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The Polish Composers' Union launches new websites: "POLMIC Digital Archive" and the portal dedicated to "Roman Maciejewski". The presentation of both sites (open to public) will take place on the Zoom platform on Thursday, 28 January 2021 at 2 p.m.

The PCU's Music Library collection of recordings, photographs, scores and documents will be published at www.archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl. A significant part of the collection is related to the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, organised since 1956 by the Polish Composers' Union. The portal will also feature scores, many of which have not yet been published, publications related to the festivals, concerts and other events organised by the PCU, as well as articles on contemporary music. We will also make available extremely interesting archival documents concerning the functioning of the PCU in the political reality of the People's Republic of Poland. All spheres of life were permeated by politics at that time, the best example of which was the famous Conference of Composers and Music Critics in Łagów Lubulski.

The series of monographic websites devoted to Polish contemporary composers is also growing. At www.maciejewski.polmic.pl you can find a detailed biography of Roman Maciejewski (1910–1998) presented in an attractive audio-visual form with many illustrations and a comprehensive presentation of his work with sample recordings. Roman Maciejewski spread his musical wings in the interwar period, gaining the recognition of such authorities as Karol Szymanowski, and after emigration, due to the political situation in the world and his own philosophy of life, he gradually disappeared from the consciousness of music lovers. Thus, Maciejewski became part of a larger phenomenon – a "piece" of a puzzle composed of a whole generation of intellectuals and artists, often outstanding, yet forgotten. A generation that musicologist Tadeusz Kaczyński called with the term "lost generation". Fortunately, from around 1989, the work of émigré composers gradually began to be included in the general history of Polish music, which also contributed to the growing interest in Maciejewski. Currently, his works are more and more appreciated by performers, musicologists and music lovers.

The projects were co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Digital Culture" programme.

Both portals will be presented on the zoom platform: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76732024573?pwd=V2ZJa1hBdmJGK0JqZVdyQWNIUzRaUT09  (Meeting ID: 767 3202 4573, Passcode: 93s1jH) 

As part of the "Polish Music Today – Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers" series, initiated in 2013, the Polish Composers' Union released three more albums last year. The first of them, containing Roman Berger's monumental Missa pro nobis, was very important to the composer who wrote a text summarizing his work and philosophy especially for the booklet and fortunately received the album before his death in December 2020. The next two albums are devoted to two great figures whose work started already in the interwar period: Roman Maciejewski and Konstanty Regamey.

The album with Maciejewski's music (catalog number: polmic 161) contains a set of "minor" pieces for two pianos by this composer: Oberek (1943), four Negro Spirituals (1943), Mazurka (1948), Lullaby (1938), Tarantella (1938) and Swedish dances (six miniatures from 1940-1942). All of them were performed by Chopin Piano Duo composed of Anna Boczar and Bartłomiej Kominek; the recording was made by DUX Recording Producers at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice between 29 September and 1 October and on 24-25 November 2020. The essay for the album was written by Marlena Wieczorek – the author of the composer's monograph, published in Poznań (PTPN Publishing House) in 2008.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Musical Trace" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance. The album was released thanks to the support of the ZAiKS Authors' Association. The project partner was Repliq Media Sp. z o.o.

The Polish Composers' Union own releases are intended solely for promotional, educational and research purposes. They are not intended for sale. They are provided free of charge to interested institutions and individuals, but due to the very small circulation and large interest, priority is given to music libraries, where a broad audience can benefit from each set. If you are interested, please contact the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC (contact: Izabela Zymer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC: HERE

As part of the "Polish Music Today – Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers" series, initiated in 2013, the Polish Composers' Union released three more albums last year. The first of them, containing Roman Berger's monumental Missa pro nobis, was very important to the composer who wrote a text summarizing his work and philosophy especially for the booklet and fortunately received the album before his death in December 2020. The next two albums are devoted to two great figures whose work started already in the interwar period: Roman Maciejewski and Konstanty Regamey.

The album with Maciejewski's music (catalog number: polmic 161) contains a set of "minor" pieces for two pianos by this composer: Oberek (1943), four Negro Spirituals (1943), Mazurka (1948), Lullaby (1938), Tarantella (1938) and Swedish dances (six miniatures from 1940-1942). All of them were performed by Chopin Piano Duo composed of Anna Boczar and Bartłomiej Kominek; the recording was made by DUX Recording Producers at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice between 29 September and 1 October and on 24-25 November 2020. The essay for the album was written by Marlena Wieczorek – the author of the composer's monograph, published in Poznań (PTPN Publishing House) in 2008.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Musical Trace" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance. The album was released thanks to the support of the ZAiKS Authors' Association. The project partner was Repliq Media Sp. z o.o.

The Polish Composers' Union own releases are intended solely for promotional, educational and research purposes. They are not intended for sale. They are provided free of charge to interested institutions and individuals, but due to the very small circulation and large interest, priority is given to music libraries, where a broad audience can benefit from each set. If you are interested, please contact the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC (contact: Izabela Zymer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC: HERE

The new POLMIC Digital Archive website was launched in January for the purpose of making archive materials and documents of the Polish Composers’ Union (PCU) / Polish Music Information Centre available to all users. The materials include selected photographs, scores, and recordings as well as books and articles.

POLMIC Digital Archive is the first archive of this kind dedicated to Polish contemporary music. Our collection includes photographs documenting the early years of PCU’s activity and the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ International Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as portrait photos of artists associated with the music world, especially after WWII. We also share scans of manuscripts and computer versions of scores by Polish composers, including works never printed by professional publishers.

On our new website you can listen to audio recordings (selected fragments or complete) of ‘Warsaw Autumn’ events as well as other festivals and concerts held by the PCU, most of which have never been commercially released, though some have come out in limited issues under PCU’s own label. We also share PCU’s / POLMIC’s own publications related to the festivals, concerts and other events we organise, including texts from ‘Warsaw Autumn’ programme books and other papers on contemporary music.

POLMIC Digital Archive has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the ‘Digital Culture’ programme. 

The new portal is available at: http://www.archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl/