news
It was merely a fortnight or so ago that the world premiere was held of the newest album recorded by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz with the baritone Samuel Hasselhorn. The recording, which also features The Poznań Nightingales, the Boys and Men’s Choir of the Poznań Philharmonic, has already garnered excellent international reviews and distinctions.
Entitled Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection, the album published by the renowned label Harmonia Mundi has just been awarded the SUPERSONIC distinction by the prestigious Luxembourg-based music portal PIZZICATO, which also published Remy Franck’s review of the recording.
This is a remarkable CD, not only because of Samuel Hasselhorn’s singing, which is outstanding as expected, but also because of the conductor Lukasz Borowicz. I have made it known in a long series of reviews that I hold him in high esteem. But the sound he produces in this program with the Poznan Philharmonic is phenomenal. In no other recording that I know of does so much happen in the orchestra in Mahler’s Revelge as you can hear in this recording. This is the whole Mahler theatre, the sonic cabinet of curiosities in full! But that’s not all: in Urlicht, the orchestra envelops the voice perfectly and, together with the instrumental parts, brings it to optimum effect, because the music is really complete. And Haselhorn’s voice is no less fascinating in this recital, his singing is dramatically gripping, with colourful and dynamic nuances and a concise presentation of the text. Revelge is not only dramatic with him, it is full of relentlessness, which makes the inner compulsion of the marching drastically audible, regardless of losses. Borowicz and the orchestra reinforce this thoughtless compulsion, which also makes the bones march in rank and file. Engelbert Humperdinck’s Verdorben! Gestorben! from the opera Königskinder is no less gripping because Hasselhorn sings very sensitively and Borowicz makes the rhapsodic quality of the opulent orchestral accompaniment communicative and evocative.
Completely different sounds are offered to the listener in Pierrot’s Tanzlied from Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, in which the charm and bitterness of Pierrot are ideally combined in Hasselhorn’s lyrical singing to make us empathize with the fate of this clown.
What follows in Mahler’s Um Mitternaht is once again top-notch, as Borowicz places the voice in a luxury box with a wonderfully present and colorful orchestra. In comparison, Hampson and Bernstein sound almost pathetic and mannered.
Hasselhorn sings towards death in a very composed and almost positive and heroic way, without any lachrymose, surrounded by a colorful and grandiose orchestral sound, which has not often been heard in this rhetoric, neither with Karajan nor with Thielemann and Boulez: nowhere is the symbiosis of voice and orchestra as perfect as in this recording.
This is also true of the absolutely phenomenal and exciting Erlkönig setting of Herr Oluf. Mahler’s Urlicht sounds all the more moving in an interpretation marked by naturalness and honesty.
In Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Der alte Garten everything blossoms in the extreme chromaticism of the music, and the fascinating orchestration with the beautifully interwoven vocal lines makes this song transcend into beauty, not least thanks to Hasselhorn’s imaginative and vocally magnificent performance.
There is great romanticism in Braunfels’ description of a soldier’s grave, which contrasts sharply with the surreal duet between Marie and Wozzeck in Berg’s opera. But Marie is actually lost to the world through murder, while Mahler describes death in a completely different way. With Haselhorn, it becomes almost tender and movingly natural.
Borowicz underpins this with just as much beauty in the orchestra. Nothing is lost and you can hear everything interacting beautifully.
During summer break (22 June – 1 September 2024), the box office will be CLOSED.
Box office reopens on Monday, 2 September 2024. Information on dates and manner of collecting season tickets ordered, as well as on reservation of individual tickets shall be posted on Poznań Philharmonic website in mid-August.
I am an elderly boy and let it stay that way. Were I a grown-up man, an elderly fellow, I wouldn’t be able to play. As I am an elderly boy, however, I can still react emotionally. Because I still feel like jumping into the world of imagination and leave it when acting is over, Wojciech Pszoniak says about himself in Małgorzata Terlecka-Reksnis’ book Pszoniak. Fragmenty (Pszoniak. Fragments).
