"Singing and vocal music have accompanied me since my early childhood" – says Romuald Twardowski, born in 1930 in Vilnius. – "Popular tunes, songs hummed by my mother, the sounds of church choirs – all those things were invigorating my imagination."

And as the twig is bent... The voice is the axis of Twardowski's compositions that can be found in the "Songs and Sonnets" album. It combines works that are distant in time and of different emotional weight – from the painful "Farewell Sonnets", 1970 ("Sonety pożegnalne"), devoted to the memory in suddenly deceased Twardowski's fiancée, Danish composer Elizabeth Tramsen, through formally complex song cycle "The Face of the Sea," 1979 ("Oblicze morza"), to the series "From the Viliya" 1990 ("Znad Willi"), written to the words by Helena Massalska, evoking the atmosphere of the old Vilnius region.

"Songs and Sonnets" are performed brilliantly by the world-famous bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, accompanied by the pianist Lech Napierała.

PWM Edition