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Anniversary Editions of Karol Szymanowski's Works
2012-02-22
This year marks the 130th anniversary of the birth and the 75th anniversary of the death of Karol Szymanowski (born October 3, 1882 in Tymoszówka, died March 29, 1937 in Lausanne). Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne is celebrating these anniversaries with a new critical edition of the Symphony I in F minor, Op. 15 and the Symphony II in B flat major, Op. 19 The first Symphony is one of the composer’s youthful works, clearly based on a Straussian model, sometimes very close to Wagner and Scriabin. It consists of two movements: Allegro pathétique and Allegretto. The composer himself was not completely happy with it, and in a letter he even wrote "this will be some contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster, and in advance I already look forward to the thought that during playing this symphony at our concert in Berlin, the critics will be leaving the room with curses in their livid mouths."The Second Symphony was written in Tymoszówka, the composer’s home village. Its premiere took place on April 7, 1911 in the National Philharmonic. Performed in Poland and abroad, it received great critical acclaim, one of the reviews reported that “the Symphony in B flat major calls to the world in an irresistible voice that in the young Pole, Karol Szymanowski, a great hope for creative musical talent has appeared. (...) After this success, German tongues will also have to get used to his name.” The composer also referred to it sometimes even enthusiastically; in a letter he wrote "It has been a long time since I enjoyed something as much as the symphony. I feel that I have uncovered some new boxes of musical values, but not in the sense of ultra-modernism - on the contrary - this symphony is a little Zopf-Musik".
We invite you to follow information about the concerts and performances through our concert calendar:
pwm.com.pl/concerts
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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.
It’ s like a game. The memory game, thanks to which you can look at a very ordinary family from an extraordinary perspective. ALBUM RODZINNY [Family album] – an opera by Jerzy Kornowicz with a libretto by Michał Rusinek – is another premiere of the ANAKLASIS label this year. This time, the record brand is expanding its audience to include the youngest listeners. The album will be released on 21st June.
Time passes constantly, changing the world and its soundscape around us. The title IL TEMPO PASSA may be both a reflection on the impermanence of life, world and things and a piece of advice to enjoy the moment. The latest album by ANAKLASIS presents Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa’s cameral and symphonic works from recent years. Premiere on 28 May 2024, on the composer’s 75th birthday.
It is a musical-literary tale about a quest for identity, truth, and for what makes us human. The new stage work by Aleksander Nowak – which is, at the same time, Radek Rak’s operatic debut – explores the sources of good and evil, fusing reality with mythology and steering towards ‘the left-hand side of the world’. The authors spin a tale about the dual human nature. THE TALE OF THE HEART. FAVOLA IN MUSICA – the album that presents their joint project – will go on sale on 6th October.
Spectacularly successful as Ludomir Różycki’s music was in his lifetime, it is seldom programmed nowadays. All the same, such remarkable art could hardly fall into utter oblivion. It has attracted and fascinated excellent jazz pianist Kuba Stankiewicz, who has translated it into the language of jazz. The effects have been recorded and released on ANAKLASIS label’s most recent album, INSPIRED BY LUDOMIR RÓŻYCKI, which goes on sale as of 28th August.
PWM Edition is entering the execution phase of the revitalisation of its Warsaw department. With the commencement of the renovation and the implementation of the assumptions of the architectural design, the Hire Department and the editorial office of “Ruch Muzyczny” are moving to a temporary headquarters at 19 Wiejska Street, Warsaw.
This is by no means a piece about the centuries-long Polish-German conflict. It is, instead, a tale of impossible love, of tragic conflict between personal happiness and the common good.
PWM Edition resumes cooperation with the Italian publishing house Ricordi, as well as with its international partners forming Universal Music Publishing Classics & Screen. This means that rentals of orchestral materials from the catalogues of all publishing houses belonging to Classics & Screen is carried out in Poland by Dział Zbiorów Nutowych (Sheet Music Department) of PWM.