Published recently by Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, the book will be promoted on 14 June (7 p.m. at University Auditorium) at the concert to close the 77th artistic season of the Poznań Philharmonic. On a number of occasions, Wojciech Pszoniak appeared with the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra complementing the pieces performed with his narration. Dedicated to the memory of this outstanding artist, the concert will also feature guests: Barbara Pszoniak, the actor’s wife, and Małgorzata Terlecka-Reksnis, author of the book. The promotionally-priced publication will be available in University Auditorium hallway on the night, with the author and Barbara Pszoniak signing it at the interval and after the concert.
Complete with archival items – the actor’s personal notes, letters, and photographs from the family archives – made available courtesy of Barbara Pszoniak, the fascinating reading is a record of meetings and conversations held with the great actor and man.
The uncompromising nature and frankness of Wojciech Pszoniak’s comments, ones to give the reader food for reflection, is one of the greatest assets of this extended interview. One remark in particular, deserves a quote: I believe life cannot be directed. Those who say and believe that life is what you make it, are wrong. I let life direct me.
Wojciech Pszoniak… loved for his performances in such productions as “Wesele” (“The Wedding”), “Ziemia obiecana” (“The Promised Land”), “Danton” and “Korczak” by Andrzej Wajda, or “Austeria” by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, as well as for his countless other theatre and film appearances. Yet, as a teenager, the acting genius wanted to become a musician. Following in his grandfather’s and mother’s footsteps, he began his musical education with the violin, only to later learn the oboe and the clarinet. He played in a military band and in an opera orchestra. But then came the studies at the PWST (State Higher School of Acting) in Cracow, and a career in acting to which he chose to dedicate his life. He never forsook music, though, adding the saxophone to the list of instruments he mastered (an ability he employed in films and theatre productions); late in life, he also began to learn to play the cello…
The Poznań Philharmonic was lucky to rank Wojciech Pszoniak among its friends. It was with his acting skills and narration that he embellished several of our concerts at the University Auditorium and the concert hall of the National Philharmonic. We had an opportunity to applaud his appearances in Der Bürger als Edelman by Richard Strauss, Djamileh by Georges Bizet, or Lélio, or the Return to Life by Hector Berlioz…
What was Wojciech Pszoniak like as actor and person? Wydawnictwo Poznańskie has recently published Małgorzata Terlecka-Reksnis’ book Pszoniak. Fragmenty (Pszoniak. Fragments). On 14 June (7 p.m. at University Auditorium), the book will be promoted at a concert dedicated to the memory of this outstanding artist. The event which closes Poznań Philharmonic’s 77th artistic season will feature guests: the actor’s wife, Barbara Pszoniak, and the author of this extended interview, Małgorzata Terlecka-Reksnis. The promotionally-priced book will be available in University Auditorium hallway on the night, with the author and Barbara Pszoniak signing it at the interval and after the concert.
Urlicht – Songs of Death and Resurrection is the latest album recorded by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz with the baritone Samuel Haseelhorn. The recording also features the boys’ voices of The Poznań Nightingales, the Boys and Men’s Choir of the Poznań Philharmonic.
Although the world premiere is scheduled for 14 June 2024, first reviews are already beginning to appear. Below you will find an account published by Tony Way on the Australian Limelight Music, Arts & Culture platform, where the record was made EDITOR’S CHOICE.
Containing songs and arias by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hans Pfitzner, Engelbert Humperdinck, Alban Berg and Walter Braunfels, the album is published by the prestigious Harmonia Mundi publishers.
,,A dazzling display of fine, young artistry in captivating repertory. Here is a remarkable disc, whose marriage of artist and repertoire must have been made in some mythical, musical heaven.
As many German baritones have done before him, 33-year-old Samuel Hasselhorn is journeying from the world of the classic Lied exemplified by Schubert and Schumann to the more exotic and variegated pastures of post-Romanticism and early modernism both in song and opera.
This recording catches him doing so when his instrument is still at its freshest, youthful peak, full of subtle timbral variations and sensitive, intelligent delivery of text.
