Europa Galante; Podlasie Opera And Philharmonic Choir; Fabio Bondi
Format Details:
Description
A world premiere recording on period instruments, this is a new recording of Stanislaw Moniuszko's Opera in One Act - Flis: The Raftsman.
"The choral writing in particular is lovely - notably a raftsman's song accompanied by low, lilting strings - and the whole is wrought with a clarity and integrity matched by conductor Fabio Biondi's assembled forces." BBC Music Magazine 4****
The Raftsman, one of Stanislaw Moniuszko's less familiar and less popular operas, is the second work in the genre—after Halka—to enter the Fryderyk Chopin Institute's Moniuszko collection. Unjustly neglected, only sporadically seen on stages in Poland and practically non-existent abroad, there is not
the slightest doubt that this work deserves our attention—and our affection.
A cheerful, one-act opera set on the picturesque banks of the Vistula, on the edge of Warsaw, it represented the composer's nod of appreciation to the city in which the prospect was opening up before him—as he believed with all his heart—of the fulfilment of all his artistic dreams. The reality proved less rosy, yet despite all the difficulties, worries and disappointments, the fourteen years he spent here (until his premature death) were certainly a time of creative fulfilment for Moniuszko, and Warsaw warmly reciprocated his feelings.
The Raftsman is essentially a charming genre scene painted in music, displaying everything for which the composer is so beloved in Poland—and increasingly esteemed around the world. Beautifully melodious, colourful, distinctive, at once both exceedingly rich and full of simplicity, it draws in the best way on the national tradition and culture of which Moniuszko was one of the most whole-hearted chroniclers.
Tracklisting
Cyprien Katsaris
Vadym Kholodenko
Ewa Poblocka
Maria Joao Pires
Halina Czerny-Stefanska
Ewa Poblocka
Aleksandra Swigut
Chouchane Siranossian, Oh! Orchestra, Martyna Pastuszka
Thomas Sanderling, Orchester des Nationaltheaters Mannheim
Malcolm Sargent, Mary Lewis, Tudor Davies, Maggie Teyte, Clive Carey, Marie Howes, Harry Plunket Greene, James Johnstone
Maria Callas
Soloists; Eroica Berlin; Jakob Lehmann
Luigi De Donato; Collegium 1704; Vaclav Luks
Anna Moffo; Cesare Valletti; Fernando Corena; Erich Leinsdorf
Soloists; Orchestre classique de Montreal; Alain Trudel
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi, Natalia Rubis, Pawel Konik, Krzysztof Baczyk, Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir
