Catalogue

On the CONNECTIONS album, you will find Szalonek’s selected compositions, from his oldest (his student work – 'Toccata polyphonica' for string orchestra of 1954, as well as the cycle that brought him international recognition – 'Confessions'. 'Triptych' to Words by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna for speaking voice, mixed choir, and chamber orchestra of 1959) to his last works (such as 'L’Hautbois mon amour' of 1999, the composer’s confession of his love for the oboe, written for a solo performer, here – NOSPR principal oboist Maksymilian Lipień).

Music history abounds in paradoxes. Take the Rhodes piano, for instance. Commissioned by the US army as an easy-to-transport instrument for military bands, it reached the wide audience thanks to The Doors, the band that remains an icon of rock-music pacifism.

The eminent composer and pianist Zygmunt Krauze claims that he shunned Fryderyk Chopin through much of his artistic life. When he finally realised that he could not avoid facing that music, rather than piously worshipping the national saint he is getting to grips with Chopin’s art on his own terms.

Does music need parity? Probably not, it defends itself. But it is worth noting and emphasising the artistic advantages of outstanding contemporary composers and their unforgettable predecessors - women in Polish music are a voice as separate as it is expressive. The album is the result of cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and more specifically the Polskie Heroiny Dźwięku (Polish Heroines of Sound) program conducted by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the wider Polska Music campaign.

Bells have for centuries remained an element of the Polish audiosphere. ‘For the Angelus bells are ringing…’ wrote Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer of these sounds which have been as natural to the landscape as thatched roofs, village graveyards, rivers and woods. Even so, the carillon (a set of at least 23 tower bells activated by means of a special keyboard) still appears to be an exotic instrument and its potential largely remains unrecognised.

High Definition Quartet is an ensemble well-tested in musical explorations, and its pianist-leader Piotr Orzechowski has adopted, not without reason, the nickname of Pianohooligan – one who with roguish impudence jumps across the fences that separate various musical worlds.

What if we ventured the theory that all that jazz flows out of the Vistula River? Kuba Stankiewicz, an excellent jazz pianist and composer, began his professional career in the mid-1980s, playing with Jan ‘Ptaszyn’ Wróblewski and Zbigniew Namysłowski.

Stanisław Moniuszko’s songs collected in his Songbooks for Home Use were the Romantic, 19th-century counterparts of present-day pop music hits. Written to be sung at private homes and to live their own independent lives, many of them actually did fulfil this role.