Józef ELSNER (1769-1854)
Sonata No 2 in D major (ca. 1798) [12:41]
Polonaise in F minor (ca. 1803) [5:04]
Rondo ŕ la mazurek in G minor (1803) [3:19]
Karol KURPIŃSKI (1785-1857)
Polonaise in A minor (1820) [3:25]
Variations in C major (1813) [7:25]
Fugue and Coda on the theme of the Song of the Polish Legions to Italy “Poland has not yet perished” (1821) [4:58]
Pot-pourri or Variations on various National Themes composed for Pianoforte for seven-year-old Józef Krogulski (1825) [15:49]
Franciszek LESSEL (1780-1838)
Polonaise nouvelle in D major (1821) [4:52]
Variations in A minor, Op 15 No 1 (ca. 1817) [7:25]
Variations in A minor, Op 15 No 2 (ca. 1817) [7:52]
Tomasz Lupa (piano)
rec. 2019/21, Concert Hall of the Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland
DUX 1784 [73:32]
When a country names its major airport after arguably its greatest-ever composer, you immediately realise the high esteem in which they are held – effectively as a national treasure. Poland’s capital is served by two international airports – Warsaw Modlin, and the older and larger Warsaw Chopin Airport. Visit the city, and the ‘Chopin Experience’ is never far away, from being able to take virtual selfies with the composer at numerous points of interest, to visiting the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, or his charming birthplace out in the countryside.
However, some might say that this total sense of ‘hero-worship’ allows little or no credit to the substantial army of far-less-familiar names who effectively did a lot of the spade-work before him, which Chopin’s consummate and unique genius then honed to absolute perfection. Fortunately, Poland has two outstanding in-house record labels – Dux, and Acte Préalable – that constantly devote a serious amount of time to unearthing a whole raft of composers, many of whom are completely unknown. This has a two-fold purpose, of course. Firstly it introduces us to some lovely music that we would never otherwise get to hear. Secondly it puts Chopin’s musical achievements into true perspective, and does nothing but enhance his pre-eminent and virtually untenable position in musical history, even if some might want to point out that he was, in fact, born to a Polish father, but a French mother.
The present CD – on the Dux label – features piano music by three older contemporaries of Chopin (1810-49), beginning with a Polonaise nouvelle in D major by Franciszek Lessel. Lessel was born in the city of Puławy in eastern Poland. His father, of Czech origin, was also a pianist and composer, and Franciszek’s first teacher. In 1799, Lessel junior went to study with Joseph Haydn in Vienna, continuing to do so until Haydn’s death. He then went on to become a court musician, and subsequently moved to Warsaw, where he became the head of the Amateur Music Society. He also gave lessons on how to play the glass harmonica, before taking largely non-musical administrative and inspectorship jobs in later life.
Lessel’s Polonaise nouvelle is an attractive little miniature, but cast very much more in the Classical, rather than Romantic vein, where ornamentation figures quite prominently. It is in conventional tripartite form, although there isn’t any significant change of key throughout. There is an idiosyncratic use of so-called feminine cadences, where, in the conclusion to a musical phrase, the second chord of the cadence is less-strongly-accented than the first. I did check first to see whether this term is still acceptable, but it does appear to have evaded the politically-correct blue pencil so far.
The next composer, Karol Kurpiński, is new to me. Born in Włoszakowice, he also began his studies under his father, who was an organist. At the age of twelve, Kurpiński also became an organist at a church where his uncle was the parish priest. In 1800, Kurpiński’s other uncle, a cellist, took him to the estate of Count Polanowski, who had a private orchestra where the uncle already played, and which the young Kurpiński then joined as a violinist. In 1810, Kurpiński settled in Warsaw, where, with the help of Józef Elsner, he became a conductor at the Warsaw Opera, a position he held until 1840. Various other teaching opportunities beckoned, as well as a number of honours and awards, culminating in becoming Kapellmeister at the Polish Royal Chapel in 1819.
