Ludomir RÓŻYCKI (1883-1953)
Violin Concerto, Op 70 (1944) [24:04]
Deux Melodies pour violon et piano, Op 5 (1904/9) [3:05]
Deux Nocturnes pour violin et piano, Op 30 (1909) [8:28]
Transcriptions for violin and piano from the ballet Pan Twardowski, Op 45 [13:47]
Ewelina Nowicka (violin)
Pola Lazar, Michał Krężlewski (piano)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice/Zygmunt Rychert
rec. 2001, 2010, Grzegorz Fitelberg Concert Hall, Katowice & Radio Gdansk, Poland
CPO 555421-2 [49:31]
This recent release from CPO has previously been issued by the Polish label Acte Préalable, and it was the latter that was favourably reviewed by my colleague Jim Westhead in 2020. The recordings were made courtesy of Polskie Radio in 2001 and 2010.
Ludomir Różycki was a professor of piano and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory. He was a student of the composer Zygmunt Noskowski, who also taught Szymanowski and the Grzegorz Fitelberg. He later studied with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Academy of Music in Berlin. Together with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, he was a member of the group of composers known as Young Poland, whose aim was to invigorate the musical culture of their generation. His compositions include symphonic poems, operas and ballets, which heavily imbibe Polish history and culture.
The Violin Concerto was penned at the end of the Second World War and is structured in two contrasting movements. The style is firmly entrenched in the late Romantic tradition. The first is awash with lyricism and radiance, melodically rich, with searing emotions. The second movement is animated and energetic and calls for a high degree of virtuosity. At the time of Różycki’s death the score remained unfinished, with only ninety bars of orchestral score in addition to a piano reduction remaining. Towards the end of the war, the composer had buried the score in a suitcase in the garden of a destroyed house in Warsaw. In 2000, Zygmunt Rychert, the conductor on this recording, undertook a completion of the score from the remnants. He’s made a sterling job, with highly effective, idiomatic orchestration, richly colourful.
In the remaining pieces, the violin is accompanied by the piano. The Two Melodies, Op 5 were begun in 1904 and completed in 1909. That same year, Różycki wrote his two Nocturnes. It’s thanks to violinist Ewelina Nowicka that these delightful gems, really salon pieces, have been unearthed. The Nocturnes are more substantial and generally more impressive. Both are tonally based, sensuous and lyrically effulgent.
Finally, Nowicka performs her own transcriptions of four selections of Różycki’s ballet Pan Twardowski. Imaginatively constructed, these transcriptions brim over with melodic largesse. I particularly like the third Les ondines, wistful and ardent, with Michał Krężlewski coaxing some luminous sonorities from the piano. The final piece, Danse entre les poignards delights with its catchy heel-clicking and foot-tapping rhythms.
The Concerto is a glowing performance, whose ideal balance showcases the colour and richness of this wonderful score. The pieces for violin and piano are also nicely recorded. Ewelina Nowicka proves an excellent advocate of this music, playing with real love, commitment and devotion to the music.
Stephen Greenbank
