The final concert of the 2026/2027 season celebrates nature. Pēteris Vasks’ Plainscapes for mixed choir, violin and cello is an attempt to recreate in music the lowlands of his native Latvia. This gentle, meditative work was premiered on 28 March 2002 at Vienna’s Minoritenkirche. It was conducted by the Latvian choral director Māris Sirmais, performed by the Kamēr youth choir from… Riga, with Gidon Kremer (violin) and Marta Sudraba (cello) as the instrumental soloists. Given the outstanding artistry of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, one may look forward to a deeply moving performance.
Jan Lech
Karol Szymanowski was particularly fond of writing for the violin, no doubt influenced by his friendship with the outstanding virtuoso Paweł Kochański, but perhaps above all by his extraordinary sensitivity to sound, which enabled him to shape the voice of the violin into both fleeting Oriental arabesques and the rugged phrases of Podhale folk music. The Violin Concerto No. 2, written in 1933 at Kochański’s instigation, reflects the folkloric fascinations of the Master of Atma – the name by which Szymanowski, after his Zakopane villa, is often affectionately known in Poland. Here, however, the Podhale colouring is less exuberantly expressive, more restrained, steeped in lyricism and, at times, quiet reflection.
Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes, The Firebird was Igor Stravinsky’s first major success. It premiered in 1910 at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra in Paris. Of the three concert suites the composer later prepared, the 1919 version is the best known. Krzysztof Urbański, Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, has chosen instead the 1945 suite, assembled by Stravinsky in the United States. It is a dazzling display of orchestral colour, shifting moods and superbly transformed folk motifs, culminating in a celebration of nature, goodness and light.
Małgorzata Gąsiorowska (ed.)
