Sings, folk suite for tenor solo, men's, women's and mixed choir with orchestra or piano - 1948
Up with Poland
The Boys Returned from the War
The Haymakers
On a green Meadow
Silesian Dances
Suite from Łowicz for soprano solo, mixed choir and orchestra - 1948
March
On the Rustic Fife
Sophie
Cradle Song
The Wedding
Zabrze, cantata for 4-part men's or mixed choir and symphony orchestra - 1949

Vocal-Instrumental Music (undated works)

Christmas Carols, for mixed choir with the accompaniment of an organ
After the Star - words by S. Mlodozeniec
When Christ is Born
Our Lady
He is lying in the Manger
Bow to Jesus - words by B.S. Kossuth
God is Born
The Virgin Mary's Cradle Song
At our Lord's Nativity
Hushaby, Little Jesus
The Star is shining above the Stable - words by B.S. Kossuth
Little Jesus
Our Lady lulled her Son - words by H. Jarowicz
People's Hearts Rejoice - words by H. Jarowicz
Elegy after Roman Statkowski's Death, for 4-part mixed choir and organ
Our Lady, song from the 17th centuryfor mixed or 4-part men's choir and organ

Choral Music a capella

Five Folk Songs, for mixed choir - 1929
Little Bell - folk tune from the Poznan region, after L. Schiller
Persuasions - as above
With a Pipe and a Drum - as above
I had a Lass - tune from the Kurpie region
The little Geese were flying - tune from the Kurpie region, dedicated to S. Wiechowicz
The little Geese were flying , tune from the Kurpie region for mixed choir - 1929
Three Strings, for 4-part men's choir - 1935
Cradle Song, for 4-part men's choir (two different versions) - 1946
Zabrze, for mixed choir - 1949

Choral Music a Capella (undated works)

Christmas Carols, for choir
Harnas from the Beskid Mountains for mixed choir, to the words by J. Reimschussel
Kashubian Bugle - Call, for 3-part mixed choir, to the words by H. Parysiewicz
Song of the Polish Sea, for mixed choir, to the words by A. Boguslawski
Two Winds , for mixed choir, to the words by J. Tuwim

Songs for Voice and Piano

Du bist wie Blume, song op.23, to the words by H. Heine - 1928
Song of the Mayor's Daughter, for op.21, to the words by J. Kasprowicz - 1928
Cradle Song (there is also an arrangement for voice and mandolin by E. Ciuksza) - 1946

Stage Works

Cagliostro in Warsaw, ballet in 3 scenes - 1938
The Golden Duck, ballet in 5 scenes - 1950

http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/maklakiewicz.html

[lechner1110]

  Alan, thanks to post biography about MAKLAKIEWICZ.
  Maybe his recorded works are little as best as I know, but I'm very interested in his works!

[eschiss1]

Worldcat lists 12 commercial recordings from 1959 to 2010 (and 7 duplicates/reissues) that contain his works (instrumental, liturgical, etc.). They and I probably missed some though. (This includes a Kolysanka recorded by the Kvartet Pesnica a few years back, his Triptych of 1927 as above on a Akademia Muzyczna 2002 CD, and also his 24-minute Polish Mass (1944) on a Polskie Nagrania CD in 1991; also- I thought this was a reissue so didn't count it at first but looking more closely at the contents as I should have done it contains a different work - his Poemat symfoniczny "Grunwald" (as listed above - 1939-44) on a Dux CD last year.) One work recorded during the 1960s is described as a co-composition by Maklakiewicz and Leon Schiller, "Pastorałka : a popular mystery play", inspired I don't doubt by medieval examples of the same.