News
PWM Edition Jubilee
2005-04-12
In 2005 PWM Edition celebrates the 60th anniversary of its foundation. On 6th April 1945 the director of the Music Department in the Ministry of Culture and Art, Mieczysław Drobner, authorized Tadeusz Ochlewski to establish a publishing house. Since that time the house has been open to many composers, writers, editors, members of editorial staff and, above all, large numbers of readers and music lovers.
In 2005 PWM Edition celebrates the 60th anniversary of its foundation. On 6th April 1945 the director of the Music Department in the Ministry of Culture and Art, Mieczysław Drobner, authorized Tadeusz Ochlewski to establish a publishing house. Since that time the house has been open to many composers, writers, editors, members of editorial staff and, above all, large numbers of readers and music lovers.
Schedule of Celebrations:
13 April 2005, noon, Cracow, PWM Edition, Al. Krasińskiego 11a –
Solemn Opening of the Salon of PWM Edition
The PWM Edition Salon is intended to be a place where everyone will be able to become acquainted with the various spheres of the firm’s activities, its history and its most important publishing projects. The most important publications, occasional editions, awards and distinctions, historic photographs as well as a visitors’ book have been collected there.
13 April 2005, 4 p.m., Cracow, St. Anne’s collegiate church
15 April 2005, 5 p.m., Warsaw, the church of St. Brother Albert and St. Andrew the Apostle
Solemn Masses
During the solemn Holy Mass celebrated in Cracow by the mitred prelate Jerzy Bryła and in Warsaw by the prelate Wiesław Niewęgłowski we shall commemorate all the late composers, writers and workers of PWM Edition. The musical settings will consist of choral works by composers published by PWM Edition and performed by the Organum choir conducted by Bogusław Grzybek as well as the Musica Sacra choir conducted by Paweł Łukaszewski.
After the solemnities a private meeting with former PWM Edition workers will take place.
Before the Mass in Warsaw the company’s management will place a wreath on the grave of PWM Edition’s founder, Tadeusz Ochlewski.
20 April 2005, Warsaw, National Library
Transfer of Musical Manuscripts
The musical manuscripts of Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Wojciech Łukaszewski, Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz, Roman Palester, Marta Ptaszyńska, Piotr Rytel, Michał Spisak, Michał Świrzyński, Kazimierz Sikorski and Romuald Twardowski, collected over the years by PWM Edition, will be transferred – with the assent of the composers or their heirs – to the music department of the National Library in Warsaw. Their solemn transfer will be combined with a PWM Edition presentation, an exhibition devoted to Grażyna Bacewicz and a short concert involving works, the manuscripts of which will be transferred to the National Library. The performers will be Andrzej Gębski and Joanna Ławrynowicz.
September 2005, Warsaw
Events Associated with the „Warsaw Autumn”
During the International Festival of Contemporary Music PWM Edition will organize a jubilee Concert devoted to Romuald Twardowski, who celebrates his 75th birthday this year.
PWM Edition will display its publications as part of the permanent presentation in the National Library entitled „Publishers’ Salon”. At the same time, further manuscripts of contemporary composers will be transferred to the collections of the Warsaw University Library.
10 November 2005, 7.30 p.m., Cracow Philharmonic Hall
Solemn Jubilee Concert
performed by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Krenz presenting works of Polish composers associated with PWM Edition: Overture by Jan Krenz, Inverted Mountain by Marta Ptaszyńska, Pejrene by Zbigniew Bujarski, Ten Polish Dances by Witold Lutosławski and Symphony No. 1 by Feliks I. Dobrzyński.
The concert will, at the same time, mark the inauguration of the 1st Polish Music Festival.
An exhibition of PWM Edition’s publishing output, prepared in collaboration with the Jagiellonian Library, will be opened on the same day at noon. The sixty years of the firm’s activities have resulted in c. 13000 titles (over 60 million copies), many of which can boast outstanding design and editing quality, a number of prizes having been awarded them.
