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68-148 SV Ksiazka jubileuszowa PL+GB PRESS 9/3/12 1:17 PM Page 68 JARZ¢BSKI, basically by the three conductors that coop- ANONYMOUS (16th century), BACEWICZ, GÓRECKI, MOZART erated with it the most, i.e. Menuhin, Pen- Jerzy Maksymiuk, derecki and Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach. CD Accord 1996, CD, In the first three years of the existence of Sin- Frederic Award 1996 fonia, the orchestra played the most frequently Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s and Johann Se- bastian Bach’s compositions (two hundred and fifty-six times and ninety-seven times, respectively). Mozart’s symphonies were per- formed ninety-four: first of all in G Minor K. 550 – thirty-six times, D Major K. 385 (Haffner) – twenty-one times, and A Major K. 201 – seventeen times, but also C Major K. 551 (Jupiter), B-flat Major K. 319, D Major K. 19, and finally C Major K. 425 (Linz). Sinfonia performed divertimentos K. 136, 137 and 138 thirty-eight times, most often the first one in D Major; the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik was performed twenty times. Mozart’s piano concertos (then as many as twelve) were played forty times, while violin concertos twenty-two times (including seven- teen times Concerto in G Major K. 216). Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra MOZART in E-flat major K. 364 was played nine times and Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet, Symphonies, Virgin Classics, Horn and Bassoon in E-flat Major K. 297b four times. Nearly one hundred performances 1990, CD of Bach include primarily his Violin Concerto in E Major BWV 1042 (played twenty-seven times), in A Minor BWV 1041 (played one time less), Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043 (performed thirteen times) as well as Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 3 and 4 (a total of nine performances). The other outstanding representatives of Baroque performed by Sinfonia during their first three years of life included Antonio Vivaldi (works performed fifty-two times, with The Four Seasons played twenty-three times). Vivaldi was followed by Repertoire Arcangelo Corelli (nineteen performances, including thirteen ones of Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8), Georg Friedrich Händel (eleven times, including five performances of Concerto During the first twenty-five years of its activity, Sinfonia played a most diverse repertoire, from Grosso Op. 6 No. 8), Georg Philipp Telemann (works performed ten times). Among the Baroque through contemporary music. Neo-Romantic music was relatively rarely per- Viennese Classics, Mozart was followed by Joseph Haydn, his works performed sixty-five formed, most probably on account of its frequently requiring a large instrumental section. times; his symphonies – No. 42 in D Major, No. 43 in E-flat Major, No. 47 in G Major, No. Not favouring one particular music, Sinfonia displayed some predilection for German com- 58 in F Major, No. 83 in G (La poule) and especially (eighteen times) No. 104 in D Major posers. The performance mastery of the orchestra and its renown allowed it to accept the – were played thirty-five times, the Cello Concerto in C Major twenty times, while the Cello most ambitious challenges. On the other hand, for educational and commercial reasons it Concerto in D Major five times. Ludwig van Beethoven’s works were played thirty also participated in more popular projects as well as, fortunately very seldom, played en- times, with symphonies represented almost solely by Symphony No. 2 (nine perform- tertainment music. ances), and moreover piano concertos (twelve times) and the Violin Concerto (three times). Sinfonia has arrived at its present extensive repertoire gradually, increasing and supplementing At that time Sinfonia played music by Franz Schubert twenty-eight times; it was mainly Sym- its stock, acquiring the collaboration of new conductors and soloists, and being receptive phony No. 5, performed as many as twenty-three times. This was also the number of per- to new expectations on the part of the audiences and the patrons. The initial period was formances of the Symphony No. 4 (Italian) by Felix Mendelssohn, whose works were marked by a predominance of the repertoire inherited after the Polish Chamber Orchestra, played in total thirty-four times. Gioachino Rossini was played sixty-five times, mainly i.e. Baroque, Classical and twentieth-century music. Later on, apart from Mozart and his String Sonata No. 1 (thirty-six performances) and operatic overtures (twenty-seven per- Beethoven, focus shifted to the Romantics. The trends are reflected in repertoire preferences formances). Fryderyk Chopin’s compositions were performed ten times (eight times the of Sinfonia from the first three years of its operation (April 1984–April 1987) and from three Piano Concerto in F Minor and twice Piano Concerto in E Minor). Johannes Brahms was mature years that open up the second half of the described period (1997–1999), influenced not represented. Richard Wagner’s works were played nineteen times (nearly exclusively, Repertoire 68 2 5 Y e a r s o f t h e Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra 69 68-148 SV Ksiazka jubileuszowa PL+GB PRESS 9/3/12 1:17 PM Page 70 eighteen times, his Siegfried Idyll). Compositions Moniuszko Halls of the National Theatre in by Pyotr Tchaikovsky were performed twenty- Warsaw. Janusz Ekiert wrote about this event as eight times (including twenty-five performances of follows: the Serenade in C Major), Antonín Dvorˇák – nineteen times (again chiefly thanks to one com- The orchestra ... was lavishly applauded. It was position, Serenade in E Major played eighteen again at its best; the strings are capable of glis- times), Edvard Grieg – nine times (Holberg tening and extend the expressiveness, the digni- Suite). Sixteen concerts included a Serenade for fied sound of the bassoon, horn, oboe, flute, and String Orchestra by Mieczysław Karłowicz. clarinet played by young masters, very beautiful In the first three years of activity, Sinfonia became trumpets and trombones that had fewer oppor- n17 expert in performing selected compositions from tunities to show off. the first half of the 20th century. These were the Introduction and Allegro by Edward Elgar (sev- In addition, the year before, a series of all enteen performances out of twenty Elgar’s works), Beethoven’s symphonies were performed by Simple Symphony and Variations on a Theme of Sinfonia directed by Menuhin successively in Frank Bridge by Benjamin Britten (the former Vienna (Schönbrunn), Montpellier and Paris performed thirteen times, the latter as many as (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées). Piano concer- thirty-eight times, while Britten in general was tos by Beethoven were played nineteen times in played fifty-eight times), Divertimento for a String the years 1997–1999 (especially No. 1 – seven Orchestra by Béla Bartók (thirty performances, times; all five were performed in one series in five times his Music for Strings, Percussion and Ce- July 1998 in Cheltenham with Alfred Brendel lesta). Dmitry Shostakovich’s Chamber Sym- as a soloist), overtures were played as many as ROSSINI BEETHOVEN phony Op. 110 was played twelve times. However, Sinfonia played by far the most often the forty-four times (most often Coriolan – eighteen times). The number of performances of works Yehudi Menuhin, Yehudi Menuhin, Concerto for String Orchestra by Gra˝yna Bacewicz, performed during that time as many by composers of Romanticism increased significantly. Franz Schubert was represented by Sony Music Entertainment 2010 IMG Records 1995, CD, as sixty times. Sinfonia played works by Witold Lutosławski thirty-two times (eighteen one hundred and twelve performances; his symphonies were played more often than (© 1998), CD the second of five records from times – Musique fun¯bre and fourteen times – Preludes and Fugue). Other Polish contem- Beethoven’s – eighty-nine times, but only six were performed, Symphony No. 5 the most fre- the BEETHOVEN porary composers performed a few or up to twenty times at that time were e.g. Marek Sta- quently (thirty-four times), Unfinished (nineteen performances) and Great (eighteen per- 9 Symphonies chowski (twelve times – Divertimento), Andrzej Panufnik (nine – Violin Concerto and formances). Mendelssohn was performed on seventy-six occasions; there were forty-one per- Box Set Arbor Cosmica), Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (seven – Three Pieces in Old Style and Harp- formances of symphonies (Italian – thirty-four times and Scottish – seven times), overture sichord Concerto), Marta Ptaszyƒska (six, primarily La novella d’inverno), and Eugeniusz – The Hebrides – fifteen times, Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor – nine. Sinfonia played Knapik (five – Islands). With regard to contemporary music by foreign composers, Sinfo- Chopin twenty-five times, including twenty times the Piano Concerto in E Minor. Brahms, nia took part in the world premiere and then in five successive concerts of the second ver- not represented before, was performed thirty-seven times, including twenty-four perform- sion of Prometeo by Luigi Nono in November 1985 at the Stabilimento Ansaldo in Milan. ances of symphonies, such as No. 1 – nine times and No. 4 – seven times (in 1998 the or- In turn, the orchestra’s repertoire in the years 1997–1999 (comparisons with the initial three chestra twice played all four in one series – in March under Menuhin in the Théâtre des years are adequate since in both these periods Sinfonia gave an almost identical number Champs-Élysées in Paris and in December under Jacek Kaspszyk in Warsaw in the Lu- of concerts, three hundred and thirteen in the first period, three hundred and fourteen in tosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio). Robert Schumann, whose one work was per- the other) still showed a dominance of Mozart and an almost identical number of perform- formed at the start of the orchestra’s life, was represented six times, including four per- ances of Beethoven’s works; the former’s works were played one hundred and fifty-three formances of the Cello Concerto.