JAVS Fall 2016

Paweł Michałowski: Murovisation-Celebration . Marcin Murawski, Alicja Guściora, Martyna Kowzan, Eugeniusz Dąbrowski, Ewa Tracz and Paweł Michałowski, viola; Orkiestra dla Dyplomantów; Eugeniusz Dąbrowski, cond. Acte Préalable AP0349. Two years ago I reviewed three CDs of music for viola (both solo and in ensemble) by Michael Kimber, performed by Polish violist, Marcin Murawski and students from his class at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland (cf. JAVS Vol. 30, Nr. 2, p. 80ff.). Here is a second tranche of three further CDs, bringing the story up to date. The quality of performance, recording and presentation is at the same high level as with the previous installments. The centerpiece of the whole series in more than one sense, Vol. 4 includes three large-scale compositions for viola and string orchestra. Night Music , written in 2013, is a rhapsodic piece in form of very free variations on a yearning motif that keeps tugging at your memory before revealing itself retrospectively as a not-too-distant cousin of the opening strains from the Walton Concerto. Evocations stem from 2005; the opening movement achieves a destabilizing ambiguity through the superimposition of three-quarter and six-eighth rhythms, the second one features a wistful tune floating over a accompaniment, and the third is a perpetual motion that is nicely rounded off by a recapitulation of the folk-like motif from the first movement. Folk music takes center stage with Variations on a Polish folk song “Ty pójdziesz górą” (You will go by the mountain), a monumental set of variations written

of a lighter hue. Adventure Overture finds Kimber convincingly doing a John Williams, and Traveling Music conveniently presents the orchestral version of a piece featured later in the series as a viola ensemble work. Contrastingly, Vol. 5 consists mostly of unaccompanied compositions, and admittedly the sensation of getting dangerously close to the barrel’s bottom can’t always be avoided. Both the Six Etude-Caprices (1997) and the Ten Short Pieces (2010) are charming character pieces that survey the fingerboard much in the way of the classic etudes by Kayser, Kreutzer and the like, and for that very reason much more fun to play than to listen to, well played as they are by Murawski and two of his students. Much more interesting, and no less fun, is the unaccompanied Sonata (1997) with its witty updating of a Bach Prelude followed by a jazzy Fugue, a songful Nocturne and dizzy Presto, all eloquently dispatched by Eugeniusz Dąbrowski. Dark Woods (2014) for viola and marimba explores some beautiful sonorities in its four contrasting movements, the first of which keeps reminding me of Bloch’s 1919 Suite. Paweł Michałowski and his near-namesake Pavel Rys are the imaginative players. Finally, Vol. 6 recapitulates the various genres that were featured in the previous issues and includes Kimber’s most recent viola composition, the Rhapsody for viola and strings written early last year for Martyna Kowzan, a student of Murawski’s who played a prominent role throughout this project. She performs the melancholic piece, not unlike some of Piazzolla’s urban elegies, with authority and a nice sense of line. She is well seconded by her classmate Dąbrowski, here wearing his conducting cap and keeping the orchestra

especially for this CD at the suggestion of the present soloist. Kimber avoids any potential monotony with changing textures from one section to the next and has an ace up his sleeve in that two members of the orchestra happen to be accomplished vocalists who are featured as soloists halfway through, singing the actual song with earthy voices. The set climaxes in a rousing Polonaise, and the CD has an in-built encore in the form of an additional setting of the song for the two singers and viola ensemble. Interspersed with these pieces are some short compositions for string orchestra

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2016

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