In addition:
All first editions of music publications, books and records will be furnished with a special jubilee logo designed by Marek Repetowski. The more important publications include scores by Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar and Zbigniew Bujarski, a monograph devoted to Wojciech Kilar, conversations with Marek Stachowski, the first volume of Chopin’s correspondence, an album on Adam Didur, a CD of wind trios by contemporary composers and the series „Musica Claromontana”.
A jubilee calendar for 2005 and a promotional leaflet on PWM Edition have been published in Polish and English. A new website devoted to PWM Edition is being prepared as well as a complete catalogue of all PWM Edition publications since 1945. Work on the creation of the firm’s electronic iconographic library is continuing.
Most popular:
The theme of the 37th Krakow International Festival of Composers is music in music. Already in the 1970s, this issue was studied by the outstanding founder of the Krakow Theoretical School, Professor Mieczysław Tomaszewski. He reflected on the subject in an article entitled “At the Opening: why ‘music in music’”, which was published before one of the famous Music Meetings in Baranów.
The theme of Krzysztof Knittel’s work is refuge and the uncertainty and anxiety about the unknown associated with it, as well as the other side of this topic, i.e. the need to provide help and shelter. The text of the oratorio is based on a poem by Tadeusz Sławek. The piece features singing, recitations, choral parts and improvisations based on the traditions of the Middle East. The album was premiered on 15 March during the 11th Festival of Premieres in Katowice.
Musicologists commonly call it “Kras 52” – after the former reference number it was given in the Krasiński Library. It is the most valuable Polish source of medieval polyphonic music, which shaped the soundscape of the court of the first Jagiellons and Kraków at that time. The manuscript is gaining new life now, thanks to a performance edition by Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett and Marc Lewon. “Krasiński Codex” has just been published by PWM Edition with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Frequent guest of the world’s most famous music venues (New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Albert Hall and BBC Proms, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus), in February 2021 Bomsori signed an exclusive contract with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label. As of this year, she also bears the honourable title of ambassador of Grażyna Bacewicz’s music, which she performs worldwide, promoting the legacy of Poland’s most important woman composer.
The 4CD album featuring songs and instrumental works by the Silesian master goes on sale as of 8 November. Released by the ANAKLASIS music label, it will be premiered on 3 December during a special PWM Edition concert held as part of the 12th International Days of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki at the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice.
The esteemed American-Canadian jazz musician Michael Bates, his Acrobat Ensemble and the Lutosławski Quartet will perform three concerts in Poland in November. The repertoire will include material recorded by the musicians on the album METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI, released by ANAKLASIS in the REVISIONS series.
The artists have already successfully presented it at Lincoln Center and Barbès Jazz Club in New York. In autumn 2024 we will have the opportunity to hear them live for the first time in Poland: 14.11 - Krakow, 15.11 - Lublin, 17.11 - Wroclaw.
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw invites to the inaugural session of the biennial International Digital Musicology Conference, which will be held 23–25 October 2024, at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland. The conference focuses on the integration of digital technologies into musicological research, with a special emphasis on introducing digital tools and methods to the Polish academic community, where digital musicology has not yet been widely adopted.
Although Ludomir Różycki - one of the most important representatives of Young Poland - enjoyed spectacular success as a composer during his lifetime, his works are rarely included in concert programmes today. It is therefore worth remembering his exceptional art.
Aleksander Nowak continues his original cycle of compositions that enter into a dialogue with most recent Polish literary works. The album premiere of his opera based on Marcin Wicha’s Nike-awarded book Things I Didn’t Throw Out will take place during the AUKSODRONE festival in Tychy.
Musical themes from Coppola’s cult movie, as deconstructed and reinterpreted by this wayward duo, will be performed at a live concert accompanied by the premiere of THEMES OF DRACULA from ANAKLASIS on vinyl records.
