ALEKSANDER TANSMAN - SUITE CONCERTANTE FANTAISIE POUR VIOLON ET PIANO In regard to the importance of Slavic influence in my music, I can readily say that I followed the same path as Bartók or Manuel de Falla: folklore imaginé. I did not use popular themes per se. I used, however, their general melodic contour. Polish folklore is abundantly rich. I think that, along with Spanish folklore, it is the richest in possibilities...
ANDREA CENTAZZO - THE RETROSPECTIVE (10 CD/DVD box-set) This beautifully realized set includes eight audio CD's and two visual music DVD with all material conceived, produced, composed and performed by Andrea Centazzo. All items are housed together in elegant cardboard box, measuring 6 x 8.5 x 6. Each volume of the set comes with its own DVD-type packaging, with extensive artwork, release information, and line notes . Each volume of the set has a specific and separate character reflecting the wide spectrum of Centazzo's artistic endeavors: from improvised jazz - to symphonic pieces - to compositions for percussion solo - to chamber music - to multimedia opera - to world music - to art movie making.
The night was magic: the music floated with joy, intensity and passion and we found a meeting point in a bled of minimalist patterns and sound explorations. (Andrea Centazzo)
Andrea Centazzo THE HEART OF WAX "The heart of Wax" is a ballet music scored for strings quartet, clarinets, flutes, saxophones, piano, double bass, keyboards and percussion. Based on the surrealist painter Alberto Martini libretto and sketches, has been composed by Centazzo for the first staging of the un-issued ballet. A new dimension in ballet music. Re-mastered for this edition. First Dance: Great Dance of the Wax Statues - Prelude
Andrzej Ratusinski Ludwig van Beethoven - 4 Sonatas Piano virtuoso Andrzej Ratusinski, is an graduate of Warsaw School of Music (Poland) and student of Arthur Rubinstein, Jorge Boleta and Vladimir Horowitz. Winner of 1973 25th International F. Busconi's Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy.
Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin Arthur Rubinstein was a Polish-American pianist who is widely considered as one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 20th Century.
ARTURO BENEDETTI MICHELANGELI - LIVE 1955 WARSAW 'Michelangeli, like a bolt of Lightning makes me suddenly understand the essence of the ....music. 'The best piano recording I have heard'
Carl-Johan Malmberg, Svenska Dagbladet – 8/4/2005
Halina Czerny-Stefanska plays Chopin The Polish pianist Halina Czerny-Stefanska enjoyed a more substantial reputation among piano buffs than among music-lovers in general until she was unexpectedly shot to prominence by a mistake that got her talked about all around the world.
HENRYK MIKOLAJ GORECKI - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs The Third Symphony "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" reflects both the composer's individual exploration of technique and his attempt to determine his own Christian spiritual identity. (Malgorzata Gasiorowska)
ICTUS REORDS NEW MUSIC SERIES ANDREA CENTAZZO 6-CD'S box-set This 6-CD box-set, a part of ICTUS Records - Andrea Centazzo Complete Archives Series is a special endeavor. Each CD and DVD has a specific character reflecting the cultural influences of a time and place where the music and the images were composed and recorded: many artistic souls, one artistic vision.
KRONOS QUARTET - Polish Quartets Four masterly and extremely different string quartets by Polish composers: from the cornerstones of the sixties by Witold Lutoslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki to the recent Kronos Quartet commissions - works by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki and Pawel Mykietyn - in a visionary performance by the Kronos Quartet.
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI Utrenya (Jutrznia) Jutrznia is a magnificent contemporary oratorio in five parts for two mixed choirs, five solo voices and symphony orchestra is a spine-tingling evocation of deep religious and otherworldly experience.
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI - Masterpieces (7-CD's) This beautifully realized set includes three single and two double CD's recorded and released by Polskie Nagrania Records. Each volume of the set comes with its own jewel case type CD, with complete artwork, extensive esseys, detailed album information and line notes.
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI Violin Concerto Christmas Symphony Around the mid-1970s Penderecki's style began to change. The Violin Concerto No. 1 largely leaves behind the dense tone clusters with which he had been associated, and instead focuses on two melodic intervals: the semitone and the tritone. Some commentators went so far as to compare this new direction to Anton Bruckner. This direction continued with the Symphony No. 2, Christmas (1980), which is rather straightforward from a harmonic and melodic standpoint for a composer who had been one of the most experimental in Europe. It makes frequent use of the tune of the Christmas carol, "Silent Night".
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI Polish Requiem / Dies Irae The Polish Requiem of Krzysztof Penderecki, for for a quartet of soloists, choir and symphony orchestra, combines modern idion with tradition. Penderecki makes use of the vast possibilities of contemporary compositions in this missae pro defunctis (Mass for the Death), taken from the Church's Latin liturgy and Polish religious tradition. This exclusive 2-CD set includes 8-page booklet with detailed information about the recordings as well as essays in Polish and English languages.
Ludomir Rozycki Master Twardowski ballet in three acts (nine scenes) Rozycki's music, to this one of the best known Polish stories ever told, is of characteristic form, drawing for its musical inspiration mainly from folklore, both Polish and foreign. It is the source of expressive motifs and dance forms (krakoviak, oberek, mazurka). The composition is richly instrumented, melodic, lively, interwoven with familiar childhood melodies of folk origin.
STANISLAW MONIUSZKO Hrabina (The Countess) Highlights from the opera.
The music of Moniuszko's works is largely representative of the 19-th century opera, given the extensive use by the composer of arias, recitatives and ensembles. His music too, although stylistically distinct, evidently incorporates many national motifs: Polish dances popular among upper classes such as polonaise and mazurka, and folk tunes and dances such as kujawiak and krakowiak.
