'Polish Nostalgia' - the French-Cypriot pianist Cyprien Katsaris brilliantly plays more popular musical works of the golden, pre-World War II Polish nostalgia and film music. A CD of the truly remarkable and importantly revived but not forgotten Polish cabaret musical genre

Cyprien Katsaris

At certain times a vitally important recording is delivered to me which affects me deeply and in dimensions I rarely experience musically. This disc from the Fryderyk Chopin Institute is one such remarkable production.We are living through a brutal and cruel period of humanity where the emotion of peaceful 'nostalgia' is more intense than ever, a refuge in time from the present expressive retreat from the truthful, creative music of the heart. The human emotions and values of love, empathy, civilized elegance, dignity and gravitas that I was raised with seem to be fast fading.  The music of Fryderyk Chopin and his immense melodic gifts are among the most essentially and profoundly nostalgic ever conceived. Here we are given even more.... 

I cannot improve on the detailed description given by the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute below. The notes and transporting period photographs which accompany this single disc were gathered, researched and written by the musically informed enthusiast Dariusz Michalski. They are thoughtfully presented in both Polish and English - translated by the brilliant and indefatigable John Comber. They are an achievement in themselves, simply magnificent in scope and deeply informative as well as being highly entertaining. A book in itself of poetic lyrics and not just the customary brief (and sometimes too dry) musicological notes. The fine production values of this CD make this a collectible disc which must win multiple bouquets of awards.

Between the wars Warsaw possessed one of the richest cultural and artistic scenes in Europe. The writers Isaac Bashevis Singer and Czesław Miłosz, both Nobel prize winners, worked in the capital. The concert pianists Artur Rubinstein, Władysław Szpilman and Jan Ignacy Paderewski performed in a general atmosphere of champagne and cultivated outrageousness. The most daring cabarets such as The Sphinx, the Black Cat and the notorious Qui Pro Quo flourished in Warsaw to rival the most risqué cabaret acts in Berlin. The great painter of voluptuous and decadent nudes, Tamara de Lempicka, ‘sexually voracious, theatrical, stylish, smart and talented spent her formative years in this Warsaw café society.' 

The glamorous, brilliant, delightful but dangerous Polish painter Tamara Łempicka approaching New York in 1929 

(Łempicka Estate)

Tamara in a Green Bugatti (painted in Paris 1929)

In Kraków this music was played in the famous Art Nouveau café and cabaret Jama Michalika. Originally a shop opened by a confectioner from Lwów, this jewel is opulently decorated in the original Secessionist style. Lamps on brackets with ovals of green glass had illuminated the legendary satirical cabaret Zielony Balonik (Green Balloon) which performed here (the name inspired by a hawker selling green balloons to children). The outstanding figure of Tadeusz ‘Boy’ Żeleński – pediatrician, poet and brilliant translator of French classical literature – was the moving spirit of the cabaret and wrote many songs of the French ‘chanson’ type influenced by the famous Chat Noir cabaret in Paris. 

The stories in the notes are full of anecdotal history of the extraordinary Polish romantic temperament that prevailed creatively before World War II. Together with the music, they open a magical window on the great, creative garden that existed in this profoundly creative country before the sadistic cultural horrors, destruction and thefts that punctuated that mindless conflict. During and after it, perverted political ideology almost erased the traces of much Polish music from the European memory. Here we are reminded of the enchanting 'Cabaret Years' with more popular, accessible music, so expressive of a sophisticated people.  Also the uplifting modern film music of Polish composers such as the affecting melodies of  Wojciech Kilar. Such gifts of eloquent and evocative musical recall and melodic gifts lie here! In music we do not always need to inhabit the dark night of the soul!

Look, I am an Anglo-Australian and musically intensely curious as well as ignorant of this era and genre of Polish life and music. However, such human, universal emotions so often expressed in superb musical art, finally brought me to live in this remarkable country. Here on this disc I am introduced to many composers of genius, utterly unknown to me before now. 

