Lutoslawski: 20 Polish Christmas Carols / Lacrimosa / 5 Songs

Featuring

Antoni Wit
Olga Pasichnyk
Jadwiga Rappé
Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia NOSPR
Polish Radio Choir
Witold Lutosławski

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Performer Biography

Antoni Wit, the conductor, studied conducting with Henryk Czyż and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki at the Academy of Music in Kraków, and later with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Composition History

Lutosławski's Lacrimosa is one of his earliest surviving pieces, composed in 1937 as part of his Composition Diploma and first performed in Warsaw in 1938.

Composition History

The Five Songs of 1957 by Lutosławski, setting poems by Kazimiera Illakowicz, reflect the more radical idiom he developed during the cultural 'thaw' after Stalin's death.

Composition History

Lutosławski's Twenty Polish Christmas Carols were originally arranged for solo voice and piano in 1946 and partially premiered in Kraków in January 1947.

Composition History

The texts and melodies for the Twenty Polish Carols were compiled from several 19th-century collections of Polish church songs and carols by Father Michał Mioduszewski and Oskar Kolberg.

Composer Biography

Witold Lutosławski, the composer, wrote a large amount of vocal music before 1954, which comprises the greater part of his output in the decade after 1945.

Composition History

Lutosławski returned to his Twenty Polish Christmas Carols almost four decades later, transcribing them for soprano, female choir, and chamber orchestra.