Marek Stachowski (1936-2004)

Started by Maciek, April 27, 2007, 02:31:44 PM

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Maciek



An excellent composer whose string writing was especially good. A student of Penderecki (even though he was only 3 years younger!).

A disc of his String Quartets (the later ones are really good) was released a few years ago by DUX, and it's still available (I think):


Earlier Polskie Nagrania released another one with much earlier pieces (including one of the String Quartets as well). This one is still available and sold at an unbelievable price of 7 PLN (that's $ 2.50!!! :o) here. However, I do not feel the disc does him justice - I know him as a composer of very energetic compositions in the tradition of Grażyna Bacewicz, often full of greatly nuanced orchestral color (his From the Book of Night is a very good example). The Polskie Nagrania CD is a compilation of slightly lesser efforts (the Divertimento is quite good though). However, it does give one the chance to listen to the singing of Olga Szwajgier - a legendary soprano with an astounding scale of six octaves (here's her web page). I'm not really her fan but one might want to listen out of pure interest... ::)


My favorite pieces by Stachowski: Chamber Concerto, Sonata per archi, From the Book of Night, Cello Concerto. Two of these are available on disc but I haven't got those recordings. Here are pictures of the covers:

(the first one has Sonata per archi, the second - From the Book of Night; both OOP, I'm afraid)

Anyone heard anything of/by the guy?

Cheers,
Maciek

S709

I'm surprised there are so many discs of his music!

I have only heard one piece, the 3rd String Quartet, played by the Dafo String Quartet. I'm going to listen to it again right now, to recall more about it.. it is on a CD of the Krzysztof Penderecki International Festival of Contemporary Chamber Music -- it's hard to find the CD info -- but the pieces + performers are listed here.

Maciek

You mean this one? I have it too! :D

Guido

Oh Lordy haven't heard that cello concerto - must get it post haste!
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

Maciek

There's an interesting review by Todd of the Marek Stachowski quartets disc over here.

Maciek

And reading through this thread, I realized I never posted the Broadcast Corner download links over here. So here's an update:

Quote from: Maciek on September 04, 2007, 05:16:41 AM
Marek Stachowski Adagio ricordamente for cello and orchestra (2001)
Zdzislaw Lapinski cello
PRNSO
Ruben Silva conductor
sample (beginning of piece):
[mp3=200,20,0,left]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/8/25/1381505/Stachowski%20adagio%20sample.mp3[/mp3]
full piece:
http://www.mediafire.com/?cxj1f4mcdmc

Quote from: Maciek on December 01, 2007, 05:25:48 AM
Marek Stachowski - Divertimento
Stachowski was very much a continuator of Bacewicz's line, see sample:
[mp3=200,20,0,left]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/8/25/1381505/GMG%20sound%20samples/Stachowski%20Marek%20Divertimento%20sample.mp3[/mp3]

Quote from: Maciek on May 19, 2008, 08:47:54 AM
Marek Stachowski - Choreia for orchestra

The Divertimento link above now leads to a much better version (soundwise - otherwise, it's the same performance) but the sample is still from the old one - so don't let its quality fool you.

John Copeland

Oh hell, I listened to the posts just there and I my brain has been siezed yet again by an unworldly matrix...another new discovery for me, one that does something for me straight away (Divertimento), so yet again I will have to explore furher and get some stuff by him, especially the complete Divertimento.  And yes, Penderecki is clearly an influence, but Stachowski is another voice in the world of modern composition, and I am going in search of more of it...Thanks for the posts and introduction Maciek, well worht checking out... :o

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: mahler10th on June 09, 2008, 05:23:38 AM
Oh hell, I listened to the posts just there and I my brain has been siezed yet again by an unworldly matrix...another new discovery for me, one that does something for me straight away (Divertimento), so yet again I will have to explore furher and get some stuff by him, especially the complete Divertimento.  And yes, Penderecki is clearly an influence, but Stachowski is another voice in the world of modern composition, and I am going in search of more of it...Thanks for the posts and introduction Maciek, well worht checking out... :o

Maciek, the world's "Greatest Living Pole" (Newsweek), has done it again... He infects me too on a regular basis.

Mahler10, I worry about your health, you seem to be positively jumped at by fascinating composers at the moment!
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

John Copeland

Yes Jezetha, I do feel infected ... Maciek Syndrome is getting so widespread I expect to write a White Paper on it quite soon.  By the way, I was listening to Brians 1st again a couple of days ago...a recurrence of a healthy disease I caught a few months ago which has now been classified as Jezetha Havergal Influenza. 8)

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: mahler10th on June 09, 2008, 06:05:33 AM
Yes Jezetha, I do feel infected ... Maciek Syndrome is getting so widespread I expect to write a White Paper on it quite soon.  By the way, I was listening to Brians 1st again a couple of days ago...a recurrence of a healthy disease I caught a few months ago which has now been classified as Jezetha Havergal Influenza. 8)

Yes. Terrible, that. And they still haven't found a cure! People listening in front of your eyes, left, right and centre.

;D
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Maciek

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Always here, if you're one the market for a new musical infection. ;D

(And yes, that Jezetha Havergal Influenza is almost an epidemic, isn't it?)

Oh, and mahler10th - if you're looking for the most original voice amongst Polish composers alive today, check out the Pawel Szymanski thread. His Quasi una sinfonietta, Two Studies for piano, Partita IV, Piano Concerto, Two Pieces for string quartet, and Sonata for chamber orchestra are among the best stuff written in Poland since 1980.

John Copeland

Quote from: Maciek on June 09, 2008, 06:54:35 AM
Oh, and mahler10th - if you're looking for the most original voice amongst Polish composers alive today, check out the Pawel Szymanski thread. His Quasi una sinfonietta, Two Studies for piano, Partita IV, Piano Concerto, Two Pieces for string quartet, and Sonata for chamber orchestra are among the best stuff written in Poland since 1980.

Splendid.  I have downloaded one sample and already reached my rapidhsare limit.  I will get another one tomorrow because I am a pure scrooge and wont cough up to join.  What I've heard though is interesting...don't know about the Zarathustra though...

Maciek

Zarathustra got some sort of award for theatre music but, frankly, I don't like it at all.

Maciek

DUX have released a new disc of Stachowski's pieces for cello and orchestra (details here):



It contains the Cello Cto (1988), Recitativo e la preghiera (1999), and Adagio ricordamente (1999). To be frank, of these three I love only the concerto, the others (so far) have not made much of an impression. However, even if all these pieces were my favorites, I wouldn't put the disc at the top of my wishlist. The running time is... 42:37! Come on, DUX, you have a reputation for constantly doing this sort of thing but it really isn't the sort of reputation you would want to fight for. We both know you can do much better than that! :-* :-*