Dvořák | Nielsen | Karłowicz
End of the artistic season 2023/2024
22 June 2024, 7.00 p.m.
Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio, Warsaw
Performers
Krzysztof Grzybowski | clarinet
Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Norbert Twórczyński | conductor
Programme
Antonín Dvořák
Serenade for Wind Instruments, Op.44
Carl Nielsen
Clarinet Concerto Op. 57
intermission
Mieczysław Karłowicz
Symphony in E-minor, Op. 7 "Rebirth"
Before the summer holidays, we would like to invite you to the last concert in the interesting 2023/2024 artistic season, in which we had the opportunity to perform in the new premises of the Polish History Museum. This time, we are inviting you once again to a venue that has been particularly close to us over the years, namely the Polish Radio Concert Studio named after Witold Lutosławski.
The Czech composer Antonín Dvořák considered the year 1878 a success after a period of earlier setbacks – his opera The Cunning Peasant was successful, as were The Slavonic Rhapsodies and the first cycle of The Slavonic Dances. That year also saw the composition of the Serenade in E minor, Op. 44 for a rather unusual set of instruments that included three horns and ad libitum contrafagot alongside a double cast of oboes, clarinets and bassoons as well as a string fondamento of cello and double bass. The pompous, sombre march that opens the piece, played at a slow tempo, could be a “funeral” march, but in the faster moderato prescribed in this instance, it takes on a somewhat grotesque quality, and the playful mood is fully revealed in the lively scherzo that uses the rhythms of the sousedská and furiant dances. The lyrical side of Dvořák’s imagination is entirely unveiled in the lovely balladic andante and the energetic finale again evokes Czech dance motifs and alludes to the somewhat grotesque mood of the first movement.
The only symphony by Mieczysław Karłowicz, the fruit of his composition studies in Berlin, conforms to the Classical-Romantic framework of the four-movement cycle, with a plot line (published before the Lvov premiere in 1903) explaining its ideas. It speaks of the anguish of a soul that has lost the meaning of existence (mvt I), its dreams of sunshine (mvt II), the folly of worldly pleasures (mvt III) and, finally, the awakening of the soul to the call of the “eternal motto” and triumph over adversity (mvt IV). The “Rebirth” symphony is communicative even without knowledge of the plot line and appeals to the listener with its great power of emotion and mood fluctuating between tragedy, melancholy, pathos and euphoric joy. It was in this composition that Karłowicz’s fully individual style crystallised and developed magnificently in his later symphonic poems, although he himself, often dissatisfied with his own achievements, considered his symphony to be the fruit of musical “apprenticeship” and did not set it down for publication.
Carl Nielsen has a reputation as Denmark’s most outstanding composer. His style evolved from Neo-Romanticism inspired by the works of Grieg and Brahms to a highly individual musical language characterised by explorations for form and tonality, not always accepted by his contemporaries. This can be observed precisely in his late, single-movement Clarinet Concerto of 1928 composed for Aage Oxenvada, a clarinettist of the Copenhagen Brass Quintet admired by Nielsen. Without departing from tonality, Nielsen exploits it interestingly, “clashing” the keys of F major and E major. Full of contrasts, the piece was received rather coolly at the time of its premiere, but later it gained considerable popularity, entering the canon of clarinet literature. It will be performed by Krzysztof Grzybowski, one of the most prominent Polish clarinettists of his generation. He is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Białystok in the class of Prof. Mirosław Pokrzywiński and of the Secondary Music School in Białystok in the class of Prof. Beniamin Przeździęk. He was the only Pole to graduate with honours from a master’s course taught by clarinet legend Sabine Meyer (Musikhochschule Lübeck). After his graduation, he pursued further studies of chamber music with Prof. Wolfgang Meyer and Prof. Eduard Brunner (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe). Composers such as Paul Patterson and Krzesimir Dębski entrusted him with their clarinet concertos. He has become known as an accomplished soloist and chamber musician and is regularly invited to prestigious festivals throughout Europe. As a soloist, he has performed with the most distinguished ensembles and conductors. He is the originator and founder of the acclaimed Amadeus Wind Ensemble.
Norbert Twórczyński, leading the concert, is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Poznań, majoring in symphonic and opera conducting, and the Academy of Art in Szczecin (music education – specialisation: choral conducting). He is a winner of the Prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for students of art schools for outstanding achievements in artistic creation. He has served as assistant conductor at two major music institutions of Szczecin: the Opera at the Castle (2012–2016) and the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic (2017–2021). Since the 2022/2023 artistic season, he has been the orchestra manager for the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. He has led the premieres of many contemporary pieces and performed and recorded with many valued orchestras at home and abroad. He is a lecturer at the Academy of Art in Szczecin.
Ticket: ebilet, Polskie Radio - bilety24
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Media patronage: TVP Kultura, Radio dla Ciebie, Polska Agencja Prasowa, Presto, polmic.pl
Organiser: Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
The organiser reserves the right to change the programme or the performers of the concert
