Zygmunt Stojowski (1870-1946)
Symphony in D minor, Op.21 (1898)
Suite for Orchestra in E flat major, Op.9 (1891)
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Antoni Wit
rec. 2021, Philharmonie, Ludwigshafen, Germany
CAPRICCIO C5464 [66]
After early training in Cracow, Zygmunt Stojowski moved to Paris where he studied the piano with Diémer and composition with Delibes. A Suite for Orchestra, his Op.9 soon followed, written in 1891 and premiered by Benjamin Godard. Even better was to come when the work’s dedicatee, Hans von Bülow, performed it in Hamburg and when Tchaikovsky took it into his repertoire and slated a performance for the spring of 1894 – by which point he had died. Nevertheless, the London and New York premieres had to wait until 1914-15, by which point he had emigrated once again, this time to North America, where he was to remain until his death.
Jonathan Plowright’s exploration of the piano concertos in Hyperion’s edition rekindled enthusiasm for Stojowski’s music and more recently Dux has been active in its promotion – in fact, they have just released their own competing version of the piano concertos on DUX 1773. They also released a strong version of this suite under Marcin Nalecz-Niesiolowski (review) a number of years ago, and it stands up very well, certainly comparable to this new version from Antoni Wit and the forces of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Stojowski had a knack for orchestration and the suite is resplendently scored. The first movement is based on a Polish Marian hymn which is then subject to variations, which are truly stirring. The central movement is a Polonaise – in point of fact a Mazurka – which functions as a breezy and sprightly scherzo, whilst the finale is a Rêverie and Cracovienne, which is very French in orientation, deftly and luminously scored, with cello and clarinet winding around each other sensuously as the music revisits the Rêverie theme. Stojowski reported that hearing this work Brahms was heard to praise the orchestration. I’m not surprised.
The companion work is the big 41-minute Symphony in D minor which was composed toward the end of the decade, in 1898, and dedicated to Paderewski. Once again, his facility with colour and precision is notable, though the symphony situates itself more squarely in the Central European tradition than had the more playful, more youthful Polish Suite. The second of the four movements is an Andante, which is rather lovely in its play of horn against winds and in the cultivation of lower string warmth, which Stojowski allows to be infiltrated by sufficient contrasts. There’s a somewhat spectral Scherzo and a finale replete with rousing fanfare effects and generally festive exuberance.
The Symphony is not as distinctive, perhaps, as the Suite but that’s largely because it’s less obviously Polish. Antoni Wit is a past master at generating intensity in the studio and he does precisely that with his finely marshalled German forces and they’ve been very well recorded in the Philharmonie in Ludwigshafen.
Jonathan Woolf
