Rêverie – Polish Cello Miniatures
Anna Wróbel (cello)
Małgorzata Marczyk (piano)
rec. 2021, Performance Hall of the European Center Matecznik, Otrębusy, Poland
First recordings
Dux 1765 [74]
This is very clearly a labour of love for cellist Anna Wróbel. In her good booklet notes, she writes about her researches into 19th century Polish salon music for the cello, and how little was known of it. This research formed the basis for her doctoral thesis. In her own words, she is “fascinated by discovering the Polish pieces that very often saw their last performance back when only horse-drawn carriages were driving around Warsaw”. She has also written a book about Polish cellists of the era.
So it is with sadness that I find myself totally unable to share her enthusiasm for the ten works presented here, each by a different composer. I only recognised three of the names – Nowowiejski, Noskowski and Żeleński – through reviews on this site; I had heard music of the latter only. The term “miniature” is, for me, slightly misleading, as all pieces are more than four minutes in duration and two are in excess of ten (and that’s elapsed time, believe me, they feel much, much longer).
I am in the difficult position of finding it almost impossible to say anything good about any of the pieces. Most start often fairly promisingly, but quickly run out of inspiration. To say that the longer pieces outstay their welcome is a huge understatement. Yes, salon music isn’t expected to be deeply meaningful and complex, but I would say that an eleven-minute work titled “Theme and Variations” is signalling its intention that it wants to be taken seriously. It perhaps might have been better had the disc comprised twenty pieces, all actual miniatures.
As someone who can’t play a musical instrument to save his life, it would be wrong to blame the totally underwhelming experience on the performers. Reading their biographies in the notes, it is clear that each has a substantial performing career, particularly in their home country. So I have to conclude that there is a good reason why these works required musicological excavation and are getting their first recordings: simply put, they aren’t very good.
On the relatively rare occasions when I have felt the need to write such a negative review, I have wondered whether it would be better not to submit it at all. However, I know our chief editor would tell me that it is as important to tell our readership of a disappointing experience as it is a good one. Very much a case of “try before you buy”.
David Barker
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Contents
Feliks Nowowiejski (1877–1946)
Fantasy on themes from the opera ‘Legend of the Baltic’, Op. 28
Aleksander Wielhorski (1889-1952)
Theme and Variations
Emanuel Kania (1827-1887)
Romance, Op. 9
Ignacy Antoni Meyer
Mazurka, Op. 1
Herbert Sparling/Stanisław Szczepanowski (1812-1877)
La Desirée. Morceau de Salon, Op. 46
Maurycy Karasowski (1823-1892)
Reverie du Soir, Op. 3
Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909)
Melodie, Op. 3 No. 1
Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921)
Romance, Op. 40
Halina Krzyżanowska (1860-1937)
Élégie, Op. 40
Władysław Aloiz (1860-1918)
Mazurka de Concert, Op. 47
