Dwójka – Program 2 Polskiego Radia recommended!

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25.09.2016, 19.00 h
The Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, Warsaw

On the 25th of September, the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus will formally inaugurate the new artistic season of 2016/2017. During the opening concert at the W. Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, the Orchestra will perform under star conductor Maestro Marek Pijarowski. During this unique evening, we will listen to three stylistically coherent Romantic compositions by Zygmunt Noskowski, Henryk Wieniawski and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Celina Kotz, one of the best young violin players in Poland, will be the soloist. As the winner of the Zdzisław Jahnke National Violin Competition of 2015, the artist has been qualified as a participant in the 15th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań.

The first composition, performed by the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus, is of particular significance for Polish culture – Symphonic Poem „The Steppe” op. 66 by Zygmunt Noskowski. This work, composed in 1896, is listed among the most extraordinary and, at the same time, one of the most well-known pieces of the composer. The Steppe was inspired by The Trilogy by Henryk Sienkiewicz, whose 170th birthday anniversary and 100th death anniversary are celebrated this year. There is a special connection between the Nobel prize-winner’s novel With Fire and Sword, set mainly in the remote steppes of Ukraine. Like the book by Sienkiewicz, Noskowski’s poem was also written „to uplift the hearts” and is associated with the Romantic vision of the Polish nation. The audience will be introduced to the atmosphere of the composition by the invocation, included by the composer in the score. The late Romantic composition keeps to enchant music lovers with its rich and mature instrumentations.

Another Romantic work, which will be played during the inauguration, is the famous Violin Concerto op. 22 in D minor by Henryk Wieniawski. This piece of the „poet of violin” of 1870 captures the very essence of Wieniawski’s style, which combines extraordinary technique and bravura with the lyrical idiom, which was so typical for the 19th century.

The culmination point of the evening will be the composition of Sergei Rachmaninoff, who, although he lived most of his life in the 20th century, remained faithful to the Romantic ideals and aesthetics of the previous era. The composer complained that the modern trends in music made him feel like „a ghost wandering in a world grown alien”. As he said: “I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me… I always feel that my own music and my reactions to all music, remained spiritually the same, unendingly obedient in trying to create beauty.” The Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus will perform Rachmaninoff’s last composition for orchestra – Symphonic dances op. 45. They were written in 1940, three years before the composer’s death, especially for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the famous conductor Eugene Ormandy. The Dances, rarely played, although extraordinarily impressive, will give the orchestra an opportunity for a truly virtuosic performance.

Performers:
Celina Kotz – violin
The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Marek Pijarowski – conductor

Concert introduction:
Marcin Kydryński

Repertoire:
Zygmunt Noskowski – “The Steppe”, Symphonic Poem, Op. 66
Henryk Wieniawski – Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 22
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

Tickets are available at:
www.bilety24.pl and sklep.polskieradio.pl, as well as in the box office of W. Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio one hour before the concert.
jj