The lyrical Poland beyond Chopin and Szymanowski is doing well
at present. Acte Préalable, Dux and, before them, Olympia in
the 1990s stood us in good stead. CD Accord has just issued
a recording of the three tone poems of Eugeniusz Morawski. Now
Hyperion enter the lists with two substantial chamber works
for piano and strings. These are by little known Poles of broadly
the same generations as Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Franck.
The lyrically liquid flow of Kraków-based Zelenski is
irresistible. The music surely owes something to Brahms’ Second
Piano Concerto but its aristocratically confident mien also
bears a resemblance to that of Franck and even early Fauré.
There’s a smilingly centred and contented Romanza – all twilight
and moonlight. After this comes a supernatural Intermezzo to
prepare the ground for an earnestly fluent Allegro appassionato.
You may have heard the Zelenski before. It was available from
the Polish Piano Quartet on now-deleted Olympia OCD381 with
Zygmunt Noskowski’s admirable Piano Quartet in D minor. More
recently it was on Acte
Préalable. Zelenski’s two string quartets are in Acte Préalable’s
catalogue (AP0236).
The same label has given us a sampling of his solo piano music
(review).
His Violin Sonata can be heard alongside Stojowski’s Sonata
on AP0112.
CDAccord
offer In the Tatra Mountains for orchestra (1870).
The charismatic Zarebski was born near Kraków and after
spells in Prague and Warsaw returned there. Tragically, much
of his music was destroyed in the wars that laid waste to Poland.
The Piano Quintet was only published in 1931. It has been recorded
several times but perhaps the most famous inscription dates
from the 1960s with Bronislaw Gimpel and Wladyslaw Szpilman,
‘The Pianist’ in the Roman Polanski film. It’s on Sony (review).
Zarebski’s Quintet is boldly and poetically confident. There’s
a still and striking Adagio which moves from hushed moonlight
to tender caresses while coasting not too close to floral decoration
salon-style. The concise chasseur Scherzo trips delightfully
along before the finale which is grandly rippling as well as
alternately stern and playful.
Adrian Thomas provides the much-needed commentary and does so
with both style and sterling content.
By the way Jonathan Plowright has also recorded piano concertos
by Zelenski and Zarzycki with the BBC Scottish SO under Lukasz
Borowicz. So, there’s much more to look forward to. Meantime
do relish these fluently lyrical late-romantic delights, irresistibly
presented in every way.
Rob Barnett
Jonathan Plowright (piano)