Poland: May 2006 Report

2005 Warsaw Autumn Festival Available on CDs

A selection of compositions performed during the 48th "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music is available on promotional CDs. A set of 7 CDs was released in April this year by the Polish Music Information Centre, as a continuation of the "Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn" series, which was published first on LPs (1956-1989), then on compact cassettes (1990-1998), and since 1999 on CDs. Whereas traditionally the Chronicle focused on Polish music, this year's edition contains not only all compositions by Polish composers but also a considerable number of works by composers from abroad. The proportions differ significantly from what we offered in previous years: 21 names of Polish composers and 19 foreign names.

The selection of compositions on the CDs well reflects the main theme of the 2005 Festival, which was music of the East: both of the very Far East (China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan) and the East which is very close to Poland, just across the border: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine. In our opinion, the other very interesting aspect of the release is the presentation of numerous young composers: apart from 6 composers aged under 36 (the youngest composer, Dobromila Jaskot, is now 25), who were included in the main Festival programme (selected by the Festival's Repertoire Committee, chaired by the Festival's Artistic Director Tadeusz Wielecki), CD No. 7 is dedicated exclusively to very young musicians and contains a selection of 7 compositions performed at the concerts organised by the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union during Warsaw Autumn 2004 and 2005 (the programmes of those concerts were designed by the PCU Youth Circle Board).

Six compositions featuring on our CDs, those by Krzysztof Knittel (Poland), Lawrence Moss (USA), Jaroslaw Kapuscinski (born in Warsaw, now living in the USA), Jauhen Poplausky (Belarus), Dobromila Jaskot (Poland) and Zaid Jabri (born in Damascus, living in Poland). were commissioned by the Warsaw Autum Festival. Another composition, by Bohdana Frolyak (Ukraine), was commissioned by the Friends of the Warsaw Autumn Foundation. There are, moreover, many other commissions and first performances, in total 14 world premieres and 16 compositions first performed in Poland.

The "Sound Chronicle" CDs are produced exclusively as informational, promotional and educational material. They may not be purchased, but are presented free of charge to interested people and institutions from Poland and abroad: music information centres, music schools and libraries, societies and foundations, radio stations, publishers, musicologists, musicians, many other institutions and people, including music lovers. Anybody interested in receiving either the whole set, or any particular CD may contact us at: zymer@polmic.pl.

CD No. 1

1. Marek Stachowski (1936-2004) – Poème sonore (1975) for orchestra
2. Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (b. 1933) – Choros I (1964) for strings
3. Tadeusz Wielecki (b. 1954) – Surfaces (2002) for orchestra
4. Wojciech Ziemowit Zych (b. 1976) – Hommage à Tadeusz Kantor (2003) for orchestra
5. Zbigniew Bargielski (b. 1937) – It's Still Night, It's Still Sound (1980) for voice and orchestra

CD No. 2

1. Ewa Trebacz (b. 1973) – Minotaur (2005) for French horn and surround
2. Krzysztof Knittel (b. 1947) – Vagante (2005) for soloists, orchestra and tape
3. Lawrence Moss (b. 1927) – Korea for Kwartludium (2005) for clarinet, violin, percussion and piano
4. Jaroslaw Kapuscinski (b. 1964) – Enso (2005) concerto for percussion, computer projection and orchestra
5. Vladimir Nikolaev (b. 1953) – unik-ton experience (2003) for five performers

CD No. 3

1. Marina Voinova (b. 1972) – Wie ist es moglich? (2005) for wind quartet, string quartet and piano
2. Yuri Kasparov (b. 1955) – Hommage à Honegger (2005) for wind quartet, string quartet and piano
3. Bettina Skrzypczak (b. 1962) – Vier Figuren (2001) for an ensemble of 18 musicians in three groups
4. Marcin Bortnowski (b. 1972) – Easter Music (2005) for chamber ensemble
5. Jauhen Poplausky (b. 1959) – My – Her (2005) for 15 musicians
6. Larissa Simakovich (b. 1957) – Terrestrial – Celestial (2005) for strings, flute, authentic voices and bells

CD No. 4

1. Pavel Karmanov (b. 1970) – Get In!! (2005) for five performers
2. Younghi Pagh-Paan (b. 1945) – Ta Ryong IV (The return of postmodernism) for solo percussion
3. Andrzej Krzanowski (1951-1990) – Studium III (1975) for accordion
4. Wlodzimierz Kotonski (b. 1925) – Musical Games (1973) for five players – instrumental theatre
5. Nikolai Korndorf (1947-2001) – Get Out!!! (1995) for four or more performers

CD No. 5

1. Klaus Huber (b. 1924) – Intarsi. Chamber Concerto 'In memoriam Witold Lutoslawski' (1993-94) for piano or pianoforte and ensemble
2. Bohdana Frolyak (b. 1968) – Why should I, like a tim'rous bird, to distant mountains fly? (2001) for chamber ensemble
3. Toshio Hosokawa (b. 1955) – Voyage IV – Extasis (2000) for accordion and ensemble
4. Dobromila Jaskot (b. 1981) – INGWAZ (2005) for ensemble
5. Beom-Suk Lee (b. 1967) – Duet for Oboe and Piano (2005)
6. Yuri Krasavin (b. 1953) – Sàngó (2003) for percussion solo, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and tape

CD No. 6

1. Fausto Romitelli (1963-2004) – Domeniche alla periferia dell'impero. Prima domenica (1995-96) for four instruments
2. Joji Yuasa (b. 1929) – Mai-Bataraki from Ritual for Delphi (1979) for shakuhachi and percussion
3. Zaid Jabri (b. 1975) – GLYPTOS (2005) for flute and percussion
4. Soo Jung Shin (b. 1975) – Kammerviolinkonzert Nr. 2 "Aus der Leere" (2005)
5. Krzysztof Meyer (b. 1943) – String Quartet No. 1 (1963)
6. Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) – from Ceremonial – an Autumn Ode (1992) for shô solo
7. Kazuhiko Suzuki (b. 1967) – Molds (2004) for shô solo
8. Toshio Hosokawa (b. 1955) – Cloudscapes – Moon Night (1998) for shô and accordion

CD No. 7
Warsaw Autumn 2004-2005 – Fringe events: concerts organised by the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union – young composers' carte blanche

1. Jacek Wiktor Ajdinovic (b. 1985) – Arrière-pensée du temps (2005) for violin, cello and piano
2. Weronika Ratusinska (b. 1977) – Trio (2004) for clarinet, cello and piano
3. Katarzyna Taborowska (b. 1974) – U00 – to Victims of Kursk (2001) for tape
4. Adrian Foltyn (b. 1978) – Extra-cellestrial (2005) for cello solo and computer
5. Dobromila Jaskot (b. 1981) – Liija (2003) for tape
6. Barbara Kaszuba (b. 1983) – Suoni per sei violinisti (2003)
7. Andrzej Kwiecinski (b. 1984) – Umbrae (2004) for string quintet

Izabela Zymer
zymer@polmic.pl
Polish Music Information Centre