Personal reflexion after lietening to MICHAŁ BERGSON

 

Prof. Jerzy MARCHWIŃSKI

Rejowiecka 17A

PL 04-897 WARSAW

Phone/Fax: (+48-22) 872 1500

Mobile: (+48) 601 235 576

E-mail: JMarchwinski@gmail.com

Blog: jerzy-marchwinski.Blogspot.com

 

Warsaw, January 20, 2021

 

Personal reflection

 

after listening to MICHAŁ BERGSON's CD with Concerto symphonique pour piano avec orchestre op.62, his works for pianoforte solo and  music from  opera Luisa de Montfort  (DUX).Performers: Jonathan Plowright – pianoforte, Jakub Drygas – clarinet, Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk - soprano, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra.

 I have a slight problem with presenting my opinions or rather reflections. I am no musicologist, no theoretician, and no critic, either.  I am a former performer who is keenly interested in the contents of work and not in its definition or structure.

     However, I suspect that the majority of the above professionals know as much about Music (musicians excluded!) as the person who never made love knows about the sexual act!

     Bergson's works were composed in accordance with the dictate of his times.  It is hard to imagine a modern composer creating works similar to those of  Bach, Mozart or Chopin. This refers to fiction as well. 

     For this reason, I find it truly irritating when various nosey parkers of this world desperately look for similarities and influences between artists. 

     I am strongly moved by the honesty, authenticity, and naturalness of one's expression. I have to admit that I have not known Bergson's works before, which is slightly embarrassing. I am truly obliged to the performers for re-introducing them into the circulation, the more so that I really see Michał Bergson's music as honest and natural. By the way, his music gains even more appeal when listened to for the second time. 

     I am not a philosemite, although I am proud that many of Semites call me a friend and I truly admire them.  Bergson's Mazurkas have moved me with their authentic, deep Polish character.  One of my saddest memories is a meeting of a group of Polish  Jews in Brazil, after  1968 and listening to their stories of homesickness told with tears in their eyes. 

·       The performance of the music - or it's re-creation, as Professor Doroszewski would say, deserves honest praise and appreciation.  It is excellent!

Maestro: I do not hesitate to use this word in relation to Łukasz Borowicz, whom I have been favoring for many years. His first hearings at our meetings with Professor Madey, impressed me as very positive and promising, even if they were not perfect, for obvious reasons.  I heard and sensed a spatial quality in them,  suggesting the road to the  Parnassus of conductors.  To my satisfaction, his professional trek to those heights resulted in deepened dramaturgy, timing and  an attractive, comprehensible narrative.

      His text in the booklet is also brilliant. 

 

Orchestra:  The Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra offers not only professional excellence but - primarily - beauty. It was a joy to listen to the effect of the perfect cooperation between the Team and the Conductor. 

Jonathan Plowright: What an awe-inspiring piano proficiency! An aesthetically and emotionally satisfying interpretation, honest and natural. 

Jakub Drygas: In my view, it was rather a Bel canto than ordinary clarinet playing (lovely sound, by the way!). A joy for my ears.  A model example of brilliant, mutual partnership of the instrumentalist with the orchestra. 

Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk: Great! A perfect vocal and interpretative presentation of the composer's aesthetic and dramatic merit.

DUX:  Bravo!

·       The recording truly deserves the international promotion.

 

                Professor Jerzy Marchwiński