© AI Training forbidden - Selected Classical Music in the Poland of Chopin - Reviewer's Notebook

Bach B-minor Mass Faksimile-Reihe Bach'scher Werke und Schriftstücke, Neue Folge, 2   Documenta Musicologica II/35 National Philharmonic Orchestra  -  National Philharmonic Choir  Stefano Montanari - conductor Olga Pasiecznik - soprano Karolina Makuła - mezzo-soprano Agata Schmidt - mezzo-soprano Hugo Hymas - tenor Jaromír Nosek - bass Bartosz Michałowski - Choirmaster What can a modest literary author possibly say of interest in his commentary on arguably the greatest masterpiece of Western music ? What has not been said before by numerous fertile minds of genius? Before mentioning the fine performance in Warsaw, I will eschew originality and would recommend two profound books on Bach that occupied my mind when thinking about this vastly referential work, a monumental creation which swings like a great pendulum of sensibility, human culture and philosophy between the sensual and liturgical. If you wish to penetrate the laby...

One of the greatest opera singers at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries Her unsurpassed lyrical soprano with a captivating color and dramatic possibilities delights both listeners of concert halls and the audience of opera theaters around the world. She was born in Landwarów near Vilnius.  She studied at the Łódź conservatory with prof.  Olga Olgina.  She won her first laurels by winning the Intercollegiate Singers Competition in Warsaw in 1953.  In the years 1954–1955 she was involved as a soloist of the State Philharmonic in Krakow.  She made her debut on the opera stage at the Krakow Opera, creating the main role in the opera  Halka by  Stanisław Moniuszko. The breakthrough in her career was brought by the artist's prize at the Bavarian Radio International Vocal Competition in Munich.  Soon after this success, she became a soloist in the opera theater in Oberhausen, and then in Dortmund.  Already as a primadonna she was assoc...

Diary entries: March 23  2018 Last night I attended an interview/lecture Olga Tokarczuk gave at the British Library in London. Thought provoking in the extreme. I suggest you buy this book ( 'Flights' or  'Bieguni'  in Polish)  published quite some time ago now (2007) but recently long-listed for the International Booker Prize. It will sell out after she wins! My prediction.... Interview with the English writer Adam Mars-Jones and a translator at the British Library on 22 March 2018 May 1st 2018 Am at present reading the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk's 'Flights' . 'Bieguni' in Polish. A brilliant and unique vision and formal experiment in composition. Formal experiment so rarely happens in English books - publishers with their eye on sales dare not but will publish translations that experiment of course! The book is based upon the idea of self contained sequences that concern travelling, human anatomy...

Grigory Sokolov  © Mary Sklepkova, DG In Warsaw last night, Grigory Sokolov hypnotized the entire audience of a fully packed hall into complete silence with his conception and recreation of the joyful innocence of Mozart and the profound seriousness of Brahms. Pure music of the greatest integrity and truth reigned supreme here, quite beyond the medium of the performer and the instrument, both becoming merely a conduit to the spirit of man laid out before us, man an atom in the spinning firmament.  Innumerable hidden details were revealed by his consummate technique and by his profound philosophical and musical penetration. I was reminded of a comment made by Arthur Rubinstein when he observed that in live performance in a concert hall in the presence of a great artist, one is affected by their 'electromagnetic vibrations' that fill the space, electrical connections that cannot be captured on a recording, the way the artist...