Polish symphonic poems - new

[pjme]

Symphonic Poems "Poland abroad"CD 
8.1.2008


Detailinformationen

Fitelberg:The Song of the Falcon
+Morawski:Nevermore
+Laks:Poeme für Violine & Orchester
+Tansman:Hommage a Erasme de Rotterdam

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Jürgen Bruns Label: EDA , DDD, 2007
Bestellnummer: 3254824

This is propably a question for Maciek! Do you know any of these compositions? Any idea about style ?

The Tansman could be quite interesting .
Frank Martin's "Erasmi monumentum"(for orchestra & organ) was written for the same occasion ,I think.
In the late 1960s Martin was commissioned to write a new work for the Rotterdam Foundation of Art (Kunststichting). The choice fell on the figure of Erasmus, the great Renaissance humanist whose thoughts and example stand at the fount of the European liberal movement that would eventually flower in the Enlightenment. Martin selected three aspects of Erasmus's writings and personality to form the basis of an orchestral triptych:

1) Homo pro se ("a man unto himself")
2) Stultitiae laus ("In Praise of Folly")
3) Querela Pacis ("A Plea for Peace")

I wonder what Tansman made of it....!?

[Maciek]

Wow! I can't believe it took me almost two years to notice this!

I do know the Fitelberg piece. It was his most popular composition during his lifetime but it rarely gets performed nowadays. A staple piece of the Young Poland movement. Can't say I like it very much. I must have heard the recording I have (Fitelberg's own) at least half a dozen times and yet I have absolutely no memory of it...

I do know at least one Morawski symphonic poem but I don't think it's this one. The recollection is hazy but I remember having surprisingly good impressions. The Morawski piece I had heard was a bit like Nowowiejski's King of the Winds Overture (and as good).

Needless to say, I personally wouldn't hesitate to get that disc. IF the price was right (which, at least at jpc, it isn't - 20 EUR for a single CD is more than a bit too steep for me).