Józef Elsner (1769-1854)
Septet in D major, for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano (c.1830)
Józef Władysław Krogulski (1815-1842)
Octet in D minor Op 6, for flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano (1834)
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867)
String Sextet in E flat major Op 39, for 2 violins, viola, 2 cello and double bass (c.1841)
Zofia Nugbauer (flute)
Adrian Janda (clarinet)
Jakub Kuszlik (piano)
Maria Machowska, Kamil Staniczek (violin), Mateusz Doniec (viola), Magdalena Bojanowicz,
Agata Dobrzańska (cello), Tomasz Januchta (double bass)
rec. live, 2021, Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, Warsaw
Notes in Polish and English
DUX 1822 [79]
These chamber rarities from 19th century Poland were recorded live at the 3rd Festival of Romantic Music about which the booklet provides no information. The composers here are hardly household names so at least one remit of the festival appears to be championing the music of Polish composers that have fallen by the wayside and let's face it, that's a lot of composers. The booklet describes the early difficulties in developing music in Poland, a country split by partition, financial hardship and censorship and once upon a time our knowledge of Polish music at the start of the 19th Century would seem to rest on Chopin, a composer in exile. With more artists and recording companies expanding their vision we now know more of the music of Chopin's contemporaries though that is still the tip of the iceberg.
It is apt that Chopin's teacher in Warsaw, Józef Elsner, is represented here; Chopin was his most famous pupil by far but he taught many other composers, notably the two who join him in this recital but also an entire generation of Polish composers born between 1800 and 1815 as the booklet notes points out. As a composer he was prolific; over 30 operas and melodramas including Amazons, his first opera in Polish and 150 sacred choral works comprising motets and cantatas, thirty masses and two requiems – in his later years he appears to have written little else but church works. There are also eight symphonies and many chamber and instrumental works all of which have been forgotten. His Septet in D major while not an undiscovered treasure is nonetheless an attractive, happy piece. It was written for Józef Circhoki whose house provided a meeting place for musicians and other artists; Circhoki played the flute and his wife piano so it would seem that this is a perfect piece for one of his Monday meetings, genial with early classical writing. The first movement makes ample use of jaunty, dotted rhythms and optimistic themes; it is in the development section that Elsner introduces the rare darker moments. The andante second movement is gently rocking with an upwardly rising melody shared by the flute and clarinet. Just as it seems the mood is turning darker the melody moves to the strings and piano with arabesques from the woodwind and snippets of this melody are developed in the middle section. The opening of the lively minuetto is somewhat similar to the opening of the first movement and it shares some of its elements. The dance here is nominally a minuet but a more Polish feel is felt in its mazurka-like rhythms. The finale has hints of Haydn and Mozart in the sparkling writing; its opening is a short rising scale motif and the second theme is a falling third that is echoed across the instruments all wrapped up in busy semiquaver interplay. The play comes to a halt part way through for a brief lyrical section, completely different in mood but the decorative elements that feature here seem to burst the bubble and the playfulness takes over once more, continuing to the end.
Tarnów born Józef Władysław Krogulski began studies with Elsner in 1829 at the age of 14. He was already a piano prodigy, having studied with his father Michał and whilst that was a big part of his early career he moved towards conducting composition – his works include two piano concertos and several piano works as well as an opera – Oh, my little wife – and choral works. The notes say that little research has been carried out into his music though it appears he doesn't have a strong reputation. On the strength of this Octet I cannot say why; it is lively, marvellously written for the instruments, dramatic, melodious and imaginative. The first movement opens with an atmospheric and brooding adagio introduction before the pace picks up and the allegro proper begins, sounding for all the world like a Mozart Piano Concerto and continuing in much the same vein though there is plenty of interest for all the instruments. If this is indicative of his music I would very much like to hear his two Piano concertos, both written within two years of the Octet – a project for Dux or Hyperion perhaps? The sense of a piano concerto is reinforced in the slow movement; after an aria-like melody from the flute the piano enters with a short cadenza and then takes over the theme accompanied by the strings with wind interjections. A rich string passage follows before the piano introduces a new, more declamatory theme over a pulsing triplet accompaniment. The piano is still centre stage, playing a melody over tremolo strings and the return to the first theme, the piano's arpeggios now accompanying the flute, is prefaced by another short piano cadenza. The vigorous minuetto is scherzo-like and has shades of Beethoven; the trio features a lilting melody in thirds from the clarinet and flute while the finale is something of a wild ride, a sort of furiant-like dance over a drone bass. Carl Maria von Weber seems to make an appearance for the second theme, played in unison by the piano but almost as if he was aware how close the theme was to Weber's Hungarian rondo – or at least the theme that Weber used for that work – Krogulski moves into extensive and quite elaborate development, barely referencing the theme, just its bubbling semiquavers. The development is quite unusual with the instruments joining in a game of “here-I-am”, now high, now low, a note here, two notes there – unusual but oddly effective and it brings a note of originality to this occasionally derivative if hugely enjoyable work. It is clear that the 19 year old composer wrote this for his own considerable piano talents and considering the skill on show here one wonders what might have been had tuberculosis not taken him when he was just 27.
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński studied with Elsner around the same time as Chopin did. He was a gifted pianist as his unpublished Piano Concerto and many piano pieces attest but any slight fame he had came from his orchestral music; Mendelssohn conducted his second Symphony in the characteristic Spirit of Polish Music at the Leipzig Gewandhaus after it had been performed in other cities and his opera Monbar was performed in 1863 though it was written some 25 years earlier and hasn't been heard since. He remembered his teacher and fellow pupil later in life; in 1854 he wrote a Funeral March for Józef Elsner for brass wind orchestra followed in 1857 by a Funeral March for Fryderyk Chopin. He wrote several chamber works including 3 string quartets and 2 quintets but it is the attractive String Sextet that is played here, a work given its first performance in 1845 by musicians of the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Its first movement has a warm richness to its writing, especially with the addition of a second cello and double bass, with much made of the rising motif heard right at the outset. The movement trots along amiably with so little textural change that one is aware of just how much is made of this motif throughout. As with Krogulski's Octet his minuet is more of a scherzo and opens in fugal style – I like the way he makes use of the trill from the first note of the fugue subject as the instruments combine. The stately trio is an elegant and more traditional minuet with all the upper instruments taking their turn with the melody. The emotional heart of the work is the third movement elegia; after a brooding introduction, lower and upper strings alternating their yearning song, Dobrzyński writes an arrangement of a Polonaise melody written at the end of the 18th century by Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817), paying homage to that Polish military hero and making a subtle declaration of nationalist pride with a melody that would have resonated in the hearts of his countrymen. After the elegiac serenity of the third movement there is a spirited finale with something of a tarantelle in its dancing lines, apparent in even in its more lyrical moments. The ghost of Mendelssohn is not so far away.
It is good to make the acquaintance of these three such different works, Elsner's classical geniality, Krogulski's impetuous youthfulness and Dobrzyński's restrained romanticism. I wasn't aware these were live performances until the applause after the Elsner as the audience are remarkably quiet. The musicians give fine performances and though one might mention pianist Jakub Kuszlik for his sterling work in the Krogulski or first violinist Maria Machowska in the Dobrzyński the ensemble playing from all is marvellously joyful.
Rob Challinor
Published: November 8, 2022
