...arranged (?) for Piano Sextet in A minor and dating (according to IMSLP) from 1862, coupled with his Piano Trio Op.201:
https://acteprealable.com/catalogues/composers/ap0557/
Available for purchase here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Acte_Prealable/Catalogue_Acte_Prealable_2022.htm
(https://acteprealable.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ap0557.jpg)
It's probably Kontski's own arrangement for sextet - according to the score
"Partition a grand orchestre arrange en seqtuor" as the title page states
Here's a link to score
https://vivaldi.nlr.ru/br000000111/view/?#page=1
There is also a symphony fantastique... I have manuscript parts (probably incomplete - lacks some instruments, or scoring was just unusual), it's like military march/scherzo, maybe it's incomplete fragment of larger work, perhaps one movement or so.
Polish Encyclopedia of Music PWM indicates 3 symphonies - Heroique, Phantastique and "?" ...the 3rd in c minor (performed partially in 1855) (Heroique in A-Minor, Fantasique in A-Major - the one movement work I have from Staatsbibliothek Berlin)
But I wonder if someone finally finds his Piano Concertos which biographers indicate and also we know their key signatures, but no scores nowhere... no. 1 in E-flat Minor no. 2 in F-Major (numbering may be switched because they are not numbered in the original article from Polish Encyclopedia PWM)
I find Op.220 to be a remarkable work, even in the composer's chamber arrangement, full of exciting and memorable material.
I just turned on the spotify version - it's a fine performance and I agree - it's exciting, it has rich thematic work, keeps tension, maybe someday the large score will appear somewhere but still as a sextet the work is destined to be present on records and stages. A work of truly romantic, dramatic passion - the composer keeps the pace without blind or weak spots, no boredom here - still listening... Wide themes, elaborate rich, progressive climaxes...
Also available as a download from Presto here (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9498074--k-tski-chamber-music). Judging by the audio extracts, this is a fascinating discovery.
The finale opens with quite an earworm...
There are brief excerpts from each movement (with the same performers) on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMx_MWmZOBg
Oh, yes! This is at once stirring and beautiful. I think this has jumped the queue to the top of my wants list. Yet another Polish composer I have never heard of. Thank you for drawing attention to it, Alan.
At least one work of Kontski/Kątski, Le réveil du lion Op.115, was still being arranged and republished decades after his 1899 death, according to occasional entries in early 20th century H[ofmeisters] M[onats]B[erichte]. A number of his works, including one of his piano sonatas and other works can be found at IMSLP under Kontski, Anton de (though the string quartets I had written about in here, a minute ago, are by his brother Karol- I had a memory burp... so let me delete that...)
Edit: yes, Reveil du lion is the same work as the Op.115 given in German on the new release CD above, I'm sure!
The title, I think, should be Sinfonie héroïque, since afaik as a rule adjectives - and not just adjectives, often nouns too, for instance - following the most important noun are lowercase in French. (And sometimes the adjective before it, Grande, is lowercase too. I think. Don't take my word on that one, though. Could be that Grande is uppercase and sinfonie and héroïque are lowercase, instead; someone who knows French - better than I do is not hard - might comment...)
E.g. here's the manuscript score of the arrangement of the Sinfonie héroique (https://imslp.org/wiki/Sinfonie_h%C3%A9ro%C3%AFque%2C_Op.220_(Kontski%2C_Anton_de)), from a Russian library (hence the Cyrillic cover)... the work may never have been published, outside of manuscript, and Op.220 is as noted (... possibly by me?... not sure) @ IMSLP used for another, published work, at that...
btw Katski/Kontski lived in St Petersburg from 1852-1867, so the existence of music by him in Russian libraries, of a Russian music method (Lehrbuch) by him published by Bernard of St Petersburg listed in HMB 1865 p.223 (http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001865&teil=0203&seite=00000223&zoom=1) - is not so very completely surprising in context.
Ooh!!!! Sorry, but. One other thing. It looks like the parts to Katski's Sinfonia fantastica in A major, original scoring (ms copy/abschrift, not holograph, estimated 1880 ms), I think, have been scanned by the State Library of Berlin and are available online. Same piece? I'll check.
Definitely not the same? The fantastica begins Andante moderato with tremolandi rather than Allegro vivace with an up and down partial scale theme.
Why nobody has mentioned it yet is beyond me but another Acte Prealable CD ( APO 512) is also available on Music Web. I have it and it is wonderful. Filled with gorgeous romantic string quartets plus a quintet.- Razorback
Quote from: razorback on Monday 14 August 2023, 04:34Why nobody has mentioned it yet is beyond me but another Acte Prealable CD ( APO 512) is also available on Music Web. I have it and it is wonderful. Filled with gorgeous romantic string quartets plus a quintet.- Razorback
It's AP 0512 rather than APO 512. Link here - http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Feb/Katski-chamber-AP0512.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Feb/Katski-chamber-AP0512.htm)
A search for Katski on MusicWeb reveals a few other CDs - chamber and piano solo works:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Search_engines.htm?cx=partner-pub-7131039333392991%3Astvzk0-7fwo&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Katski&sa=Google+Search (http://www.musicweb-international.com/Search_engines.htm?cx=partner-pub-7131039333392991%3Astvzk0-7fwo&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Katski&sa=Google+Search)
It has been mentioned here before - please remember to use our search facility.
Also, not the same Katski, though they were brothers (a mistake I did also make a few comments back ;) )
Eric's right. Please don't post here about other members of Antoni K's family.
Not to say, since I had forgotten there was a recording of those interesting-looking quartets-etc.
