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

Dorota Szczepańska – soprano Jan Jakub Monowid – alto Aleksander Kunach – tenor Artur Janda – bass Vocal Ensemble of the Warsaw Chamber Opera  Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense  Conductor: Dirk Vermeulen All photographs by Grzegorz Bargieł Cantata I:  Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage Cantata II.  Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend Cantata III.  Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen The festive joy and jubilation that exploded over us in a spectacular, pyrotechnical fashion with three baroque trumpets and timpani at the opening of the Christmas Oratorio instantly dispelled any pandemic-related melancholia or neurotic inturned thoughtfulness that may have overtaken the heart during the present human tragedy. Here once again was Bach in therapeutic and healing guise, embracing the exultation and festive elation of his own muscular creative musical life. During 1734/1735 J.S.Bach composed three 'Oratorios' - Christmas, Easter and Ascensi...

A youthful Robert Schumann and Sergei Rachmaninoff The first precocious recording of the young Grigory Sokolov Grigory Sokolov Initially I was surprisingly disappointed by this recital but in the words of the great English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) from his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads of 1802 :     ‘Poetry takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquility...' During this pause for thinking, my often tumultuous emotions when listening to Sokolov matured somewhat and I wrote the following appraisal of his programme.  With any great artist of this stature, one must never succumb to superficial assessments. This predisposition is all too common in our social media dominated world of trite generalizations, infantile cartoon figures and adoration of sensation at the expense of serious analytical thought - the all too common present retreat from the intellect.  Robert Schumann (1810-1856)       Kreisleriana   Op.16 Phantasien ...

The monumental dome of the Holy Trinity Church, Warsaw (Kościół Ewangelicko-Augsburski Świętej Trójcy) I have many fond memories of this now magnificently restored historic Warsaw Lutheran church and am quite taken by the connections with Chopin here as a young boy of 15. The king's banker, Piotr Tepper, made frustrating efforts to build this church but in 1777 he finally obtained the appropriate privilege from King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The king, however, reserved for himself the right of choosing the design of the building. The church was designed by Szymon Bogumił Zug and constructed from 1777–1782 with a monumental dome and lantern. On 30 December 1781 the congregation's pastor Gottlieb Ringeltaube [de] celebrated the inauguration of the church. It is a Classical rotunda based partly on the Roman Pantheon. The Lutheran church was the highest and at the same time one of the biggest buildings of 18th century Warsaw. The diameter of the dome is 33.4 meters and the ...