Mieczysław Karłowicz - Symphony ''Rebirth''; Bianca da Molena (Antoni Wit)

Information

Composer: Mieczysław Karłowicz

• (01) Symphony in E minor, Op. 7 "Odrodzenie" (Rebirth)
• (05) Bianca da Molena (The White Dove), incidental music, Op. 6

Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
Antoni Wit, conductor

Date: 2011
Label: Naxos
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572487

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Antoni Wit is unquestionably one of the great, unsung conductors currently working, and he has a terrific orchestra at his disposal. What a difference a sympathetic performance makes in the case of the “Rebirth” Symphony. Chandos issued a perfectly competent version (BBC Philharmonic/Noseda) that also was perfectly forgettable. True, the symphony still promises more than it delivers; it sounds far more conservative than the colorful incidental music to Bianca da Molena. But in Wit’s hands the piece unfolds with a purposeful sense of drama.

What makes Wit’s performance so telling is the fact that even though it’s slower than Noseda’s, it cheats the clock. The difference stems largely from committed string playing, which energizes the substantial first movement and projects its long lyrical lines in a way that justifies its length. The result is a very satisfying performance of a work that ultimately still lacks the last ounce of personality. The engineering is ripe and resonant, and very well suited to the music’s harmonic opulence. If you want this music, this is the disc to get. [4/21/2011]

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Aug11/Karlowicz_Rebirth_572487.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Rebirth-Symphony-Op-Bianca-Molena/dp/B004OZRP28

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Mieczysław Karłowicz (11 December 1876 – 8 February 1909) was a Polish composer and conductor. Karłowicz studied in Warsaw and Berlin, and studied conducting with Arthur Nikisch. Karłowicz's music is of a late Romantic character with influences of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner. His music inhabits a primary place in the history of Polish music between Frédéric Chopin and Karol Szymanowski. Among his works are a Symphony in E minor (Rebirth, Op. 7), a Violin Concerto in A major (Op. 8), several tone poems, and a number of songs for voice and piano. Karłowicz died at the age of 32 in an avalanche while skiing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mieczys%C5%82aw_Kar%C5%82owicz

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Antoni Wit (born February 7, 1944 in Kraków) is a Polish conductor. He studied with Henryk Czyż, Krzysztof Penderecki and Nadia Boulanger. He has recorded over 90 albums, most of them for the Naxos label, and many of them with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, of which he managed and was artistic director from 1983 to 2000. Since year 2002 he has been music director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Wit specializes in the works of Polish composers such as Henryk Gorecki, Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski and Krzysztof Penderecki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Wit

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