Many works must also be unknown to the present  generations of Polish youth. They need to be reminded of the vast melodic gifts of their nation. Here we have one of the most exciting examples of what I consider to be the Polish Renaissance in music taking place just now, as the nation excitedly continues to excavate its previously buried or misaligned history and musical treasures. Here are some more!

The French-Cypriot pianist Cyprien Katsaris, a truly inspiring artist, has an authentic rhythmic and period emotional feel for the Polish idiom of 'Nostalgia' contained within this popular music, effortlessly raising these works to the level of accessible art. Chopin's music has a considerable preponderance of dance music. 

Of course Chopin was a perfect mimic, actor, practical joker and enthusiastic dancer as a young man, tremendously high-spirited. He once wrote a verse describing how he spent a wild night, half of which was dancing and the other half playing pranks and dances on the piano for his friends. They had great fun! One of his friends took to the floor pretending to be a sheep! On one occasion he even sprained his ankle he was dancing so vigorously!

He would play with gusto and 'start thundering out mazurkas, waltzes and polkas'. When tired and wanting to dance, he would pass the piano over to 'a humbler replacement'. Is it surprising his teacher Józef Elzner and his doctors advised a period of 'rehab' at Duszniki Zdrój to preserve his health ?

Poles are great dancers and here particularly are the infectious and sensual period tangos, waltzes and fox-trots. His fabulous improvisations which  appear throughout (an ubiquitous occupation of pianist-composers before recent times) are utterly unique. This creative skill can be also heard in his previous recordings of Opera Songs arranged for piano of works by the iconic Polish opera composer Stanisław Moniuszko and in the final items of this CD.

Katsaris clearly loves Polish popular music deeply and generously brings it once again to our attention with moving and affecting 'Nostalgia' . He revives this music of the people as if the Lazarus of music has been miraculously raised from the dead to fertilize our hearts.

You really must open this Pandoras Box of nostalgic treasured gems ....

Description

The Polish song of the first decades of the twentieth century and the closing years of the nineteenth century form a colourful world, rich in superb music, filled with subtle shades, emotional exaltation and exquisite humour. These were titles that enjoyed meteoric success, hummed in cafés and on the streets, escaping from cabarets, conquering the airwaves and selling in vast numbers on records, artists adored by audiences and competing with one another for the finest songs (and thus the finest composers), long-awaited premières, hits born in the course of a single evening, but also, on closer inspection, a history inscribed in sound and word: a mirror reflecting social transformations and, at times, events that determined the fate of an entire nation. Light music, animated by intelligent reflection; entertainment that—as entertainment does—offers respite from everyday life, while at the same time successfully aspiring to Art with a capital A.

Many of the hits of the interwar period, the early post-war years, and also the final years of the Partition—when Poland as a state did not exist on the maps of Europe—remain present to this day in the collective consciousness of Poles, if only in the form of a widely recognisable sign pointing back to bygone times, yet one that clearly defines the cultural landscape. At the same time, the era of these songs is drawing irrevocably to a close—the present day is governed by the laws of its own entertainment, ever more distant from that of a century ago; generational change, evolving needs and an entirely different context are displacing what—still, for now—remains a bond firmly linking us with the past. And yet… nostalgia for that vanishing world endures. And perhaps it is with all the greater pleasure that we return to those old hits…

It is for this very reason that the Fryderyk Chopin Institute presents a truly exceptional album—a rarity to be savoured and enjoyed time and again: a selection of hits from that refined world of entertainment in piano transcriptions, performed by Cyprien Katsaris, one of the most brilliant piano virtuosi, renowned for his improvisatory gifts and unconventional repertoire choices.

Together with his friend, the music-loving Professor Karol Penson, a Polish physicist settled in Paris, Katsaris has created a selection whose very title conveys its meaning while immersing us in an aura more closely linked to “high” music than might be expected. The compositions of Jerzy Petersburski, Władysław Szpilman, Henryk Wars, Witold Lutosławski (here under the name Derwid), and others, presented in this form—concentrating their entire substance within the sound of the piano—delight anew: enchanting, beguiling, shimmering. For Polish listeners, a beautiful sentimental journey; for those from elsewhere, an intriguing and unexpected perspective on an important aspect of Polish cultural expression.

