Is this currently available or forthcoming from DUX?
http://en.dux.pl/mirecki-wieniawski-polish-romantic-symphonies-arthur-rubinstein-philharmonic-orchestra-przytocki.html
Good question: judging by the catalogue number, it's a new release. This entry at Amazon (Germany) suggests that it's due out soon:
https://www.amazon.de/Franciszek-Mirecki/dp/B0BNW9H9BY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=13OCEY27IMF1X&keywords=mirecki&qid=1672201523&s=music-classical&sprefix=mirecki%2Cclassical%2C92&sr=1-2
('Temporarily out of stock. We are working hard to be back in stock as soon as possible.' = Amazon's usual form of words meaning that this is a new item not yet in stock.)
Here's Mirecki's Symphony in a different performance at YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It5ZUrJ88vk
Forthcoming late February, not yet available. Announced at Presto music and also at another page. Mirecki's symphony in C minor and J. Wieniawski's symphony in D major op.49 - see Dux 1901 (https://www.propermusic.com/dux1901-polish-romantic-symphonies.html) described at the link.
Could you post the Presto link, please, Eric? I can't find it.
Amazon/Germany now lists it as in stock (sent from Clic Musique in France), but not Amazon/UK. It can also be ordered direct from Clic Musique, of course:
https://www.clicmusique.com/mirecki-wieniawski-symphonies-przytocki-p-109343.html?osCsid=69g47s5g4972b3dqbm1nft78d0
Of course, Acte Préalable has recorded the Wieniawski Symphony: https://acteprealable.com/catalogues/composers/ap0331/
And with their usual quality presentation and excellent notes, it's a tough act to follow.
A listen to the Mirecki didn't thrill me enough to double up on JW's Op.49.
Presto Link (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9432498--polish-romantic-symphonies), if delivered at a somewhat Andante pace. Sorry! Doesn't provide information beyond DUX 1901 and the conductor (and release date), so I linked the other page. I was going to (and did, and merged and deleted) create a new post about it before noticing this one. BTW it's not HW's symphony, it's JW's :)
Aha! Not listed under the composers' names. How irritating. Thanks, Eric.
Quote from: eschiss1 on Friday 13 January 2023, 16:05BTW it's not HW's symphony, it's JW's :)
Thanks - it's probably a misdemeanor in Poland to get ones Wieniawskis confused. I plead guilty and have corrected my post.
Correction: Amazon/UK does list the CD - under its title:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphonies-Przytocki-Rubinstein-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B0BNW9H9BY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UBICOFMFGRJF&keywords=polish+romantic+symphonies&qid=1673632760&sprefix=polish+romantic+symphonies%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1
Presto Music now has the CD, which is expected out soon anycase, linked in a clearer https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9432498--mirecki-wieniawski (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9432498--mirecki-wieniawski) place.
Thanks, Eric. Unfortunately the UK release date has already been put back twice, so it's a matter of guesswork when the CD will actually be available.
I ordered it from Clicmusique (France) through Amazon marketplace, apparently they have it in stock
Yes, mine arrived three weeks ago. Can't say that I found the Mirecki particularly distinctive but it's nice enough, and I am struggling to find the Wieniawski memorable.
Dux's own website has this: The product is temporarily unavailable.
very strange..clicmusique say they posted mine on Feb 20th, maybe thay had a few items stock..
Maybe there are different release dates in different countries...
It arrived today, so I guess you are right about the different release dates. Still it's weird that Dux says unavailable. Mysteries.
The UK release date has now slipped to 31st March, according to Amazon.
On the ... of that day of April. Not promising.
