2011-02-02

The presentation of Polish music from 1945 to the present day at Lincoln Center was a surprise, especially for us. Equally for those chosen few who could spend a week in New York thanks to the hospitality of the Polish Cultural Institute, and for those who learned about the festival from the media. Well, because how can you differently approach such a large monographic review of Polish music, programmed by Professor Joel Sachs and performed by the excellent undergraduate and doctoral students the famous Juilliard School of Music? A week with music by 34 Polish composers in the centre of Manhattan made quite an impression. In the opinion of many listeners this was the first such large presentation of Polish music written after 1945 in the whole of the United States. I reckon that since long ago there hasn’t been such a festival at all in any country other than in the realm by the Vistula. Indeed, there have been many wonderful concerts organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and excellent interpretations of individual works by Polish composers, but the last such major review, which additionally was entirely devoted to Lutosławski, was held in London in 1997 during "Breaking Chains".

Most interesting though, was how Focus was programmed. Joel Sachs came to Poland in May last year thanks to a study visit organised for him by Anna Perzanowska, musical curator of the New York Institute. Several meetings took place, he looked through dozens of scores and heard many recordings. He asked, of course, about young and new composers, he was curious about what the older generation is doing, but de facto he compiled the programme himself. And how! An extraordinary panorama of over sixty years of Polish contemporary music. The pieces were selected not only on the basis of representation of different styles, but also well placed in each concert. No doubt one can find some individual shortcomings, but first one must acknowledge the choice of, among others Bacewicz’s Contradizione, Serocki’s Swinging Music, Szalonek’s Toccata i chorał and Krzanowski’s Relief V. Also to be appreciated is the inclusion of works by the younger generation of composers: Wojciech Błażejczyk, Aleksander Nowak and Aleksandra Gryka. I must confess that as a program director at the Festival of Polish Music in Cracow, I was quite crestfallen by the excellent composition of the whole programme by Joel Sachs. The large audience numbers gathered at every concert had an opportunity to experience the whole kaleidoscope of contemporary Polish music. The view of students standing in a queue, who ultimately didn’t get in, to Alice Tully Hall (1000 seats!) for the final concert, entirely devoted to Lutosławski, was amazing.

The young musicians performed works by Polish composers at the highest level. All soloists and chamber musicians volunteered for pieces, and then prepared them for the festival concerts. As a rule they were excellent. Two ensembles: the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Juilliard Orchestra showed their best sides. The conductors: Joel Sachs himself and Jeffrey Milarski were very well prepared for the task. And some of the creations, like the performance of the solo cello in the Lutosławski Cello Concerto by the young Jay Campbell will remain long in my memory.

A panel discussion, moderated by Joel Sachs, was held during the festival. For this meeting, he invited Elżbieta Sikora, Jerzy Kornowicz, Tadeusz Wielecki and myself. We had the opportunity to present in brief the development of Polish music from 1945 to modern times and weave it into historical events in the country and the world. Interestingly, the historical or even political context was strongly emphasized during the discussion by prof. Sachs, as well as during several subsequent after-concert meetings. We were a little surprised by this, but on the other hand, it gave the opportunity to explain how artists functioned during the past era and to describe the phenomenon of the eruption of composing in the postwar period. We tried to present the activities of the Polish Composers’ Union, the Warsaw Autumn Festival and Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, as havens for creative freedom, though – on account of political necessity - with difficult periods. Joel Sachs took the occasion to give the Americans a very good lecture on Polish history and the circumstances of the development of music in the twentieth century; I refer those with an interest in this subject to a very interesting commentary in the printed program introducing the Festival.

The Focus Festival gave New York audiences a chance to become familiar with a wide panorama of contemporary Polish music performed at the highest level. It gave us cause for pride and satisfaction that there was something to listen to. We award Joel Sachs with the order of Polish music for the presentation of contemporary creativity, and Ms. Anna Perzanowska from the Polish Cultural Institute - a laurel wreath for help in the preparation of the festival and the organization of our stay.

Andrzej Kosowski

Pictured: New Juilliard Ensemble conducted by Joel Sachs at the inaugural concert of the ‘Focus!’ festival. Photo C Nan Melville