Toward the end of the PCU’s 70th anniversary celebrations, thanks to the joint effort of composers and musicologists active in the PCU, the idea of a new retrospective look at the last 70 years in the history of Polish music (put forward by Jerzy Kornowicz) was put into practice in the form of a quite extraordinary festival. “7+7=70”:

Tthe “Festival of Seven Currents” and the “Concert of Seven Premieres”, held to mark the PCU’s 70 years of activity, took an altogether different approach to the output of Polish composers after 1945 from those hitherto presented. The seven currents represent a focus on selected ideas rather than on specific composition techniques.

Each concert was programmed by a different musicologists acting as its curator – and all the programmers are eminent experts on Polish contemporary music. The curators commented on their choices in essays printed in the festival’s programme book. They also met the audience before the concerts – at “Current Meetings in the Current” – in order to respond to questions and doubts.

The survey of seven currents in the Polish music of the last seven decades was complemented by a concert illustrating the present-day developments in Polish music. This concert, closing the PCU anniversary celebrations, featured the premieres of works specially composed for the PCU’s Jubilee, commissioned from composers representing the successive decades or generations. The compositions were performed by the excellent Dutch Orkest de ereprijs, long-time friends and companions of the Union. The Orchestra’s leader and conductor, Wim Boerman, received the PCU Honorary Award (2003) for promotion of Polish contemporary music. One of the proofs that this award and the choice of these performers was well justified was the composition that closed our concert of premieres: Hanna Kulenty’s Piano Concerto No. 1. It had already been presented by Orkest de ereprijs in the Dutch Arnhem and other cities, but in Warsaw’s Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio it was heard for the first time. Now all the compositions that made up the final concert will become part of the Orchestra’s repertoire, and the concert itself is made available on a 2CD album.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Patrons, Partners and Friends for the last seventy years we have spent together supporting Polish contemporary music!

Mieczysław Kominek

President of the Polish Composers’ Union

The not-for-sale CDs may be obtained free of charge from POLMIC. It should be stressed, however, that since the number of copies is limited (500 copies of each CD), preference will be given to music institutions; the CDs should primarily go to libraries, schools, information centres and music publishers around the world.

CD1 (polmic 122)

1. Piotr Tabakiernik (b. 1986)
toutur throeu / the rite of hearing (2016) for cello and ensemble 19’51’’
Andrzej Bauer – cello
vocal ensemble: Małgorzata Bartkowska, Justyna Czerwińska, Anna Dubicka, Gabriela Jeleńska,
Aleksandra Endzelm-Obertyn, Katarzyna Homan, Lilianna Krych, Zbigniew Malak, Tomasz Nowak,
Jacek Rąbiński, Patryk Różycki, Zofia Smolarska, Karolina Szurek, Marta Tabakiernik
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

2. Zbigniew Penherski (b. 1935)
Little Litany 2 (2016) for Orkest de ereprijs 06’39’’
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

3. Aleksander Kościów (b. 1974)
Many Cities (2016) for soprano and ensemble 09’05’’
Joanna Freszel – soprano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

4. Paweł Hendrich (b. 1979)
Mutuusmutus (2016) for chamber orchestra and air percussion 12’56’’
Leszek Lorent – air percussion
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

CD2 (polmic 123)

1. Jarosław Siwiński (b. 1964)
HubTub (2016) for tuba and ensemble 11’41’’
Zdzisław Piernik – tuba
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

2. Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938)
Poem of Apollinaire (2016) for speaking pianist and 12 instruments 14’31’’
Zygmunt Krauze – upright piano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

3. Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (1990) for piano and chamber orchestra 19’05’’
Frank Peters – piano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor