© Protected - Selected Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - Reviewer's Notebook

Chopin's birthplace at Żela zowa Wola about 50 kms from Warsaw I decided to make the effort to attend the birthday recital at Żela zowa  Wola on an uncompromisingly and rather abnormal freezing day on 1st March (-10C). Brrrr.... The romantic intimacy I remember of my first visit to the  dwórek  and hamlet in the early 1990s has rather disappeared with a quite understandable development of the site to cope with the freedom of the global touristic movement that Poland now enjoys - restaurant, ticket hall, shop, recital and lecture theatre - the full unfolding of facilities for visitors but with the inevitable loss of some of the romantic poetry and mystery of the domain.  I would like to quote my first impressions of what was for me a deeply poetic place. In an access of nostalgia the extract comes from my book about Poland entitled  A Country in the Moon (Granta -London 2008).         ...

Lt. to Rt. Michael Guttman, Martha Argerich, Annie Dutoit, Jing Zhao, Akane Sakai This desperately moving and emotionally committed concert was enough to impel the very stones to pity. As a demonstration of the healing power of music and an unflinching  confrontation of historical memory, it was unsurpassed. The performances will remain in my mind as one of the more profound musical experiences of my life.  Although short in duration and modest in scope, this inspiring first POLIN Music Festival entitled  Roots'n'Fruits ran   from 16-18 February  in Warsaw at the Museum for Polish Jews. The festival is hopefully the bud of a beautiful flower of historical regeneration and reconciliation in Poland. The opening concert of the festival was dedicated to the great philanthropist Zygmunt Rolat who has always cultivated the deepest respect and understanding between cultures. This chamber concert opened with the Variations on ...