Lutosławski and Polish music
In a season that champions some of Poland’s greatest composers, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra makes its Proms debut (23 August).
Witold Lutosławski, one of the pre-eminent Polish composers of the 20th century, is celebrated in his centenary year with seven Proms performances. Like Benjamin Britten, Lutosławski was born in 1913 and the music of the two composers is also placed side by side in a Proms Saturday Matinee (24 August).
Other leading Polish composers represented this season are Szymanowski, Penderecki, Górecki and Panufnik.
Paul Van Nevel and his Huelgas Ensemble put the spotlight on music from the Polish courts of the Renaissance in a Proms Chamber Music Concert (PCM 22 July) and the Eastern European country is referenced in performances of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3, also known as the ‘Polish’ symphony, given by the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits (14 August), and Addinsell’s highly Romantic Warsaw Concerto (written for the film Dangerous Moonlight), performed by pianist Valentina Lisitsa with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Keith Lockhart (31 August).
Nigel Kennedy brings members of his Orchestra of Life from Poland to play alongside the Palestine Strings in a Late Night Prom performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (8 August).
Polish music at the Proms
Lutosławski: Variations on a Theme by Paganini
Stephen Hough (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
12 July
Lutosławski: Partita
Vilde Frang (violin), Michail Lifits (piano)
PCM 15 July
Lutosławski: Cello Concerto
Paul Watkins (cello), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Adès
17 July
Szymanowski: Symphony No.3 ‘The Song of the Night’
Michael Weinius (tenor), BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales/Thomas Søndergård
18 July
Music at the Polish Courts of the Renaissance
Huelgas Ensemble/Paul Van Nevel
PCM 22 July
Lutosławski: Symphonic Variations/Piano Concerto
Louis Lortie (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Edward Gardner
7 August
Penderecki: Concerto grosso
Leonard Elschenbroich, Daniel Müller-Schott, Arto Noras (cellos), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Dutoit
15 August
Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Antoni Wit
23 August
Panufnik: Tragic Overture/Lullaby
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Antoni Wit
23 August
Lutosławski: Paroles tissées
Ben Johnson (tenor), English Chamber Orchestra/Paul Watkins
PSM 24 August
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1
Baiba Skride (violin), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko
2 September
Górecki: Symphony No.3, ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’
Ruby Hughes (soprano), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä
4 September
