Although the works featured in this programme belong to different orchestral genres, questions of musical structure and form seem here to be of secondary importance to emotional expression. Together, they lead the listener along a fascinating path from fairy-tale imagination and vital abstraction towards a stillness of profound spiritual depth.
Paul Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, rightly regarded as one of the best-known musical humoresques, is a symphonic poem based on a ballad by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Composed in 1897, it remains firmly rooted in the language of late Romanticism, yet Dukas’ imagination unfolds a narrative that vividly recalls the soundtracks of animated films from the mid-20th century. The work’s evocative and vividly descriptive character was recognised by Walt Disney, who, in his 1940 animated feature Fantasia, cast Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice, thereby contributing to the popularisation this outstanding work by the French composer.
In 2023, marking the centenary of the birth of the internationally renowned conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, three distinguished virtuosos – Bartłomiej Nizioł, Krzysztof Grzybowski and Piotr Sałajczyk – embarked on a series of concerts presenting the European premiere of the Triple Concerto, a work composed in 1991 that reveals Skrowaczewski as a composer of bold musical imagination and outstanding craftsmanship. The dazzling richness of its orchestral colour and the display of virtuosity not only by the three solo instruments but, indeed, by virtually the entire orchestra, is combined with a touch of the grotesque, recalling the French neoclassical movement of the first half of the 20th century.
In the second half of the concert, conducted by Michał Nesterowicz, particularly admired for his deeply expressive interpretations of late-Romantic and contemporary music, the audience will hear Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 – one of the most important works by this outstanding English composer of the mid-20th century. The work’s dark colour, measured tempo and emotional restraint lend this symphony, composed during the turbulent years of the Second World War, a compelling atmosphere of spiritual contemplation and inner peace.
Robert Losiak