I think you might be somewhat hard-pressed to realise that his first piece here is actually a Polonaise. The feminine cadences still prevail, and certainly the contrasting middle section in the tonic major has much more of a polonaise-feel to it, though in the stylised manner of some of Weber’s works in the genre. This is then followed by his Variations in C, which open with a short, majestic (maestoso) little introduction, before launching right into the theme – a jolly little creation with a syncopated ‘oom-pah’ accompaniment, marked Tema Angloise. The first four variations are very conventional in their treatment of the theme, before the fifth, in a slower tempo, and in the tonic minor, introduces some variety, cast almost like a tongue-in-cheek funeral march.
At this point, the composer tacks on a short coda that pauses on the dominant, before leading into the final variation, a polonaise marked ‘alla polacca’. But then the composer, somewhat bizarrely, introduces an ‘Episode’ in the relative minor – which has a fleeting resemblance to the very start of the initial Introduction, opening with three fortissimo chords. In turn this leads back into a reprise of the Tema Angloise, via what might be construed as a mini cadenza in the right hand – which Lupa embroiders slightly on the recording. Kurpiński then fools us into thinking that we’re going to have a full reprise of the theme, but, after just four bars, he returns to the triplets of the first variation, in order to arrive at a more impressive finish.
Next come Lessel’s Variations in A minor, Op 15 No 1, where the composer uses a theme from the dumka Jechał Kozak zza Dunaju (The Cossack Rode Beyond the Danube) with which you may well be familiar, though in a different context. While the composer largely relies on melodic and/or rhythmic variation-techniques, there is a noticeable advance in the use of harmonic investigation, when compared with Kurpiński’s earlier Variations. There is also a significant leap forward in terms of virtuosity and the technical demands made on the performer in this work, dating from 1817.
This is followed by Lessel’s Variations in A minor, Op 15 No 2, from the same year. When I first saw the same title as the previous track – save for the opus number – I was curious as to whether Lessel was being decidedly prosaic in his choice of key, or perhaps that, rather like Brahms’s two sets of Paganini Variations, Op 35, each work is an independent set of variations, but on the same theme? The answer, which Lupa confirms, is an ingenious one, somewhat on the lines of Brahms’s plan – but with a subtle difference. If you listen to the theme, and subsequent six variations of Lessel’s Op 15 No 2, it will still sound rather familiar. What Lessel has done, is to reuse the harmonic framework of the Polish song from Op 15 No 1, but then composed his own melody to go with it. The sixth variation develops into a fully-blown cadenza, before a quiet and somewhat understated ending concludes this second set of variations, which at times have an almost prophetic hint of Brahms’s Variations, also in A minor, but which didn’t appear until almost fifty years later.
The next track features the first of three works by Józef Elsner, who was born near Breslau, formerly the largest German city east of Berlin, but which became the Polish city of Wroclaw at the Potsdam Conference following the Allied victory in 1945. Elsner was initially educated for the priesthood, but then decided to forge a career in music instead, primarily as a conductor. His main claim to fame, however, is that he was Chopin’s teacher, who dedicated his First Piano Sonata to Elsner, while still under his tutelage in 1828. As Chopin’s only composition teacher from 1823-29, Elsner also taught him music theory. In his teaching diary at the time, Elsner wrote: ‘Chopin, Fryderyk, third-year student, amazing capabilities, musical genius’ – and I have absolutely no intention of refuting Elsner’s appraisal.
Elsner composed his Sonata No 2 in D around 1798. The opening Allegro could easily be an early example of the genre by Beethoven, or a later work by Mozart. At this juncture, a work by a Polish composer, or Silesian, as Elsner initially preferred to be known, is very unlikely to exhibit any nationalist traits in what is here a conventional sonata-form first movement, which, while not exceptional, is still well-crafted and efficiently-worked. The composer chooses to bring back his first subject in the recapitulation in the key of F, rather than the home key, but Beethoven and Mozart, for example, also did this, occasionally.
While the norm for sonatas in general is a three, or even four-movement design, examples in just two movements are quite often encountered. In Elsner’s case, however, his second movement combines both a slow movement and a faster finale – a plaintive Andantino, followed by an Allegro. In his notes, Lupa appears to confuse Andantino with Andante¸ although the movement is correctly described elsewhere, and which accords with the printed score. When the accompaniment breaks into semiquavers (sixteenth-notes), the overall feel is more scherzo-like, than one of a slow-movement, although the fact that, in a musical context, Andantino can mean both faster, or slower than Andante, isn’t overly helpful. The ensuing Allegro opens as a brisk mazurka-like movement in 3/8 time, but soon returns to a reprise of the Andantino. This leads into another 3/8 section, where, as he did in the first movement, Elsner presents the mazurka theme in the key of F, rather than D. From this point the composer shows not only his harmonic ingenuity, but also his skill in writing so effectively for the piano, in a movement that, arguably for the first time on the CD, best presages his student, Chopin.
