Tansman | Bach | Honegger Symphonic concert
The programme for the May concert is colourful and varied, with two concert pieces showcasing the virtuosity and timbral beauty of two instrumental pairs: the violin and the reed instruments, oboe and clarinet. The legendary doyen of Polish violinists, Krzysztof Jakowicz, arousing admiration and delight with his great musical sensitivity, will perform in Bach's masterpiece with the violinist of the young generation, Kornelia Figielska, concertmistress of our Orchestra. Its accomplished musicians, Agata Bała and Boleslaw Twardziak will present themselves in a work by Tansman.
Johann Sebastian Bach became acquainted with the solo concerto genre, which was fairly new in his time, through the works of the Italian masters and assimilated the principles they created (such as the three-movement structure with a slow section between the fast ones, or the ritornello form), but also imbued it with his own ideas - mastery of counterpoint, harmonic richness and unique expression. His double violin concerto was probably written in his mature period in Leipzig, with a view to performing with the ambitious student ensemble of Collegium Musicum.
Born in Łódź to a Jewish family, Aleksander Tansman always felt himself to be a Polish composer, although his fate was mainly tied to Paris, where he achieved considerable success. True to the long-cherished Neoclassical style there, he created works that were both beautiful and accessible, endowing virtuosos of many different instruments with concert and chamber compositions. The graceful and brilliant Concertino for oboe and clarinet from 1952 is almost emblematic of his cheerful, light-hearted style, full of elegant esprit.
Tansman's generational peer, Swiss composer Arthur Honegger also worked mainly in France. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, influenced by its traumatic experiences, he composed Symphonie liturgique - the third of five in his oeuvre. The three-part work does not use vocal means, but its links evoke the Latin incipits of liturgical works: Dies irae - the vision of the Last Judgement from the Requiem, the Mass for the Dead, the penitential psalm De profundis and the prayer for peace Dona nobis pacem concluding the Mass cycle. This work, full of turbulent emotions and poignant in its message, has been highly successful since its premiere (1946), being one of the author's most frequently performed works.
Maciej Tworek, who leads the concert, is a graduate of the Kraków Academy of Music (piano, choral studies, conducting), where he is currently a lecturer. From 2005 to 2012 he was the conductor of Capella Cracoviensis. In 2002, he began his conducting collaboration with Krzysztof Penderecki, the result of which was, among other things, participation in the recording of his complete symphonies and instrumental concertos with our Orchestra. He has performed with some of the most renowned ensembles in Europe, Asia and the Americas. (pmac)
