Antoni Kątski Grande sinfonie héroïque Op.220 (etc.)

[Alan Howe]

...arranged (?) for Piano Sextet in A minor and dating (according to IMSLP) from 1862, coupled with his Piano Trio Op.201:
https://acteprealable.com/catalogues/composers/ap0557/

Available for purchase here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Acte_Prealable/Catalogue_Acte_Prealable_2022.htm

[Artur Slotwinski]

It's probably Kontski's own arrangement for sextet - according to the score

"Partition a grand orchestre arrange en seqtuor" as the title page states

Here's a link to score

https://vivaldi.nlr.ru/br000000111/view/?#page=1

There is also a symphony fantastique... I have manuscript parts (probably incomplete - lacks some instruments, or scoring was just unusual), it's like military march/scherzo, maybe it's incomplete fragment of larger work, perhaps one movement or so.

Polish Encyclopedia of Music PWM indicates 3 symphonies - Heroique, Phantastique and "?" ...the 3rd in c minor (performed partially in 1855) (Heroique in A-Minor, Fantasique in A-Major - the one movement work I have from Staatsbibliothek Berlin)

But I wonder if someone finally finds his Piano Concertos which biographers indicate and also we know their key signatures, but no scores nowhere... no. 1 in E-flat Minor no. 2 in F-Major (numbering may be switched because they are not numbered in the original article from Polish Encyclopedia PWM)

[Alan Howe]

I find Op.220 to be a remarkable work, even in the composer's chamber arrangement, full of exciting and memorable material.

[Artur Slotwinski]

I just turned on the spotify version - it's a fine performance and I agree - it's exciting, it has rich thematic work, keeps tension, maybe someday the large score will appear somewhere but still as a sextet the work is destined to be present on records and stages. A work of truly romantic, dramatic passion - the composer keeps the pace without blind or weak spots, no boredom here - still listening... Wide themes, elaborate rich, progressive climaxes...

[Mark Thomas]

Also available as a download from Presto here. Judging by the audio extracts, this is a fascinating discovery.

[Alan Howe]

The finale opens with quite an earworm...

[Alan Howe]

There are brief excerpts from each movement (with the same performers) on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMx_MWmZOBg

[semloh]

Oh, yes! This is at once stirring and beautiful. I think this has jumped the queue to the top of my wants list. Yet another Polish composer I have never heard of. Thank you for drawing attention to it, Alan.

[eschiss1]

At least one work of Kontski/Kątski, Le réveil du lion Op.115, was still being arranged and republished decades after his 1899 death, according to occasional entries in early 20th century H[ofmeisters] M[onats]B[erichte]. A number of his works, including one of his piano sonatas and other works can be found at IMSLP under Kontski, Anton de (though the string quartets I had written about in here, a minute ago, are by his brother Karol- I had a memory burp... so let me delete that...)

Edit: yes, Reveil du lion is the same work as the Op.115 given in German on the new release CD above, I'm sure!

The title, I think, should be Sinfonie héroïque, since afaik as a rule adjectives - and not just adjectives, often nouns too, for instance - following the most important noun are lowercase in French. (And sometimes the adjective before it, Grande, is lowercase too. I think. Don't take my word on that one, though. Could be that Grande is uppercase and sinfonie and héroïque are lowercase, instead; someone who knows French - better than I do is not hard - might comment...)

[eschiss1]

E.g. here's the manuscript score of the arrangement of the Sinfonie héroique, from a Russian library (hence the Cyrillic cover)... the work may never have been published, outside of manuscript, and Op.220 is as noted (... possibly by me?... not sure) @ IMSLP used for another, published work, at that...

[eschiss1]

btw Katski/Kontski lived in St Petersburg from 1852-1867, so the existence of music by him in Russian libraries, of a Russian music method (Lehrbuch) by him published by Bernard of St Petersburg listed in HMB 1865 p.223 - is not so very completely surprising in context.

[eschiss1]

Ooh!!!! Sorry, but. One other thing. It looks like the parts to Katski's Sinfonia fantastica in A major, original scoring (ms copy/abschrift, not holograph, estimated 1880 ms), I think, have been scanned by the State Library of Berlin and are available online. Same piece? I'll check.
Definitely not the same? The fantastica begins Andante moderato with tremolandi rather than Allegro vivace with an up and down partial scale theme.

[razorback]

Why nobody has mentioned it yet is beyond me but another Acte Prealable CD ( APO 512) is also available on Music Web.  I have it and it is wonderful.  Filled with gorgeous romantic string quartets plus a quintet.- Razorback

[Christopher]

Why nobody has mentioned it yet is beyond me but another Acte Prealable CD ( APO 512) is also available on Music Web.  I have it and it is wonderful.  Filled with gorgeous romantic string quartets plus a quintet.- Razorback

It's AP 0512 rather than APO 512.  Link here - http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Feb/Katski-chamber-AP0512.htm

A search for Katski on MusicWeb reveals a few other CDs - chamber and piano solo works:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/Search_engines.htm?cx=partner-pub-7131039333392991%3Astvzk0-7fwo&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Katski&sa=Google+Search

[Alan Howe]

It has been mentioned here before - please remember to use our search facility.