Next is another work by Kurpiński – his Fugue and Coda on the theme of the Song of the Polish Legions to Italy “Poland has not yet perished”. Even if you were unaware of the actual origin of Kurpiński’s fugue-subject, the composer shows a mastery of contrapuntal technique, but embedded in an effective piece of piano-writing, rather than some kind of dry, cerebral exercise for the unfortunate pianist to unravel. The coda gradually relaxes the rigours of strict fugal-writing and culminates in a most exciting close. Ten out of ten here to pianist, Tomasz Lupa, for his performance, where he ensured that the fugue-subject always stood out in relief, rather than being ‘brought out’ – a subtle, but vital consideration. I didn’t realize that it’s also the tune of the Polish National Anthem, and I very much enjoyed subsequently listening to a full-blown choral rendition, all of which makes Kurpiński’s work appear more impressive in terms of originality.
Two more pieces from the pen of Józef Elsner follow – his Polonaise in F minor and Rondo ŕ la mazurek in G minor respectively – the track-list would appear to have confused an acute accent with a grave, in the latter. The Polonaise follows the traditional ABA tripartite form, with the middle section in the tonic major, and it would be fair to say that, while this still follows a more stylized approach, there is a little bit more of young ‘Fryderyk’ in the background, particularly in the minor-key A-section. The mazurka – in Polish, mazur – and mazurek, a rural dance based on the mazur – are sometimes confused as the same musical form. Rondos, as such, tend to favour duple time, but Elsner chooses to keep to the triple-beat design of the mazurka.
Kurpiński is given the task of concluding this highly-entertaining CD, and with the longest work present – his Pot-pourri or Variations on various National Themes composed for Pianoforte for seven-year-old Józef Krogulski, which appeared in 1825. Krogulski (1815-49) went on to become a pianist, conductor, teacher, and composer in his own right, with an effective piano concerto, a Piano Octet, and an striking set of Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra among them. As Lupa comments, the virtuosity of the writing, intended for a child who’s only seven, suggests that Krogulski must have been an extremely talented pianist even when a young boy. Indeed, there are even some occasional octave passages that are virtually impossible, without making some slight adjustments to the original.
The Pot-pourri consists of five short movements: Poco Adagio (D minor), Dumka. Andante (D minor), Alla Polacca (D major), Krakowiak (D minor), and Mazur (D major) – played without pause. This is, I feel, by far the most impressive work on the CD, and the one that would merit the ‘Best in Class’ award for Chopin ‘Sound-alikes’. Whereas the Polish master has been present more in spirit than in person thus far, in Kurpiński’s work the increasing similarities, both harmonically, and particularly in terms of idiosyncratic piano-writing and figurations, definitely shift things up a gear. Hopefully this might generate a follow-up CD, to embrace those composers who contributed to the final transition-stage between the likes of Kurpiński, and the great man himself.
In terms of presentation overall, this is a quality product, with a natural piano sound that has been faithfully transferred to disc. Tomasz Lupa’s playing is impeccable throughout, but he truly comes into his own in Kurpiński’s Potpourri – a word which in the original French really means ‘putrid pot’. That would be the very last word I’d use to describe his masterful playing here, and I can freely admit to shouting out a quite spontaneous ‘bravo’ when it had finished playing. This work in particular deserves to be heard more frequently, perhaps in a Chopin-themed recital, where it can definitely hold its own with some of Fryderyk’s early works.
If you like listenable and eminently-engaging piano music, this new CD is well worthy of a listen. On one hand it features over seventy minutes of highly-appealing curiosities. But for those additionally interested in mapping the emergence of Chopin’s musical style and language, these same ‘curiosities’ can provide further useful reference material in their quest.
Philip R Buttall
