ZYGMUNT NOSKOWSKI: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (HD)

Album review

Conductor Antoni Wit has proven an able champion of neglected Polish music, both at home and in this release with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. It is usually worth hearing the works he revives, and this release featuring two symphonies by Zygmunt Noskowski, both from the 1870s, offers an especially good example. Noskowski is known, if at all, as Karol Szymanowski's teacher. He traveled in Germany and was up to date on the latest musical developments of the time. The biggest influence on his music is probably Robert Schumann's. One might hear something like the big fugue at the beginning of the Vivace third movement of Symphony No. 1 and think it sounds Brahmsian, except that this First Symphony preceded Brahms' by several years. There are echoes of other composers, too, although it is surprising that the nationalist trend, already underway for some time in Czech lands (and adumbrated by the Polish Chopin), is largely absent. For all the influences, however, there is a distinctive seriousness that is Noskowski's own. Sample the Elegia third movement of the Symphony No. 2 that gives the whole work its sobriquet; it is a beautifully controlled and quite memorable funeral piece. Wit forges a wonderfully deliberate and deeply felt reading. The Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz is a fine example of the deep bench in German symphonic music, and they're up to the task of following Wit through unfamiliar music. This release offers a fine chance to hear a master conductor at work in the still underrated Polish tradition.
© James Manheim /TiVo