Greetings from Poland

[vandermolen]

Welcome from East Sussex, UK.
I had a fascinating holiday in Poland in 1980 - it will have changed a lot since then!
I travelled, with a friend, by train from the Hook of Holland to Warsaw and it was quite an experience. We visited Warsaw, Kracow, Lodz and Wroclaw. I came back with an LP set of music by Szymanowski. I'm also a fan of Sibelius.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thank you a lot for all the kind replies!

Thank you! It's a bit hard for me to attend musical events, so I'm afraid I won't be able to do much first-hand reporting. However, I can still try to inform about interesting PL releases, be it new or older. And to everyone who said they'd love to visit, I hope you get your wish someday and like your stay!

Thank you! I'd say in general life is good, nothing to complain. But if you meant recently, in the context of Russia's invasion on Ukraine, then I'm afraid I'd like to rest from this topic on this forum. I'll just admit it's hard, as I have an Ukrainian friend who has to hide in house all day, hearing non-stop explosions and fighting around. Reading the news is depressing, especially as we know here that Poland might be next on Putin's list in future, NATO country or not. For now I'm trying to support Ukraine by donations. I also had an argument with a close Russian friend about the topic, and it hurt me deeply, since it turned out said friend supported Kremlin's propaganda. Obviously it's all nothing compared to Ukrainians' suffering, but still weighs heavy on me. Classical music is how I want to focus on what's beautiful in mankind.

Fear not!  I was thinking more in general.  I totally get how one needs distractions/ways to destress from all of the news particularly lately.  Feel free to share what you like and if and when.  I also meant that I love learning about different cultures, history, food and of course, music too.   

And I hope that eventually you and your Russian friend's relationship will heal too and that your Ukrainian friend will remain safe and will be able to rebuild their life.

Will check out your youtube links soon.  And like you, I have lousy knowledge of musical terms and so trying to express myself (musically at least) can be difficult for me.

PD

[Pizzicato-Polka]

Thank you all for the encouragement! And to Pohjolas Daughter, thank you esecially for the kind words regarding my friends, I hope so too.

I had a fascinating holiday in Poland in 1980 - it will have changed a lot since then!
I travelled, with a friend, by train from the Hook of Holland to Warsaw and it was quite an experience. We visited Warsaw, Kracow, Lodz and Wroclaw. I came back with an LP set of music by Szymanowski. I'm also a fan of Sibelius.

Oh, for sure! It changed a lot even from the 90s, when I was a kid, to now. I remember Warsaw being rather bleak when I visited it as a child, for example, now it's much prettier. I was to Wroclaw only last year & was very impressed with its representative part, I wish I stayed longer! As for Krakow, I visited a lot and it always is a delight. But I still wasn't to Lodz, so you got the upper hand here! I hope to go someday, the Herbst palace seems beautiful.

Also I'm envious of your trip to the Netherlands! How did you find Hook of Holland? 

[Mirror Image]

I'm honoured you say so, but also afraid I'm not that good at expressing my musical thoughts (I just write how a piece makes me feel), and my recording comparisons aren't educated at all either. So if I do talk about it, I just hope to not be annoying! 

No worries. Say you want about a piece of music. No judgement from me.

[vandermolen]

Thank you all for the encouragement! And to Pohjolas Daughter, thank you esecially for the kind words regarding my friends, I hope so too.

Oh, for sure! It changed a lot even from the 90s, when I was a kid, to now. I remember Warsaw being rather bleak when I visited it as a child, for example, now it's much prettier. I was to Wroclaw only last year & was very impressed with its representative part, I wish I stayed longer! As for Krakow, I visited a lot and it always is a delight. But I still wasn't to Lodz, so you got the upper hand here! I hope to go someday, the Herbst palace seems beautiful.

Also I'm envious of your trip to the Netherlands! How did you find Hook of Holland? 

The Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland) is a port. I like it as I always enjoy visiting Holland and arriving their by ship is quite special.
I enjoyed my trip to Poland very much but all that I remember about Lodz was that the view out of our accommodation (a student hall of residence in holiday time) window was of a blast furnace!

[steve ridgway]

Hello. I'm not generally keen on solo instruments, particularly piano, but have found a few pieces I enjoy now.

[Pizzicato-Polka]

Thank you for the insight, vandermolen!

Hello. I'm not generally keen on solo instruments, particularly piano, but have found a few pieces I enjoy now.

Hallo! I'm really curious about what are the solo pieces that you like.

I also found some to my liking, ex. the four ballades by Chopin (I especially adore the 4th, with that calm starting melody which is almost hypnotizing, and how it evolves into a stormy rage, and then changes again, and again...).

[joachim]

My turn to welcome you, Pizzicato-Polka. I haven't been on this forum for a few days, so I'm only welcoming you today.

About Sibelius, I really like his second symphony, the violin concerto and the symphonic poems En Saga and of course Finlandia.