GARY GUTHMAN
THE TRAVELER - CHAMBER SUITE (2020)
KAJA MIANOWANA - SOPRANO
ŁUKASZ DŁUGOSZ - FLUTE
TOMASZ STRAHL - CELLO
MAŁGORZATA ZALEWSKA - HARP
TADEUSZ PACIORKIEWICZ
TRIPTYCH FOR SOLO HARP (1975)
IMPROVISATION FOR SOLO HARP (1951)
MAŁGORZATA ZALEWSKA - HARP
©2022 Orphée Classics| Cat. No. OC221201
Recorded at the Agnieszka Osiecka Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw 12th -14th September 2022 [1] - [13],
3th November [14] – [17] and in Halo Productions studio in Warsaw 12th -13th October
TOMASZ LIDA - Music Producer
AGNIESZKA SOBCZYŃSKA - Graphic Design
FUNDACJA MUSICA DOCET - Producer
Co-financed with a grant from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage through the Fund for the Promotion of Culture
under the “Muzyczny Ślad” (Musical Bequest) program managed by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
ABOUT CHAMBER SUITE “THE TRAVELER”
In October 1992, Gary Guthman wrote a series of poems entitled “The Nine Doors”. The artist was turning forty at the time, and, coupled with his constant intercontinental travels and contact with other cultural circles, he sought solace in studying philosophy and the meaning of life. He became interested in ancient philosophical texts related to astronomy and astrology and was compelled to chronicle his thoughts in a personal and private diary. The text lay untouched on the shelf for many years. During the pandemic lockdown in the Spring of 2020, I remembered the poem and asked him to compose a chamber suite for soprano, flute, cello, and harp, making musical use of the entire text of this manuscript. Gary had already created many pieces for me for solo harp and orchestra, but I missed having a piece I could perform in concerts with a chamber ensemble. He entitled this chamber suite of 13 movements “The Traveler.”
Excerpts of the piece were premiered in 2021, while the entire piece has now been recorded by a wonderful ensemble of our musical and dear friends - Kaja, Łukasz and Tomasz - thank you for this wonderful journey!
ABOUT “TRIPTYCH” AND “IMPROVISATION”
Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz was one of the few composers in post-war Poland who successfully expanded repertoire for the harp. He was fascinated by this instrument and liked its characteristic sound effects. In 1951, he created "Improvisation for Harp Solo", commissioned by the outstanding harpist and pedagogue Professor Janina Rzeszewicz, who introduced this five-minute miniature with a rondo-like form into the pedagogical repertoire of music colleges in Lodz and Warsaw. The expressive elements of this piece are melodic and were imperceptibly influenced by compositional conventions prevalent in the 1950s. The composition had numerous concert performances at home and abroad, including in Paris, New York, St. Petersburg, and Tokyo.
In 1975, he composed and dedicated a piece for harpist Ariadne Tugaj entitled "Triptych for solo harp" with movements: "Elegy", "Prelude and Fugue", and "Capriccio". The premiere of this piece took place on December 27, 1975, at the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Music Conservatory in Petrozavodsk.
Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz had by this time considerable experience in composing for harp as continuing his creative adventure in 1963; he created the piece "Music for harp, flute, oboe, horn and bassoon" (also known as "Music for harp and five wind instruments") with its stylistic allusions being an expression of homage to the French Impressionists. In 1966, at his son's request, the excellent violist Artur Paciorkiewicz, he created "Trio for flute, viola and harp", which is a virtuoso piece and a tribute to Baroque music composed for three equally treated instruments.
Composing "Triptych," he used his "harp" knowledge to create interesting and different expressive movements. The juxtaposition of these two compositions, created more than two decades apart, provides an interesting observation of how his compositional technique changed and what sounds he sought when creating solo pieces for harp.
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I hope that the album, presented by my musical partners and myself, will provide you with a lot of joy in discovering the music that my instrument - the harp - carries in solo and chamber ensemble.
Małgorzata Zalewska
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GARY GUTHMAN
Trumpeter, jazz musician and composer (born 07.12.1952). Gary Guthman appeared in all 50 episodes of the "In Concert" program broadcast by ITV Canada. He has appeared with Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis and the Bee Gees, among others. From 1980 to 1995, he performed with artists Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sadaka, Procol Harum, Stan Kenton, Louis Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers, Doc Severinsen, Engelbert Humperdinck, Sergio Mendez, Burt Bacharach and Michel Legrand. During this period, he released his original albums "Moonchild," "Tribute to Harry James," "Swingmatism" and "Love Talk." He has performed with more than 200 philharmonic halls in Canada and the United States with his original projects "Tribute to Harry James", "Trumpet Greats", and “Salute to Swing”. From 1999 to 2001, he appeared as soloist and conductor in the multi-award-winning Musical, "Forever Swing," which appeared at the Chicago Theatre, Place des Arts in Montreal, the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas, the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and the Los Angeles Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2004, he headlined by invitation from renowned conductor and founder of The New York Pops, Skitch Henderson, at Carnegie Hall.
