Tales from the islands

Once a marginal place in relation to the canon, still not fully understood in Poland, English music has a habit of surprising, especially when performed by the NFM of the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra. On this splendid evening, compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar and Arnold Bax will be conducted by concert master Karolina Podorska.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a German critic described Britain as a “country without music” because, despite its political power, it did not give rise to great composing names either during the period of classicism or romanticism. And yet some things were just about to change. On the wave of the European folklore trend, as in Poland, revivers of domestic creativity, such as Ralph Vaughan Willliams, appeared. His popular short 1914 romance, The Rising Lark, is a poetry-inspired idyll meant for violin and orchestra. The characteristic folk-country sound of the melody is responsible for the use of pentatonics and modal scales.

Edward Elgar, in turn, the master of the older generation of the late Romantic generation, referred in his composition Introduction and Allegro to the baroque concerto grosso genre. In the piece from 1905, solo parts of the quartet, in addition to Podorska, will be performed by musicians of the orchestra: Magdalena Ziarkowska-Kołacka, Agnieszka Żyniewicz and Marcin Misiak. One of the emerging themes was written based on a song heard by Elgar in Wales. After a break, we listen to the intriguing work of Arnold Bax: String Quartet II in E minor from 1925. The youngest of the listed composers for many years was considered primarily a symphony. How will it sound in the chamber version in the orchestral elaboration of the musicians? Without a doubt, it is worth familiarizing yourself with this carefully braided, counterpoint masterpiece in a larger format.