Anyhow, Antoni K apparently has two symphonies, the other nicknamed "Fantastic", in full manuscript (copy) parts (possibly incomplete? - again, at SBB and mirrored at IMSLP) - there's something to have a look at...
(I still recommend considering changing the thread title, as, I believe, incorrectly capitalized French- as per earlier comment- but this is not by way of insisting on it.)
Work title duly corrected, Eric.
By the way, in case anybody was wondering about the Kątski/Kontski spelling issue, it appears that 'ą' (in Polish) is pronounced (approximately) 'on', so the name was re-spelt (e.g. in French) to preserve the correct pronunciation.
I am now pretty well convinced that this is a masterpiece. It has everything - superb, memorable melodies, tremendous drive, energy and warmth and, above all, the capacity to engage the listener. I'm often put in mind of the best of Mendelssohn, although the idiom sounds a little later. Without doubt one of the Finds of the Year for me - until the next one comes along, of course! Seriously, though, I urge all lovers of mid-19thC music to get hold of this gorgeous work as soon as possible.
Mark T: you're going to love this!
Thanks Alan. I've downloaded it now but, as you know I've been away from home for over a month and have returned to a house taken over by builders so, priority though it has, I may not get around to listening to Kątski's Grande sinfonie for a few days. The audio extracts are hugely encouraging, though.
Oh dear - apologies. The roof over one's head is rather important. Trust all goes well over the coming days.
My copy has just arrived and I will make some observations after an initial hearing,mainly concerning the Grande Sinfonie/sextet. I feel the work as a whole is probably more suitable in its chamber music guise - although one can only imagine how the (presumably) original orchestral version would come across. I immediately was reminded of the wonderful 3rd Sextet (Op90) of Henri Bertini, which was published in 1839, and therefore more than 20 years earlier than Katski's work. The similarities are especially evident in the outer movements, with both works having memorable thematic material. The Katski does seem to hark back to Bertini's work in style, especially in the keyboard writing, which could easily be by the older composer, with shades of Kalkbrenner lurking in the background! (There is mention in the liner notes of Katski meeting with von Bulow and Kalkbrenner in Berlin during the 1850's, but this is incorrect as Kalkbrenner died in Paris in 1849). In any case, this serves as a timely reminder that Bertini wrote SIX such sextets, and the remaining five are definitely well worth investigating!
The Piano Trio is again full-on, with much relentless virtuosic piano writing throughout - perhaps a tad too much at times, but immensely enjoyable nevertheless. Altogether, a splendid release of enjoyable music, guaranteed to please, and superbly performed!
I couldn't resist giving the Sextet a spin last night. Martin's right, the piece works so well as a sextet it's difficult to imagine it in orchestral guise. On the whole I agree with everything which Alan writes about it: melodically, it's both generous and memorable throughout; one couldn't ask for more verve and momentum in the three faster movements, contrasted with an effective solemnity in the slow second movement and it couldn't have a more persuasive performance. Even after one hearing it's clear that it's a terrific piece, it'll prove a favourite that I'll return to again and again. But is it a masterpiece? I'm not so sure. Effective though it is, for me there's also a whiff of the salon about the writing, maybe an "all-too-easy" facility about Kątski's tune-spinning, such as one hears in some of Raff's or Rubinstein's lesser piano works. That's not a bar to one's enjoyment of the Sextet, which I also enthusiastically recommend as a great discovery but, whilst it might prove to be Kątski's masterwork (I've not listened to the Piano Trio), I'm not sure it is a masterpiece in absolute terms.
Iirc while only one of Bertini's sextets has been commercially recorded, there are pleasant midi renditions of some of the others to give us a nice idea in the meantime over at imslp that are worth hearing.
I sense a seriousness of purpose about the Sextet that lifts it beyond the realm of salon music - having said which, I know exactly what Mark means. It's that engaging fluency and easy melodiousness that leads one in that direction. And as Mark rightly says, this may be the composer's masterpiece (or one of them), but to go beyond that may be a step too far. My problem, if it is one, is that I just love the music of this period...
Quotea seriousness of purpose about the Sextet that lifts it beyond the realm of salon music
I completely agree. The Piano Trio is also a very enjoyable work, but perhaps a tad too busy - there aren't many moments of relaxation to recover from the relentless forward thrust of the music. A Kątski concert must have been an exhausting experience! By the way, the commercial recording of Bertini's (I think) Third Sextet (mentioned by Martin above) is, unusually for an MDG release, available for download from amazon.co.uk (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GAMX07W/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HIMVYQOEI99R&keywords=hummel+bertini&qid=1693576318&sprefix=%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1) - it's coupled with Hummel's Op.87 Quintet.
The slow movement is glorious - can't get enough of it. I hope that other labels will record the work and so
encourage chamber ensembles to take it into their repertoire.
Buy this release while you can - it's bound to disappear quickly...
More information about the unearthing of the scores here:
https://acteprealable.com/the-great-discovery-of-acte-prealable-world-premiere-of-chamber-music-by-antoni-katski/
Thanks, Alan. Fascinating stuff.
Just noticed that the second movement of the Grande sinfonie héroïque is subtitled "Dominum salvum face' Alexandrum II um Imperatorum toti Russiae" (Make Safe [our] Master Alexander II Emperor of All Russia"...oh dear! Probably not the most popular sentiment in Poland then or now.
(And his Piano Trio, Op. 201, on the same disk is subtitled "à Sa Majesté Leopold le Roi de Belges" - I do hope this is Leopold I not II!)
I do love the music though...
Apparently it's from 1853, so definitely Leopold I (unless the dedication is from the date of publication and that date is much later). Leopold II The Genocidal ascended the throne only in 1865.