Top 5 Favorite Polish Works

[kyjo]

Random thread idea! I'm going with one work per composer, but you're by no means obliged to do the same:

Szymanowski: Violin Concerto no. 1*
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Karlowicz: Violin Concerto
Chopin: Cello Sonata
Tansman**: Symphony no. 5

*I could've equally gone with his Symphony no. 4 Symphonie Concertante or the Etude in B flat minor, op. 4/3...
**Tansman spent most of his career in France but was born in Poland so I'm considering him Polish.

It's been a while since I've listened to Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, and I'm not terribly familiar with Penderecki's output.

[Mirror Image]

Fun poll, Kyle! I'll follow you in the same idea of one work per composer.

In no particular order:

Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary
Lutoslawski: Les Espaces du Sommeil
Bacewicz: Violin Concerto No. 3
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs"
Panufnik: Autumn Music

[TheGSMoeller]

I'll stick with one per composer as well, I wish I knew more Polish music though...

Penderecki: Polish Requiem
Kilar: Orawa
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
Preisner: Requiem for my Friend
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater

[SymphonicAddict]

Lutoslawski - Cello concerto, String quartet
Szymanowski - Symphony 3 Chant de la nuit
Karlowicz - Stanislaw and Anna Oswiecimowie
Penderecki - Piano concerto Resurrection

[amw]

One per composer as well since otherwise this would be "top 5 Chopin works"

Chopin - Ballade no.4 op.52
Szymanowski - Symphonie Concertante op.60
Penderecki - Anaklasis
Lutosławski - Symphony 3
Bloch - Anenaïki

[North Star]

Chopin: Ballade No. 4
Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 2
Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 3
Weinberg: Piano Quintet
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3

[Mirror Image]

Chopin: Ballade No. 4
Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 2
Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 3
Weinberg: Piano Quintet
Gorecki: Symphonny No. 3

There we go, corrected.

[André]

I'll exclude Chopin, from another time and place (mostly) than the others - and of course deserving of his own « top 5 favourite » poll! I'll also exclude other well known polish composers (Gorecki, Lutoslawski, Penderecki,Szymanowski) because they tend to overshadow lesser known ones. As for Weinberg and Tansman, they settled in other countries and lost much of their « polishness » in the process.

Karlowicz, Returning Waves
Rozycki, cello sonata (or his piano concerto no 1)
Meyer, violin concerto op 12
Melcer, piano concerto no 1 in e minor
Szymanski, piano concerto

In the case of Meyer, arguably the most important modern polish composer, a dozen of his works could have been included.

[Sergeant Rock]

Karlowicz Symphony in E-minor, Op.7 "Rebirth Symphony"
Chopin Preludes op.28
Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 2
Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 E minor
Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra

[kyjo]

Great lists, everyone! You've all brought quite a few works to my attention which I haven't yet heard.

It was silly of me to include Tansman in my list but not Weinberg - after all, Weinberg, like Tansman, was born Polish but spent most of his career elsewhere (the Soviet Union in Weinberg's case). I guess I didn't think to include him because his music has such a definite "Russian" ethos to it.

[André]

I've filed Tansman under Poland (instead of France), although his music shows no trace of polish roots. But then again, I filed Weinberg under Russia, while he was in fact born in Poland. It's a tricky subject. Of all european countries, Poland is where borders have shifted the most. Otto Klemperer and Christoph Eschenbach were both born in Wroclaw, Poland's 4th largest city. At the time the city was called Breslau and was part of Germany. Conductor/composer Paul Kletzki was born Pawel Klecki in Lodz. He became a swiss citizen. And Chopin (born of a French father)  never set foot in Poland after having left it at age 20. But he remained staunchly attached to his polish identity throughout his exile. I guess it all depends on what part of the world the composer identified himself with.

[Christo]

No big surprises here:

Chopin: Piano concerto No. 1 (1830)
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater (1926)
Lutosławski : Musique funèbre à la mémoire de Béla Bartók (1958)
Penderecki: St. Luke Passion (1966)
Górecki: Symphony No. 3 'Sorrowful Songs' (1976)

Of all european countries, Poland is where borders have shifted the most.

Correct; except for what historically has been know as 'Armenia' (located in completely different regions from Cilicia to Persia). (And of course presentday Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are European in almost all respects, but definitely politically and culturally - as members of the Council of Europe).

[kyjo]

No big surprises here:

Chopin: Piano concerto No. 1 (1830)
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater (1926)
Lutosławski : Musique funèbre à la mémoire de Béla Bartók (1958)
Penderecki: St. Luke Passion (1966)
Górecki: Symphony No. 3 'Sorrowful Songs' (1976)

I expected a more esoteric list from you, Johan

[Mr Bloom]

Karol Szymanowski : Symphony no. 4
Maciej Jabłoński : Concerto grosso no. 1 "à cinq"
Zygmunt Krause : Quatuor pour la naissance
Witold Lutoslawski : Prelude and fugue
Aleksander Nowak : King of the Cosmos Disappears

[vandermolen]

Panufnik: Sinfonia Sacra
Preisner: Requiem for My Friend
Szymanowski: Symphony 3
Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Weinberg: Symphony 5

[Trout]

Godowsky: Java Suite
Karkowski (and Furudate): World as Will series
Kulenty: A Cradle Song
Panufnik: Lullaby
Penderecki: Cello Concerto No. 1

[Mirror Image]

Panufnik: Lullaby

This work reminds me of Ives. I think it has something to do with how the work is densely orchestrated and the motifs get stacked upon the other like building blocks.

[bwv 1080]

Polonaise Fantasy
Ballad # 4
Chain 3
Livre pour Orchestra
Cello Concerto

2 maybe 3 composers here that should be obvious

[André]

It is obvious, so why point it out ? 

[bwv 1080]

It is obvious, so why point it out ? 

well there are two contemporary Polish composers I know with great cello concertos