Kazimierz SEROCKI (1922-1981)
Forte e piano - music for two pianos and orchestra (1967) [12:55]
Pianophonie for piano, electronics and orchestra (1978) [32:28]
Jerzy Witkowski (piano); Szabolcs Esztényi (piano)
Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia w Katowicach/Stanisław Wisłocki
Radiowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna w Krakowie/Stanisław Wisłocki
rec. 1973 & 1979, Polish Radio.
DUX 1287 [45:23]
Polish composer Kazimierz Serocki was no neo-romantic. Unlike
say Elliott Carter and Iain Hamilton - try their First Symphonies - his earliest
compositions showed little interest in tonality or melody. Serocki is intriguing
but finds satisfaction and refuge - even joy - in a world that is austere,
dramatic and boldly dissonant. He is not one for melodies or soft-focus. His
music is close to the summit of the avant-garde and dates from its era of
highest confidence. He was a practitioner of the subtle, inclined to protest
and his 'vocabulary' extends to include a wide dynamic compass.
He studied in Łódź, graduating in 1946 and then pursuing his composition
studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Until the early 1950s he was a concert
pianist after which he dedicated himself to composition. With Tadeusz Baird
he founded the Warsaw Autumn international contemporary music festival and
was much associated with conductor-composer Jan Krenz. His orchestral works
include the Romantic Concerto for piano and orchestra (1950), two
symphonies (1952, 1953), a Sinfonietta for two string orchestras
(1956), Symphonic Frescoes (1964), Dramatic Story for orchestra
(1971), Fantasia elegiaca for organ and orchestra (1972) and Ad
libitum: five pieces for symphony orchestra (1973-1977).
He made some impact on radio, often alongside works by Baird and often with
Krenz conducting. The BBC Third Programme offered Colin Kingsley playing his
Sonata as early as 1959 but Polish and other European mainland radio
stations also provided tapes. In 1966 the Warsaw Philharmonic under Witold
Rowicki was heard in the Sinfonietta. 1970-71 saw the Symphonic
Frescoes played by Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Jan Krenz in Music
in Our Time. Soon after that Forte e Piano was given by Aloys
and Alfons Kontarsky with Michael Gielen directing the Hess Radio Orchestra.
Pianophonie put in an appearance in early 1980 played by Szabolcs
Esztenyi (piano) and Hans-Peter Haller (electronics) with the South-West German
Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Bour.
This is a short-duration disc featuring two works in which the piano or pianos
play key roles in oratory and instigation alongside the orchestra. It is said
that Serocki found sound textures and these works bear this out. He is very
inventive. There may be momentary echoes of Stravinsky in Forte e piano
but fantasy sounds, varied and kaleidoscopic, are evidently his main preoccupation.
The music is imposing, stony, inclined to protest and the odd screech. Electronics
are used in Pianophonie (8:21) to magnify the palette from which
some surprisingly lush effects are conjured (15:00). There are also some terrifying
flights of fancy and some fantastic electronic noises that might remind film
music specialists of Bebe and Louis Barron's score for The Forbidden
Planet (1956). A cold-world fanfare can be heard at 20:00 - an almost
conventional Ivesian touch in such a score - alongside the return of a groaning
quiet string glissando from early on in the score. There are sounds that could
almost be Holstian but they are far more austere. A withering sense of theatre
includes a welter of glittering percussion (as at 6:22 in Forte e piano)
and a hammering salvo to bring this virtuoso phantasmagoria of a piece to
a close.
Serocki's music has been reviewed here before. To gain a wider perspective
have a look at the following: Romantic
Piano Concerto, the Preludes
and the Trombone
Concerto. Not reviewed here is a disc, also from Dux (1284), of Serocki's
complete piano music (Sonata for piano (1955); The Gnomes: Children's
Miniatures (1953); Suite of Preludes (1952); A piacere:
Suggestions for piano (1962-63)). This is played by Adam Kośmieja.
Also worth exploring, though hardly ingratiating, is the music of another
Pole, Boleslaw Szabelski (1896-1979). Try to find Olympia OCD300 - a disc
dedicated to his music.
It's a shame about the parsimonious playing time but if you want to
sample what was quickening pulses in more arcane circles in the 1960s and
1970s this will serve you well. The recordings (Polish Radio) and performances
seem nothing short of brilliant and the well appointed liner-note in Polish
and English is by Iwona Lindstedt. I hope that someone will take an interest
in those two Serocki symphonies from the early 1950s.
Rob Barnett
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