NOSPR / Humala - NOSPR

If one accepts that the late 1940s marked the beginning of Polish composers’ rebellion against the doctrine of socialist realism, then Jan Krenz’s Classical Serenade from 1950 would, in theory, contradict this narrative. In theory – because in practice Krenz, as a co-founder of the oppositional Group 49, conceived of simplicity in a manner quite unlike that prescribed by the Stalinist authorities. His neoclassical Serenade adopts the form of a deft pastiche, which skillfully simulates the music of eighteenth-century elites. This was far from the official vision of simplicity dictated by the Stalinist regime.

No longer a pastiche but rather a playful homage to selected Romantics (chiefly Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and César Franck), Richard Strauss’s Burlesquein D minorfor Piano and Orchestra was first conceived as a scherzo. As in Brahms’s concertos, the solo part blends into the orchestral fabric, while the thematic material revolves upon itself in an intricate, cyclic structure in the manner reminiscent of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor. There may be some truth in the oft-repeated claim that the Burlesque, alongside Franck’s Symphonic Variations, constitutes the finest (non-)piano concerto in history.

The case of Mieczysław Weinberg is altogether different: rather than referencing or paying homage, he issues an open musical protest. His Sinfonietta No 1, composed in 1948 and based on Jewish motifs, stands as a bold act of defiance against Soviet antisemitic policy. A musical non possumus that cost the composer his freedom.

Maria Wilczek-Krupa

Concert duration: aprroximately 70 minutes