Hi All,
I've recently bought a rather splendid disc of Liszt's "Salve Polonia" (the orchestral interlude from the unfinished oratorio St. Stanslaus) and Noskowski's "Fantasy Pictures on Chopin's Prelude in A major". The music is wonderful and the playing throughout is superb. It's on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute label, catalogue number NIFCCD 066. I just wondered if anyone else has this disc?
This is the CD concerned:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8917593--liszt-zygmunt-salve-polonia
Very interesting. Thanks!
Ordering directly from the Institute would have cost 70 zlotys (including 20 for shipping) - and the convoluted procedure rejected the transaction. So,many thanks,Alan,for the Presto alternative!
It was tricky to locate, but Amazon (UK) has it as well:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TNVXM4V/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A30832IF5KZPY9&psc=1
Salve, not Slave, for what it's worth. To quote a horse from a TV show, "a subtle but... important distinction."
Quote from: eschiss1 on Sunday 20 July 2025, 01:16Salve, not Slave, for what it's worth. To quote a horse from a TV show, "a subtle but... important distinction."
Thanks for that, that was down to my phone thinking it was right when it wasn't!!
Sorry, I should also have said that I got my copy from Presto where it's on sale.
Quote from: eschiss1 on Sunday 20 July 2025, 01:16Salve, not Slave
Yes, I'd spotted this and made the change a microsecond before reading your post! Thanks, Eric.
I forgot to thank you,Jonathan, for pointing it out in the first place. Although I check the "Next 90 days" section at Presto at least once a month,this CD didn't appear there.
And I reacquainted myself with the music shop at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute with all its extant offerings, which is no bad thing.
Neither work is a recording premiere, though. The Liszt preludes are amongst the surviving sections of the unfinished St. Stanislaus oratorio recorded on a Telarc CD (https://concord.com/concord-albums/franz-liszt-st-stanislaus/) under the baton of James Conlon. The delicious Noskowski confection is on this Sterling recording (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8045718--noskowski-orchestral-works-volume-3) under the title From the Life of a Nation.
I didn't know that,Mark. Have to say that,unlike his first two symphonies, I find his Third is a trifle too advanced for my ears.
Well, Noskowski's 3rd is definitely his symphonic masterpiece. Whatever might be said about Nos. 1 and 2, No.3 is his most personal symphonic utterance. By the way, I am particularly fond of No.1 myself.
I switched off the processional golf,put on the Noskowski Third, closed my eyes, and tried to like it. But,after the first 27 minutes,I shook my head. Chacun a son gout.
I can understand that. It's evidence of a composer moving into a later, more individual idiom. This is 1903, of course, and changes were in the air...
The 3rd was broadcast on BBC Through the Night/Euroclassic Notturno in a Polish Radio recording well before the others were available, and I found it enjoyable here on multiple listenings, but.
My copy arrived last night, and I have given it a first play-through.
The Noskowski is a joyous confection indeed, taken several minutes faster than on the Sterling CD. "Last Night of the Proms" music, and a tribute to Polish nationalism,without the usual melancholy.