Mikołaj Piotr Górecki (b.1971)
Overture, Op 16 (2000)
Three Fragments, Op 6 (1998)
Concerto-Notturno for violin and string orchestra (2000)
Concerto for Accordion and Strings, Op 61 (2021)
Divertimento (2009)
Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Maciej Frąckiewicz (accordion)
Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra/Jan Lewtak
rec. 2023, Warsaw
CD Accord ACD324 [64]

Mikołaj Piotr Górecki is the son of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010), he of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs fame. Mikołaj lives in the USA, but clearly has Polish roots and branches.

Four of the five works paraded here are each in three movements and were written between 1998 and 2022. Even the single-movement Overture is in three distinct sections. The forces specified are for chamber orchestra. Two of them are concertos with solo instrument (one expected, the other not) plus string orchestra. The music is tonal but not lush. The timespan for each work is short and fairly concentrated.

The Overture began life as a string quartet. As a work scaled up for string orchestra, it is at first lithe and often almost breathlessly driven in a world that conjoins Prokofiev’s Classical and the high-tension death-hunt manner of Bernard Herrmann. A slow central episode recalls Martinů and Panufnik before a return to the wheal, the hunt, the goad and the lash of the opening.

The Three Fragments for strings pre-dates the Overture by two years. Each Fragment has its own track and a well-focused single mood that varies between contemplative veering into melancholy and an almost eerie chase. The finale mixes hauntingly thoughtful string writing with slowly paid-out celesta notes, which fade into an atmospheric niente.

The Concerto-Notturno is a work of candidly touching emotion. This is winged aloft by the violin of Jakub Jakowicz. The work is a cousin of sorts to Finzi’s Introit, though the chromaticism is a degree more acidly searing. A more classical edginess and jazzy aspect grip the middle movement. The finale is a starry meditation dominated by divisi strings, fading with a glimmer as if into the “eternal silence”. This work has the potential to conquer more than a few hearts.

The Accordion Concerto is dedicated to Maciej Frąckiewicz, who is the player here. It at first has much in common with the Concerto-Notturno, but the writing has a grittier ‘crunch’ with the solo instrument persuasively elbowing its way into the foreground ahead of the strings. Before the first movement ends, there’s an episode for the soloist in the guise of a grotesque dancer – a sort of Masque of the Red Death. Then comes a movement of considerable emotional subtlety built around the Finzian mood we already know but with a filmic sentimental glow. That lame-legged dance returns for the finale, which is infused with an urgency that is half threatening and half gawky; the Auric-style film music of the 1950s. All is resolved in a final paean of victorious splendour.

The Divertimento is again in three movements: cool and humanely sensitive, it breathes restfulness. The central movement ambles contentedly, being led, at first, by solo viola. The finale combines pattering delicacy and a thudding and shuddering advance.

The Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra is conducted with conviction by its founder, Jan Lewtak. The recording has considerable impact despite the modest forces specified.

This CD comes as part of an extremely well presented package. The booklet sets out succinct written material and is encased in a stiff card cover. The text is in Polish and English written by Paweł Markuszewski. Booklet and disc case are held in a substantial card slip-case.

This is emotionally open music that is easy to like. It is heard here in well recorded and persuasive performances.

Rob Barnett

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