Feliks NOWOWIEJSKI (1877-1946)
Król Wichrów (King of the Winds), Op. 37 (1929) [106:23]
Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish Radio Choir/Sebastian Perłowski
rec. 7-9 March 2016, Warsaw, Poland
WARNER CLASSICS 9029565790 [59:35 + 46:48]
This is one of two incredible recordings released by Warner Music, between them comprising the ballet music of Feliks Nowowiejski. Born in what was then Eastern Prussia into an old Polish family, Nowowiejski studied music in Berlin under Max Bruch. He shuttled back and forth between Germany and partitioned Poland in the years before the First World War, taking various musical posts and completing the piece that secured his reputation, the oratorio Quo Vadis, based on the novel by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916). When the Great War broke out, Nowowiejski became a conscript in the German army and conducted a military orchestra in garrison duty. Despite this, Nowowiejski became so devoted to the cause of Polish independence that in 1918, his former teacher denied Nowowiejski entrance to the Akademie der Künste and had his works boycotted. Nowowiejski then settled in Poznań, part of the newly independent Poland, where he joined the faculty at the Paderewski Music Academy as conductor and organist. After the Nazi invasion of 1939, Nowowiejski fled to Kraków, where he spent the remainder of the war in hiding. Nowowiejski suffered a severe stroke in 1941 that ended his compositional career and died on 15 January 1946.
Nowowiejski seems remembered today only for Quo Vadis (review
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~ review). Nowowiejski’s two ballets, King of the Winds and Folk Paintings, were believed lost until discovered in 2014. This album presents the first of these in a score edited by Jan Nowowiejski, son of the composer, who passed away soon after these recordings were made.
King of the Winds is a tremendous work. The story draws upon Polish folklore to create a magical fantasy in the vein of Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairy-tale operas or Stravinsky’s Firebird. There are a pair of lovers – Leluja and Perłowic – an evil Count, his mistress Emnilda, the King of the Winds, the Queen of the Night, Black Knights, Silver Knights, a Forest Demon, and a Fire Dragon. The Count tries to steal Lejula away from her betrothed but Perłowic counters him with help from the Queen of the Night. The King of the Winds attempts to seduce Leluja while Emnilda tries to woo Perłowic in turn but the Queen of the Night, spurned by the King of the Winds, uses her Enchanted Flower to reveal the villains’ illusions. After much back and forth, the whole thing concludes with a battle between the Black and Silver Knights. The Fire Dragon eats the Count, Perłowic slays the dragon, the magical King and Queen resolve their differences, and the lovers emerge triumphant.
This is all set to music of epic scale and sweep. The score is a mixture of Late Romantic orchestral resources, attractive melodies, and traditional Polish dances such as the mazurka and krakowiak, mixed with the musical culture of the Polish Tatra Mountain highlanders. The blend is very appealing and while the liner notes point out Nowowiejski wrote for mass audiences who expected a conventional ending, the music is entirely successful. Highlights include the opening Prologue, “Among the Peaks,” where the visionary music of the spirit world rings out in massed brass atop crosshatched string patterns ą la Bruckner. The “Pasture” and “Highlander Wedding” sequences are harmonically piquant and rhythmically varied, cousins to Szymanowski’s roughly contemporaneous ballet Harnasie, although less uncompromising than Szymanowski’s late masterpiece. Much of the rest of the score has the colorfulness of Rimsky-Korsakov and the direct expressiveness of Dvorak. There is even a “Ball at the Castle” with grand waltz and an artificial paradise “Island of Cyprus” with gondolier’s songs. Nowowiejski uses the chorus sparingly but effectively during the wedding scene, to sing the gondolier’s songs, and to drive home the triumphant conclusion.
The performers give their all. The chorus is well balanced and enunciates clearly, although texts are not provided. The Sinfonia Varsovia sound entirely comfortable with Nowowiejski’s passionate idiom and never flag or falter. Conductor Sebastian Perłowski leads a rousing, unified performance of this rediscovered score. The recorded sound is excellent and fairly leaps out of the speakers – if anything the engineering is a touch on the louder side. This just makes it easier to appreciate the blazing climaxes or interesting details like the four-part divided double basses during the “Dance of the Forest Demon,” however.
King of the Winds completely bowled me over. While it is more conventional than its influences and does occasionally fall into the trap of foursquare time killing, the ballet’s strengths are more than enough for me. The high points – particularly the music for the King of the Winds, the Tchaikovskian “hope” motif, and the highlander music – are as enjoyable as anything of their kind. A detailed knowledge of the story is not a prerequisite. Unless you are a musical killjoy, you need this music in your life.
Christopher Little