In that same year, he created and produced his production of "Swingmatism", which premiered at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Since coming to Europe in 2007, Gary Guthman and his quartet have performed at jazz festivals and as soloists in philharmonics to critical acclaim. In 2011, he released the album "Solar Eclipse" with his jazz compositions. In 2016, he released the swing CD "Woman in Black", for which he wrote music and lyrics. He is also the composer of works that pay tribute to the work of poet Miron Bialoszewski, released on the album "Self-Portraits" (2019). The premiere of the musical "Letter from Warsaw", for which he created the music and lyrics, was held at the Warsaw Chamber Opera Hall in 2019. A year later, an album of songs from the musical was released. In 2021 the world premiere of the chamber suite "The Traveler" took place. Guthman's orchestral compositions include: "The Master and Margarita" for harp and orchestra (2007), "Concerto Romantico" for harp and orchestra (2018), "Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra" (2020) and "Concerto for Flute and Orchestra" (2021).
TADEUSZ PACIORKIEWICZ
Composer, organist, and pedagogue (born 10.17.1916 - died 11.21.1998). He completed his musical studies in organ under Bronislaw Rutkowski at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music (1943) and in composition under Kazimierz Sikorski at the National University of Music (NUOM) in Lodz (1951).
In February 1945, he moved to Płock, where he founded the Karol Szymanowski School of Music, which had the character of a 5-year vocational music school, along with a music preschool. In 1949, both schools were expanded, and a secondary music school was added.
In 1947 Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz made his debut as a concert organist, also recording for Polish Radio. In 1949, the artist moved to Łódź, where he devoted himself entirely to teaching and composing. He taught harmony, counterpoint, and other theoretical subjects at NUOM until 1959. Starting in 1954, he took a concurrent job at NUOM in Warsaw. In 1959 he settled in Warsaw, where he continued teaching and composing. At NUOM in Warsaw (later known as the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music), he was promoted through all academic levels to associate professor and full professor. He served as Dean of the First Faculty (composition, conducting, and theory) for many years and held the office of President of the Academy from 1969 to 1971.
Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz received numerous honours and awards for his teaching and creative work. His creative output includes all genres of instrumental, vocal, and vocal-instrumental music (over 396 compositions).
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This body of work includes ballet-opera, cantata-oratorio, symphonic, choral, chamber, and wind orchestra for solo instruments, as well as theatre and film music. His major compositions consist of 4 symphonies, 17 concertos (piano, harpsichord, violin, viola, cello, harp, organ, oboe, trombone, trumpet, two violins), three string quartets, four quintets (flute and piano), for five wind instruments and five accordions, sonatas (organ, piano, violin, viola, cello, and bassoon), three operas (including two "radio operas"), ballet and the oratorio "De Revolutionibus". A considerable part of Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz's work is the music of a religious nature and compositions for children.
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KAJA MIANOWANA
One of the few vocalists with an extremely flexible soprano register, which allows her to perform a variety of musical genres - early music, world music, musical and alternative pop. She graduated from the T. Szeligowski School of Music in Lublin on guitar (I degree) and flute (II degree). In 2016, she graduated from the Faculty of Voice and Acting at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the classes of Prof. Ewa Iżykowska and Prof. Krystyna Jaźwińska-Dobosz, specializing in early music. In 2017, she won an art scholarship to Kunstuniversität Graz in Austria to study in the class of Prof.Christine Whittlesey. She made her debut on the professional musical stage at just 17 years old when she won a casting call for the lead role in the "Phantom of the Opera" at the ROMA Musical Theater, becoming one of the youngest performers in the role of Christine in the world. During rehearsals for this show, she made her debut in the play "Cats" as Jemima (2007). From 2008- 2022, she played leading roles in the shows: "Phantom of the Opera" (Roma Theater and Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic), "Les Misérables" (Roma theatre), "Notre-Dame de Paris" (Baduszkowa Music Theater in Gdynia), "Pilots” (Roma Theater), "Lamaila” (Grand Theater in Lodz), "Love Story" (Witkacy Theater in Slupsk), "Once" (Musical Theater in Toruniu), "Machiavelli" (Musical Theater in Lublin), and "Apocrypha" (Song of the Goat Theater). She has been chosen for lead by the creators of musicals such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Riccardo Cocciante, Maciej Pawlowski, and Gary Guthman.
