Różycki in Chamber Music – Chamber Concert at the 25th Nationwide Festival “Gwiazdy Promują”

A chamber concert devoted entirely to the music of Ludomir Różycki. Performers:

• Tomasz Strahl – cello
• Robert Morawski – piano
• Antoni Fogurski – violin
• Katarzyna Górna – violin
• Seweryn Kosiorowski – viola
• Dominik Gawarkiewicz – cello
• Józef Domżał – piano

Programme:

• 2 Melodies for Cello and Piano, Op. 5
• Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 10
• Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 35

Różycki is primarily associated with opera and ballet, but his most important chamber works were written in the early period of his output, which ends with the premiere of the opera Eros i Psyche in 1916. The composer was a pupil of Zygmunt Noskowski and Engelbert Humperdinck and a co-founder of the Young Poland movement. He remained faithful to the aesthetics of neo-Romanticism, combining grand formal design with expressive melody and a masterful sense of instrumental colour.

The works on this programme were composed between 1904 and 1916 and show successive stages in Różycki's development as a composer. The lyrical Two Melodies are among his first opus-numbered chamber works and display the cantabile quality characteristic of his entire output. He wrote the Cello Sonata for his friend, the cellist Konstanty Sarnecki. It quickly won critical acclaim for its balance between singing expressiveness and the brilliant virtuosity of both instruments. The peak of this period is the Piano Quintet in C minor, a work of almost symphonic scope, rich texture and expansive narrative, regarded as one of Różycki's finest achievements in chamber music. All three compositions reflect the mature language of neo-Romanticism, placing Różycki's work among the outstanding achievements of Polish chamber music at the beginning of the 20th century.