We can jokingly say that Bergson turned up at… Bergson square. Last year’s album of the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra “Michał Bergson. Concerto symphonique pour piano avec orchestre op. 62 / Music from the opera Luisa di Monfort” was honoured with the title Trophées Radio Classique by the French Radio Classique based at… Henri Bergson square in Paris, the square bearing the name of the Literary Nobel Prize winner, son of a Polish composer, Michał Bergson.

The Poznan album found itself among the most interesting discs that the prestigious Radio Classique distinguished in May – the best of the albums presented each week and honoured by Trophées Radio Classique are acknowledged by special awards in ten categories during the annual gala. The choice is composed of the jury made up of the heads of the most important music institutes in France.

In the review of the album of the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra released by DUX Jérémie Bigorie presents to the French music lovers the figure of Michał Bergson, pianist and composer. He compares him to such characters as Frédéric Chopin or Franz Liszt, who also found their artistic fulfillment in Paris, “the capital of the 19th century”. He also underlines that he was the father of the Nobel Laureate, philosopher Henri Bergson.

The author pays particular attention to the main work on the album: Concerto symphonique pour piano avec orchestre op. 62, the manuscript of which Jonathan Plowright discovered in the London antique shop and was purchased by the Poznan Philharmonic.

He describes it as a brilliant piece of music, faithful to the ternary form and referring to Chopin. He mentions Plowright’s virtuosity and marvels at the artist’s ability to cope with the toughest elements of the score. ‘The work simply revives under the fingers of that pianist’, the critic points out.

Jérémie Bigorie also draws attention to the aria for clarinet from the opera “Luisa di Monfort”, which lets Jakub Drygas shine. He writes about the aria “Il Ritorno” performed by Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk that Bellini and Donizetti could have put their names on it.

According to the reviewer, the conductor, Łukasz Borowicz, got the best out of the musicians. And for this reason Radio Classique couldn’t miss such a fine record discovery.