The very first thing
that catches the listener’s interest
is the beautiful sound; the sound of
the instrument and the sound of the
venue. This Polish church seems ideal
for the instrument in question. The
next thought is that it may be a notch
too closely miked, since we also get
quite a lot of the practically unavoidable
mechanical noises from the fingerboard.
As an inveterate listener to guitar
recordings this is something I have
got used to and only momentarily does
it lessen the impact of the music-making.
The music making? The
Bach piece, Preludium, Fuge und Allegro,
feels heavy and inflexible. "Energetic"
is the label I would put on the playing
of the Prelude and the same goes for
the Fugue and when we come to the Allegro
I had expected it to dance – but it
doesn’t. The overriding impression is
of energy and clenched teeth, well played,
no doubt about that, but little charm,
little light and shade. Maybe it’s the
music which in the main is built of
chords piled one upon the other, that
gives a pedestrian effect. Checking
in the Bach Werk Verzeichnis (BWV) I
see that this is the only lute piece
by Bach that is marked "Laute oder
Klavier (Cembalo)". Maybe it would
sound better on a harpsichord, but I
still think more nuance could have been
found and the playing could have had
a lighter touch.
Polish guitarist Lukasz
Kuropaczewski is no real newcomer, even
though he was a new name to me. He has
several earlier, critically acclaimed
recordings to his credit and has studied
for the last three years for Manuel
Barrueco. As a Pole it is natural for
him to choose music by a compatriot,
in this case Alexandre Tansman’s homage
to another great, possibly the greatest,
Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin. Like
Chopin Tansman spent most of his life
in Paris, where he was influenced by
the likes of Stravinsky and Ravel. He
wrote in a neo-classical style and his
compositions encompass most genres.
There are nine symphonies, eight string
quartets, a couple of operas, some vocal
music, film music and two works for
bassoon and piano. He is probably best
known for his guitar works, mostly written
for Andrès Segovia, in particular
the Suite in modo polonico from
1962, which is a collection of Polish
dances. Hommage à Chopin
was written in 1966. As late as 1982
he wrote a Hommage à Lech
Walesa. The Chopin homage is in
three movements, beginning with a Prélude,
which is dark and almost forbidding.
Is it a funeral march? There is no real
melodic progression, just a feeling
of a strenuous walk through a rainy
landscape. The following Nocturne
is also dark and shadowy but this music
has real momentum and Mr Kuropaczewski
shows his mettle by conjuring a rich
palette of colours. The concluding Valse
romantique is the most Chopinesque
of the movements, but even here Tansman
prefers dark colours: to me it’s dark
red and dark orange against a backdrop
of black. It glows, but it’s a subdued
glow.
Mauro Giuliani was
probably the greatest guitar virtuoso
of his generation and also an important
composer for the instrument. He composed
a great number of potpourris, suites
and the like, often borrowing melodies
from contemporary composers. He was
obviously very fond of Rossini’s music,
and he wasn’t alone. There was a veritable
Rossini fever in Europe during the first
decades of the 19th century.
He eventually got to know Rossini and,
it seems, was even given access to some
of his scores, from which he culled
music and put together no fewer than
six potpourris (Op. 119–124) of which
Kuropaczewski plays the third. It is
in twelve short movements, beginning
with an Introduzione. Then follow
a number of themes played "straight"
followed by sometimes elaborate variations.
It is all elegantly done, not very deep
music but highly entertaining and a
perfect vehicle for an accomplished
guitarist to show his paces. The melodies
chosen are charming and beautiful and
on the whole very Rossinian, even though
I was unable to identify any of them.
There is a very beautiful Andantino
(tr. 8) and the Variazione (tr.
14) has a real Rossinian crescendo.
The last movement, also a Variazione,
is a real tour de force and any
guitarist daring to play this in public
will forever be the audience’s hero.
Kuropaczewski plays it with aplomb –
impressive stuff!
The disc comes in a
slimline box with a few lines, in English
and Polish, about the guitarist but
not a word about the music. And I don’t
think I have had a disc for review with
so short a playing time. Thirty-eight
and a half minutes is actually only
half a CD!
Whether it be Johann
Sebastian’s or Lukasz’s fault I was
less than impressed by the Bach. The
Tansman was a valuable addition to my
collection and the Giuliani was sheer
joy. Black marks, though, for the (lack
of) documentation and the parsimonious
playing time.
Göran Forsling
Lukasz Kuropaczewski (guitar) 
for
details
