Karol KURPIŃSKI (1785-1857)
Overture to Two Cottages (1811) [8:29]
Overture to Jadwiga, Queen of Poland (1814) [9:56]
Mieczysław KARŁOWICZ (1876-1909)
Serenade for Strings, Op 2 (1897) [23:56]
Witold LUTOSŁAWSKI (1913-1994)
Overture for String Orchestra (1949) [5:44]
Grażyna BACEWICZ (1909-1969)
Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion (1958) [20:59]
Witold Lutosławski Płock Symphony Orchestra/Jakub Chrenowicz
rec. 2020, Concert Hall of the Karol Szymanowski State School in Płock, Poland
DUX 1625 [69:21]
This release is rather unimaginatively titled Polish Music Volume 2, and was issued on the same day as Volume 1
(review), which has the same orchestra but a different conductor. The common thread is the programming of less familiar Polish orchestral music from the 19th and 20th centuries, mixing some well-known names – Szymanowski and Lutosławski – with some rather less so – Kurpiński and Kisielewski – plus the inevitable range of compositional styles.
This was my first encounter with the music of Karol Kurpiński. These substantial overtures to two of his operas, of which there were more than a dozen, impressed me greatly. The first, Two Cottages, shows very obvious influences of Mozart, especially in the use of woodwinds. It is, by turns, graceful, witty, dramatic and always tuneful. A particular phrase brought to mind one of the famous themes in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, but it needs to be pointed out that Kurpiński’s work predates Rossini’s by five years. In the three years between the two overtures, Kurpiński’s style evolved significantly. The Jadwiga overture has moved on from Mozart, and while I have no evidence to indicate that Kurpiński knew of Beethoven and Rossini, the music here suggests that he did. I even heard a phrase reminiscent of the Pastoral symphony. I’m not trying to suggest that Kurpiński was copying the great Viennese composers, but rather that he was aware of the contemporary musical trends. Another cracking piece – it’s fair to say even if I had disliked the rest of the disc (I didn’t), it would still have been worth hearing just for these two works.
I had heard, and enjoyed, some of the music of the sadly short-lived Mieczysław Karłowicz. His Serenade for Strings was written five years after Elgar’s, and not surprisingly shares a lot of the same characteristics, without being at the same exalted level as the Englishman’s. While it was enjoyable, I found that each of the four movements did somewhat overstay its welcome. Each was based on a relatively simple idea and that tended to run out of inspiration before the movement finished.
I knew that the last two works would be the difficult ones for me. The Lutosławski Overture is described as a bridging work between his early Neoclassical style and his mature modernism. It is one of his first works to employ the chain technique, which became one of his signatures. As someone who isn’t trained in musical theory, the construction of a piece of music is less important to me than how it sounds. As it turned out, I quite enjoyed its turbulent textures, and while it won’t feature on my “frequently played” playlist, I was pleased to have heard it.
I approached the Bacewicz work with a sense of obligation, rather than anticipation. While her music is hardly mainstream, it has received a consistent trickle of recordings in the last decade. The occasions on which I had sampled her works had not led me to wish to delve any deeper. Having elected to review this disc, I had to give this a proper listen. The presence of the trumpets and percussion lend the first movement something of a militaristic feel, and while it had the cold hard-edged feel that I remembered from sampling other works of hers, I found myself more impressed than I’d expected. When the next track started – supposedly an Adagio – I was rather puzzled, finding the tempo anything but slow. When the final movement – Vivace – proceeded at a funereal pace, I knew something was wrong. By quickly checking with another recording, I realised that there was a production problem with the disc I had: the Vivace finale appeared as the second movement (track 9 instead of track 10), and the Adagio was placed last. This is obviously not an insoluble problem, but it certainly should be addressed by Dux. I then returned to the movements in their correct order, and found in the Adagio more emotion, if not warmth, than I had heard in Bacewicz before. The Vivace manages to combine a wittiness with a sense of unease, and I finished listening with the same impression as with the Lutosławski: pleased to have heard it, though not with any great desire to return too quickly.
The playing of the orchestra is not flawless (my colleague Christopher Little
was less kind in his review of Volume 1), but I don’t think we will be hearing the Berlin Philharmonic playing these works any time soon. The recording provides a good soundstage for the different sections of the orchestra, but could be a little clearer. The booklet notes provide a good discussion of the premise behind the series, and also the issues of recording in Covid times, together with a very satisfactory discussion of the works. Hopefully, the production problem can be resolved, though in reality, I wonder whether the expected sales for this will justify pressing a second – corrected - batch.
David Barker