***

A fine, illustrated book if you wish to extend your knowledge of those enchanting years is by the Polish writer Ron Nowicki entitled Warsaw: The Cabaret Years (San Francisco 1992). To obtain a copy consult Abe Books.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Nowicki&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&ref_=search_f_hp&sts=t&tn=Warsaw%20the%20cabaret%20years    (UK)

OR

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Nowicki&bi=0&bx=off&cm_sp=SearchF-_-Advs-_-Result&ds=30&prc=USD&recentlyadded=all&rgn=ww&rollup=on&sortby=20&tn=warsaw%20the%20cabaret%20years&xdesc=off&xpod=off     (US)

Tracks

LEON RZEWUSKI [1902–1964] ZYGMUN TWIEHLER [1890–1977] Little Warsaw waltz

2

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] Our last Sunday

3

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] Never again … !

4

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] I’m scared to sleep alone

5

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] You told me yourself

6

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] The blue shawl

7

JERZY PETERSBURSKI [1895–1979] I won’t cry

8

JERZY PETERSBURSKI , ARTUR GOLD [1897–1943] [8] I’ve got nothing to wear

9

HENRYK WARS [1902–1977] [9] Dreaming

10

HENRYK WARS [1902–1977] [9] You’ll come back

11

WŁADYSŁAW SZPILMAN [1911–2000] [11] I don’t believe the song

12

WŁADYSŁAW SZPILMAN [1911–2000] [11] Me and you alone

13

WŁADYSŁAW SZPILMAN [1911–2000] [11] I’ve lost your heart

14

WŁADYSŁAW SZPILMAN [1911–2000] A few years from now …

15

WŁADYSŁAW SZPILMAN [1911–2000] I’ll go to the Old Town. Transcription by Karol A. Penson

16

ALBERT HARRIS [1911–1974] Song about my Warsaw

17

HENRYK WARS Love will forgive you for everything

18

WŁADYSŁAW DAN [DANIŁOWSKI] [1902–2000] What’s left of those years?

19

WANDA LANDOWSKA [1879–1959] Valse for piano solo

20

ZYGMUNT KARASIŃSKI [1898–1973] I remember your eyes (p. 185)

21

ALFRED GRADSTEIN [1904–1954] A bridge to the right, a bridge to the left

22

ADOLF ROZNER [1910–1976] Silent water brakes the banks

23

HENRYK JABŁOŃSKI [1915–1989] The first grey hair

24

LUDOMIR RÓŻYCKI [1883–1953] Caton waltz

25

TADEUSZ SYGIETYŃSKI [1896–1955] Two hearts

26

WOJCIECH KILAR [1932–2013] Vocalise from the film The Ninth Gate. Improvisation by Cyprien Katsaris

27

WOJCIECH KILAR Waltz from the film The Promised Land. Improvisation by Cyprien Katsaris

28

KAROL KURPIŃSKI [1785–1857]. Transcription by Stanisław Moniuszko

29

WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI [1913–1994] Hey, I’m travelling from Kraków

30

DERWID [WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI] The Warsaw droshky driver

31

DERWID [WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI] I’m not expecting anyone today

32

STANISŁAW NIEWIADOMSKI [1857–1936] The bells. Transcription by Karol A. Penson

33

LUCJAN MARIA KASZYCKI [1932–2021] Do you remember, it was autumn. Transcription by Karol A. Penson

34

FRYDERYK CHOPIN [1810–1849] Leaves are falling. Transcription by Karol A. Penson

35

CYPRIEN KATSARIS Improvisation Nostalgia Mazurka

36

CYPRIEN KATSARIS Improvisation Appasionato et Polonaise

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To buy:

                                 https://sklep.nifc.pl/en/produkt/77667-cyprien-katsaris-polish-nostalgia