She is the recipient of a scholarship from the Mayor of the City of Lublin for artistic achievement (2008). She has performed music created for her voice and collaborated with film music composers like Bartosz Chajdecki "Time of Honor" and Mikołaj Stroiński ”The Witcher”. She won first place at the 14th National Festival of French Song (2007) and first place at the 2nd Anna German International Song Festival in Moscow (2015). As a vocalist of the band MelluSya, she released an album entitled "From the Heart". In 2021 she recorded songs from the canon of Jewish and Sephardic music on the album "World of Orient" with the band SENTIDO. In 2022, together with Szymon Sutor, she released the album "OFFbaroque", combining English Baroque music with electronica, the single and video "Wind blows" with Edyta Krzemień announcing their album "GODAI", and the solo single/video "Siren".
ŁUKASZ DŁUGOSZ
Outstanding flutist with an international reputation. He is a graduate of solo studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and of master classes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris and Yale University in New Haven. He is the winner of more than a dozen prestigious international competitions, including those in Paris, Odense, Munich, and Viggiano.
He performs as a soloist and chamber musician at home and abroad. As a soloist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein Goldener Saal and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Gasteig Carl Orff Saal and Herkulessaal in Munich, the Poly Theatre in Beijing, the Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, the Shanghai Concert Hall, the Opera House in Qatar, the Shin Kobe Oriental Hall in Kobe, the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, among others. He has performed under the baton of Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Mariss Jansons, Valeri Gergiev, Jesús López Cobos, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Jan Krenz, Jerzy Semkow, Jacek Kaspszyk, Gabriel Chmura, Agnieszka Duczmal and Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk.
He was repeatedly invited to perform Krzysztof Penderecki's "Flute Concerto" under the baton of the composer in New York, Beijing, Doha, Berlin, Paris, London, Riga, Koblenz, and Helsinki. In 2010, Lukasz Dlugosz made his recording debut with the London Symphony Orchestra with a recording of Michael Colin's "Flute Concerto." The artist has made many archival, radio, and television recordings at home and abroad and has released 48 CD albums, the majority of which are Polish music, highly acclaimed by critics, for which he has received numerous international phonographic awards, including the "International Classical Music Award" (ICMA), the "Pizzicato Supersonic Award" and the "Fryderyk Awards."
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His concerts have been broadcast on major radio stations, including BBC Radio 3, NDR, SWR, BR4, Deutschland Radio Kultur, Polish Radio 2, Radio France, and RMF Classic. To date, there have been 124 works dedicated to him and his wife, Agata Kielar-Dlugosz, which are symphonic works promoted and immortalized phonographically after their premiere. The Main Board of the Polish Composers Union gave the Honorary Award of the Polish Composers Union to the artist for his outstanding contributions to the promotion of Polish music. For his outstanding cultural activity and promoting Polish culture, Lukasz Dlugosz was awarded the Gloria Artis Medal. In 2019, he received the title of Professor of Arts from the President of Poland.
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TOMASZ STRAHL
One of the premier Polish cellists. He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw in 1989 in the class of Professor Kazimierz Michalik. As a scholarship holder of the Austrian Government, he took a one-year postgraduate course at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Tobias Kühne. He has won national and international competitions, including first prize at the Fifth Nicanor Zabaleta International Music Competition in San Sebastian, Spain (1991). In 1994, he was a scholarship recipient of the Polish-Japanese JESC Foundation in 1994.
As a soloist, he has collaborated with conductors such as Andrzej Boreyko, Jan Krenz, Henryk Czyż, Philippe Entremont, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Wojciech Michniewski, Tomasz Bugaj, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jerzy Salwarowski, and Antoni Wit. He has collaborated with such orchestras as Sinfonietta Cracovia, Sinfonia Varsovia, NOSPR, National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal São Paulo (Brazil).
The artist has performed at the Schauspielhaus (Berlin), Brucknersaal (Linz), St. John's Smith Square (London), Art Center (Tel Aviv), Toppan Hall (Tokyo), Auditori (Barcelona), Glinka Hall in St. Peterburg, the Grand Theater in Warsaw and the National Philharmonic, among others. An important event for the artist was the performance of Witold Lutoslawski's "Cello Concerto" in the presence of the composer, conducted by Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk (1993).