It's available from Clique Musique, as has been suggested, and can be ordered from them via Amazon France:
https://www.amazon.fr/Symphonies-Pawel-Przytocki/dp/B0BNW9H9BY/ref=sr_1_5?__mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=IMEUHSJQWTHH&keywords=mirecki&qid=1677779992&sprefix=mirecki%2Caps%2C307&sr=8-5
My copy arrived today and I must say I'm most impressed. As the sleevenotes suggest, Mirecki's Symphony (1855) has more than the whiff of the stage about it; for example, following the powerful opening movement there is an elegant, ballet-like adagio non tanto featuring solo strings which is in complete contrast to the preceding movement. Certainly nothing like this comes readily to mind from the symphonic repertoire. Mirecki, apparently, was a much-travelled composer and his idiom is certainly eclectic. After a vigorous scherzo, the finale is lively and often genuinely exciting. Again, as the notes suggest, listeners may be reminded somewhat of the finale of Brahms' 2nd Symphony from a generation later.
Altogether very enjoyable indeed - lovely orchestration and what sounds like good playing from the orchestra based in Łódź, Poland's third-largest city. A real find, in fact - and this from a composer born before Schumann and Mendelssohn! Extraordinary!
Regarding Mirecki, there's this earlier thread:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,4059.msg43391.html#msg43391
Regarding the Wieniawski, please see this earlier thread:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5071.msg55213.html#msg55213
Again, my impressions are favourable. Although I haven't made any direct comparisons, I'd hazard a guess that this new recording is rather better than the Acte Préalable offering - mainly, I suspect, because of superior playing and recording. But I'll leave that to others to decide. To my ears, though, the brass play particularly well and are clearly audible in the overall sound-picture.
...and now to a potentially controversial conclusion regarding these two works...
It turns out that the Mirecki is the more striking work - and by far the more exciting. For me, the Wieniawski, for all its more advanced idiom, doesn't quite add up, but try the finale of his earlier contemporary. What a tremendous storm he kicks up here! A real find - and surely a true forerunner of Brahms 2 (iv). Extraordinary!
So let's add a few more facts on Mirecki. He produced his Symphony in C minor, his only work in the genre, in 1855 at the age of 64, just seven years before his death in 1862! And it's a remarkably confident and individual-sounding work that has pre-echoes of a major symphony written a generation later.
I haven't stopped playing it for the past couple of days. I'm really excited to read what others think of it...
I have played through the Mirecki for the third time. It is an attractive work with stormy climaxes. Let's face it, it is not as substantial as "the apotheosis of the dance", but it has its moments, there's no doubt about that.
I am now having yet another go at the Wieniawski. I have both recordings, but in all honesty, I bought the CD for the Mirecki. Maybe this time, I will find something to make me more enthusiastic about it
I probably bought it for both works, but it's the Mirecki that stands out.
I am afraid that I am still unenthusiastic about the Wieniawski. There are times when I think that a good symphony may emerge, but I can't remember it! Whereas, the classy start to the Mirecki is lingering in my thoughts.
I agree with what is being said by the other forumers: "this" Wieniawski is a little better in execution and recording than the Acte Prealable, but it still remains, to my ears, a bit "unrealized" and stubbornly unememorable.
Totally different story with the Mirecki, which I really like.
The beginning, as Terry said, is really high quality, and ushers you in the piece with a bang. but also the rest is inspired and well developed. A keeper for me.
Yes I received mine from rarewaves-usa
Oh, good news!
To get some idea of how important a really good recording of little-played music is, try the anaemic performance of Mirecki's Symphony on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4w-u1b7LII&t=2143s
It's just so tentative and unexciting. In fact it's an apology for a performance - as if all concerned simply don't believe in the music. By comparison, the new Dux recording makes it sound like a minor masterpiece, with one of the most extraordinary, whirlwind finales in the whole 19th century symphonic repertoire.
