I started researching this composer after seeing his name in the Ira Gershwin song "Tchaikovsky". I found a reference to a short 2006 movie called "Nowakowsky: A Forgotten Master " - it is on youtube at http://youtu.be/ig0TYrBVBa0 (http://youtu.be/ig0TYrBVBa0) - it's just under 7 minutes long.
The music which accompanies it is beautiful. Its Jewishness is unmistakeable, you can hear the same melody as that which underpins Bruch's Kol Nidrei.
However, the youtube page doesn't identifu the music. Is it music by Nowakowsky?
As the movie plays, small textx appear with bits of information about Nowakowsky, and there's also a referencde to the Nowakowsky Foundation - www.nowakowskyfoundation.com (http://www.nowakowskyfoundation.com) - and there's a lot ofbiographical detail there. Also his wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nowakowsky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nowakowsky)
An interesting article here - http://www.nowakowskyfoundation.com/history.html (http://www.nowakowskyfoundation.com/history.html)
Does anyone else know anything about this composer or of his recordings? If the music on the youtube short movie is his, I am encouraged.
A performance of Nowakowsky's Resignation Romance in C Minor for Violin and Piano - lovely!
http://youtu.be/FEI1vsagq7o (http://youtu.be/FEI1vsagq7o)
And a 20-page article on Nowakowsky, if of interest:
The Music of David Nowakowsky (1848-1921): A New Voice from Old Odessa
Emanuel Rubin, University of Massachusetts Amherst
https://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/29-F2-Rubin.pdf (https://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/29-F2-Rubin.pdf)
Dear Chris, thank you for share your discovery. I never heared about him!! I will listen his music!
Not at all Aramiarz! And if you find more works by him, please let me/us know - I am intrigued by him. The one piece we have here is so melodic, and reportedly he wrote a HUGE amount of work.
Ok! I will research more!