In 2005, Tomasz Strahl performed the Polish premiere of Piotr Moss's "Cello Concerto No. 2" at the Festival of First Performances (2005) with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he recorded Zygmunt Stojowski's found "Cello Concerto" in 2006. He has made numerous archival recordings for Polish Radio and Polish Television, CBC Radio in Canada, Pony Canyon, CD Accord, Pavane Records, Gema Stereo, Polmusic, Acte Préalable, and Sony Classics.
He is a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He serves on the jury of international cello competitions. Since 2012, he has participated in the promotion of the National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin, edited by Professor Jan Ekier. In 2019 he received the "Fryderyk" award in the category "Album of the Year - Symphonic and Concerting Music," and in 2020 for "Album of the Year - Chamber Music." Tomasz Strahl performs on the instrument Leopold Widhalm, Nuremberg 1778.
MAŁGORZATA ZALEWSKA
One of the few artists performing on several types of harp (Symphonic harp, Celtic harp, Arpa Doppia and Gothic harp). She has performed as a soloist with Francisco Araisa, Brigitte Balleys, Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk, Massimiliano Cialdi, Łukasz Długosz, Agnieszka Duczmal, Chikara Imamura, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Wojciech Michniewski, Daniel Stabrawa, Tomasz Strahl, Małgorzata Walewska and Tadeusz Wojciechowski, as well as with Graz Trio, Warsaw Sinfonietta, Leopoldinum, Capella Bydgostiensis, MACV, Sinfonia Varsovia, Europa Galante, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, as well as with many philharmonic orchestras in Poland and abroad. She took part in the worldwide promotion of the harp “Atlantida”, appearing on the covers of the prestigious magazines "Harpa" (Europe) and "Harp International" (United States). She participated in television programs devoted to harp music (1996, 1997, 2010, 2018) and made a television recording of a recital performed at the Festival in Radziejowice (TVP2 1998), a recital entitled "Impressions" performed at the International Festival in Łańcut (TV Polonia, 1999), "Concerto for Harp and Flute in C Major" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed at the Mozart Festival in Warsaw (TVP1 and TVP2, 1996, 1999, 2001), the "Master and Margarita" project (TVP1 2007, Comcast 2009, TVP2 2014), and chamber recitals specially recorded for Warsaw’s “Bashevis Singer Festival” and the National Institute of Music and Dance (2020). She was the producer and soloist of the "Classic Meets Jazz" project (2020), whose online production was viewed by thousands.
In 2005 Zalewska’s solo album "Harp Solo" (DUX) was released, subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2007, she premiered the concert suite "Master&Margarita" for harp and symphony orchestra composed especially for her by Gary Guthman, the album of the same title released by (DUX). In February 2018, a concerto for harp and orchestra entitled "Concerto Romantico", and in 2021 the chamber suite "The Traveler", both by Gary Guthman, were premiered. The Harpist has represented Poland for over 20 years by invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President, and the Office of the Prime Minister of Poland. Małgorzata Zalewska is a recipient of bursary from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and is an ambassador for CAMAC harps.
GARY GUTHMAN
THE TRAVELER (2020) CHAMBER SUITE
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 2:06
2. MERCURY ................................................................. 4:08
3. VENUS ...................................................................... 3:19
4. MARS ........................................................................ 6:08
5. INTERLUDE I ............................................................. 4:13
6. JUPITER ..................................................................... 3:32
7. SATURN ..................................................................... 4:14
8. INTERLUDE II ............................................................ 2:49
9. URANUS .................................................................... 2:46
10. NEPTUNE..................................................................2:54
11. INTERLUDE III ......................................................... 3:07
12. PLUTO ..................................................................... 4:59
13. EARTH.......................................................................3:38
Kaja Mianowana - Soprano
Łukasz Długosz - Flute
Tomasz Strahl - Cello
Małgorzata Zalewska - Harp
TADEUSZ PACIORKIEWICZ
TRIPTYCH (1975) I IMPROVISATION (1951) FOR HARP SOLO
14. ELEGY ...................................................................... 5:01
15. PRELUDE AND FUGUE............................................ 2:23
16. CAPRICCIO ............................................................... 4:38
17. IMPROVISATION....................................................... 4:20
Małgorzata Zalewska - Harp
Total time: 64:13