Nowowiejski Symphonies 2 & 3 (orchestral)

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Dux:
http://en.dux.pl/feliks-nowowiejski-symphonies-ii-iii.html
Both are evidently late works, but one lives in hope...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Well, judging by the "Slavic" piano concerto, which dates from 1941 and can be heard on YouTube, your hopes may be fulfilled. The PC, while not especially "romantic", is resolutely tonal. If the composer was still using this musical language in 1941 it's a good bet he was also using it in 1938 and 1940, the dates of the 2nd and 3rd symphonies respectively.

[Alan Howe]

That was my thinking too. Thanks, Gareth.

[Holger]

We once had the Third Symphony in our Downloads (but the link is defunct now). Anyway, I downloaded it years ago and I can affirm the symphony is still fully tonal (though, as far as I remember, it moves from a D Major beginning to a somewhat defiant C Minor ending), a vigorous, broad piece which I am glad to have on CD soon.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, Nowowiejski's Third is thoroughly tonal, although it's clearly a symphony of the 20th rather than the 19th century. This is particularly true of the orchestration, which is more percussion-heavy than, say, that in Quo Vadis. That said, no horses will be frightened, Alan.

[eschiss1]

Thanks! I remembered listening to one of these works when it was uploaded but didn't suppose any of his orchestral symphonies would receive a commercial recording. As so often, glad to be wrong.

[Alan Howe]

This will be available from Clic Musique from 1st February:
http://www.clicmusique.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=nowowiejski&manufacturers_id=&osCsid=76349d02dd8f5683464cf9d89dd208bf&x=4&y=8

[Alan Howe]

The CD can now be ordered from Clique Musique:
http://www.clicmusique.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=nowowiejski&manufacturers_id=&osCsid=76349d02dd8f5683464cf9d89dd208bf&x=4&y=8

[Alan Howe]

The symphonies are right on the edge of our remit, in the same way as, say, Bax - in other words although resolutely tonal, there's a much greater use of dissonance (and percussion) in these later works. Which is more or less what Gareth predicted a number of posts ago! I don't they're great works, but they are uncommonly interesting. Nowowiejski always had something to say - often very colourfully and loudly, but usually very entertainingly.

[Holger]

I now also got my copy of these symphonies (it took quite a while until the disc was available via jpc) and listened to it last weekend. I enjoyed both symphonies a lot. They are certainly not fully "romantic" any more but more dissonant (though still fully tonal) and with an extended use of percussion and orchestral piano.

The liner notes reveal some interesting details about Nowowiejski's symphonic output. There have been three early symphonies from his study years with Max Bruch, the first of them called Nordlandfahrt (must have been composed around 1900), a symphony in A Minor (1903) and finally a symphony in B Minor (1904), the latter called No. 1. However, all three works are lost today, so no hope for any recordings.

So there remain three extant symphonies by Nowowiejski (besides the two on this disc, there is No. 4 Op. 58 "Peace Symphony" for Soloists, Choir and Orchestra from 1941). The two symphonies on the Dux CD, in turn, both have subtitles as well:

No. 2 Op. 52 Labour and Rhythm (1937/38)
No. 3 Op. 53 The Seven Colours of Iris (1936–40)

Up to some degree, these subtitles already provide some hints about what to expect from these works: No. 2 is a one-movement work dominated by rhythm and energy, pretty loud and vigorous. No. 3 is more lyrical and comes with sparkling orchestral colours in parts.

As a footnote, the Third is very often referred to as the Białowieża Symphony (referring to the forest in Eastern Poland of this name). However, recent research has revealed this was an error: Nowowiejski did plan a Białowieża symphony but only in form of sketches, he never actually came round to composing such a piece. The Third really has the title given above.

There is one detail I must correct about my short comment above (from December 31, 2017). The Third actually does not have that vigorous and somewhat defiant C Minor ending I spoke of about. When I played the disc I merely realized that "our" broadcast recording was incomplete, since after those chords there are still some minutes of quiet coda leading the symphony to a slow, peaceful and gentle D Major ending after all. In fact, according to the liner notes the CD recording of the Third is the first recording of the piece (that is, as compared to older radio recordings) without cuts, and actually it's more than 10 minutes longer than the recording we had, and this is not only because of the missing ending.

As for the change of style in Nowowiejski's output, the liner notes quite precisely date it as having happened in 1934 when Nowowiejski visited Paris and got acquainted with some current tendencies, which made him renewing his own style as well. In particular, it seems he was fascinated by Albert Roussel's music.

I highly enjoyed this disc and will give it repeated listens for sure.