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

Polskie Radio CD PRCD 2228 On Saturday evening February 16th I attended a small private radio studio launch of the substantial archive recordings of the online digital facility of Polish Radio entitled  Radio Chopin.    https://www.polskieradio.pl/326,Radio-Chopin   This is the first recording in their ambitious and much to be welcomed projected series of historic recordings from their archive. It was of the legendary 1959 Wawel Castle   Kraków  recital by the great Polish pianist Witold Małcuzyński (1914-1977). Polish Radio broadcast this recital then and also in this modern celebration. The Polish Radio sound specialists have done a great deal to accurately revive and 'remaster' the original recordings which were affected by the limited quality of the live recording technology of the time.  I have always found the playing of  Małcuzyński  somewhat uneven in quality and inspiration (if one has the temerity to offer suc...

The Baroque movement in Poland began with the Vasa dynasty, ostentatious patrons of painting and music. Assuming the reader's familiarity with the election of Kings in Polish history, there were three Vasa kings: Zygmunt III (1587-1632), Władisław IV (1632-48) and Jan Kazimierz (1648-68). King Zygmunt III despite his chaotic reign, loved large-scale polychoral music. There seems to be a great deal we still do not know about the Polish Baroque composer  Marcin Mielczewski (d. 1651) and musicologists hope to discover more. In this inaugural concert of the coming Vasa concert cycle in 2019, I was to discover surprising and deeply satisfying musical riches. Władisław IV Vasa on horseback (Studio of Rubens) Mielczewski (whose sacred music is featured in tonight's concert) almost certainly took part in musical performances under Asprillio Pacelli and Giovanni Francesco Anerio, as well as studying with Franciszek Lilius, a composer of Italian descent. Warsaw was the...

In light of the enthusiasm for the new fashion exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams which opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on 2 February 2019, I thought I might mention my recently published biography of the concert pianist and Chopin 'specialist' Edward Cahill (1875-1975). Also relevant is the recently published and highly popular and entertaining  The Quest for Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy (Hugo Vickers ed.)  Hodder London 2018. Both the exhibition and the book deal with the very same society in which my great uncle moved as a celebrity. As Pope-Hennessy  points out, a largely forgotten generation today. Apart from time spent giving the first recitals of Chopin  in 1919  to Maharajahs in India and the King of Siam, he gave recitals in London, Paris and the French Riviera during its golden age. Under the patronage of his supporter Dame Nellie Melba, for a long period of his life he befriended and entertained members o...

Snow was falling in Warsaw, the night punishingly cold. The ground was covered in ice and slush thoughtlessly thrown up from the tarmac by black Mercedes speeding past. How pleasant to arrive for a concert with time in hand and able to look forward to a warming cup of green tea and the best  Napoleonka  in the world. This traditional indulgence of mine consists of a small square of deliciously thick Polish vanilla custard cream sandwiched between two layers of  puff pastry and dusted with icing sugar. Also known as a  kremówka,  the combination with green tea is a perfect relaxed emotional preparation for a winter concert in the warm Philharmonic concert hall. I have given in to this sensual, indulgent ritual for years. The concert was an attractive programme of classical symphonies and a Mozart piano concerto with the the gifted and acclaimed young Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge. She has played with all the major Japanese orchestras and ...