Here's a shockingly trite and inaccurate review:
Two romantic Polish symphonies are played by the Rubinstein Philharmonic from Lodz, the C minor Symphony by Francizek Mirecki (1791-1862) and the D major Symphony op. 40 by Jozef Wieniawski, a younger brother of violin virtuoso Henryk Wieniawski. It is certainly good to make such works available on a recording, but believe me, one can live reassured and without self-reproach if one has not heard the two works. They are pleasing, solidly crafted as well, but they go in one ear and out the other. (Dux 1901) – ♪♪♪
https://www.pizzicato.lu/kurzkritiken-short-reviews-by-remy-franck-69/
Well, I don't believe him for one second! I have the opposite problem with the Mirecki - the tunes go in one ear (well both actually!) and resolutely refuse to dislodge themselves from my musical memory! So many ear-worms, it's not true!
I could not agree more! the rewiew not only has an annoyingly snobbish tone, but it is totally off the mark: the Mirecki is excedingly memorable, so much that I had the earworm "problem" with it too, in the beginning.
And this sort of condescending and inaccurate review is actually very damaging. People will read it and never even go near the CD.
How can you write a worthwhile review in 3 sentences? Ridiculous!
Indeed, there's short and there's too short!
Having gorged myself for weeks on the Mirecki, I've now turned to the Wieniawski and I must say it's growing on me. Once again, the performance and recording are absolutely top-class and make the best possible case for the music.
The idiom is certainly interesting. It starts in Brahmsian mode, although some of the dissonant clashes in the first movement (as well as in the finale) are beyond anything in Brahms; the brass fanfares are also unusual and in general there's an underlying sense of inspiration derived from folk music. Wagner's definitely in there somewhere too.
Altogether it packs a lot into its 32½ minutes. I'm convinced that overall this CD will turn out to be one of the highlights of the year for us at UC; sadly it will get hardly any attention from mainstream classical music journalism. And while Hurwitz posts his umpteenth video on yet more Bruckner and Mahler which nobody needs, he'll miss this superlative release.
I don't have a score or reduction of the Wieniawski symphony so I can't confirm that hypothesis that he used some chords that Brahms never, ever touched*, but maybe eventually...
*"Anything in Brahms" covers a lot of territory!
Quote from: Alan Howe on Friday 28 April 2023, 20:48. And while Hurwitz posts his umpteenth video on yet more Bruckner and Mahler which nobody needs, he'll miss this superlative release.
I don't think that is entirely justified. Sure, he does Bruckner and Mahler, but his channel doesn't claim to be devoted entirely to undiscovered repertoire. Moreover, no one can claim that he ignores it; the guy has been publishing five videos about Tournemire recently and that is about as unsung as they come.
Well, he could still lay off posting about unnecessary Mahler and Bruckner recordings and expand his 19th century horizons a bit. Partially justified, then?
The (brass) dissonances in the first and last movements of the Wieniawski are actually quite startling - I don't recall anything like them in Brahms. They're much more telling in this new Dux recording than in the earlier Acte Préalable alternative. They occur approx. 8 minutes into the first movement - and again just after 4 minutes into the finale.
the Tournemire videos- score videos? I know who "made" those (from the Gallica scores and existing recordings, and patient synchronization)- credit to Pranav Ranjit for that...
Despite the praise heaped upon it here I initially resisted getting this recording because I generally buy only downloads now and already had recordings of both the Mirecki (from YouTube) and the Wieniawski (Acte Prealable recording), which I thought would suffice. I was wrong. My copy arrived from jpc a couple of days ago and it's been played several times since. The Mirecki is a revelation of a performance, punchy and committed, it's difficult to imagine how the work could be more persuasively presented and what an imaginative and individual symphony it is. How anyone could say that it "goes in one ear and out the other" is quite beyond me. Did the reviewer not hear the finale? The performance on YouTube is quite bloodless in comparison. Wieniawski's Symphony is not as ear-grabbing to be sure. It's a good, solid fin de siècle work which certainly comes across here more persuasively than it did in the rather dull Acte Prealable recording, but I don't think it has the individuality which Mirecki's work has in abundance.
Great review, Mark. And entirely correct. The Wieniawski may grow on you...