Take for example, the two songs he has chosen from Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn. Hasselhorn invests that sardonic denunciation of militarism, Revelge with increasing drama, freighting the onomatopoeic refrain with skilful, ironic colour. (The version sung by tenor Gösta Winberg in Riccardo Chailly’s otherwise well-regarded recording of the cycle sounds positively one-dimensional in comparison.)
By contrast, Urlicht (perhaps better known in its revised version for alto incorporated into the Resurrection Symphony) is sung with a disarming, simple honesty that stirs the soul.
That soul-stirring quality is also evident in the two other Mahler songs, this time from the Rückert Lieder. Hasselhorn musters impressive technique to navigate the long phrases and low tessitura of Um Mitternacht, his voice valiantly standing out against the stark majesty of the orchestration for low winds and brass. As the artist tenderly bids farewell to the world in Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, there is again a profound sincerity devoid of all artifice that cannot fail to move the listener.
Subtitled “Songs of Death and Resurrection” this disc has plenty of tragedy, ranging from an extract from Humperdinck’s Königskinder where the death of royal children is soothed by an ethereal children’s chorus provided by the Nightingales Boys’ Choir of the Poznań Philharmonic. Raw sexual violence is vividly realised in the murderous duo between Marie and Wozzeck in Berg’s opera, with the help of soprano Julia Grüter.
Hans Pfitzner’s Herr Oluf sees one the Lied’s archetypal harbingers of death and destruction, the Erlking, wreak havoc on a wedding day. (No Lorelei in this program.) Walter Braunfel’s Auf ein Soldatengrab contemplates a soldier’s grave in a highly romanticised mode.
Elements of nostalgia and yearning are beautifully brought to life in the famous Pierrot’s Tanzlied from Korngold’s opera Die tote Stadt and in Zemlinsky’s lusciously orchestrated song Die alte Garten.
Apart from Hasselhorn’s superb singing with its prodigious range of light and shade, the other standout of this disc is the exuberant playing of the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under the empathetic direction of Łukasz Borowicz, well captured in every detail by the Harmonia Mundi engineers.
Returning to Chailly, for those old enough to remember being captivated by the vocal makeweights of his Mahler symphony cycle (such as the Zemlinsky Maeterlink-Lieder sung by Jard van Nes and Diepenbrock’s Im großen Schweigen sung by Håkan Hagegård) this disc is definitely for you. If you’re younger, you too will still be inspired by the multi-faceted mastery of one of today’s most promising singers in this ravishing program where resurrection most certainly outweighs death.”
We inform that the ticket office of Poznań Philharmonic will be closed from the 29th of April till the 5th of May.
We encourage you to purchase the tickets online.
Like every year, in the 2024/25 artistic season Poznań Philharmonic is planning to prepare for you musical evenings within the DE LUXE (DL), STAR ZONE (SG) and POZNAŃ CONCERTS (KP) season tickets.
If you are interested in the purchase of season tickets for these concerts, please fill in the or-der form below and submit it in the ticket office of Poznań Philharmonic until the 14th of June 2024.
The estimated date of the collection of the tickets is September 2024. The details will be given later – please track the information on our website www.filharmoniapoznanska.pl.
Print the order form for DL | SG | KP season tickets (season 2024/25)
We inform that the ticket office of Poznan Philharmonic will be closed from the 28th of March till the 1st of April.
We encourage you to purchase the tickets online.
(…) we have, amongst ourselves, an exceptional person of a format that is truly difficult to describe, and, at the same time, somebody who is simply a kind man who has chosen to share his success with people endowed with sensitivity, or with those who are grief-stricken. In Wojciech Pawłowski’s attitude, I perceive several values the society cannot do without, such as capacity for hard work, consistency, selflessness, trust, to name just a few. However, two values appear crucial to me: creativity and empathy. Wojciech Pawłowski admires people who are creative, extraordinary, unusual: artists, writers, visionaries, non-conformists. Rightly so – without them, our lives bog in rote and ignorance. Wojciech Pawłowski sympathises with people wronged by fate. Rightly so – misfortune can affect any of us, no one is immune from the whims of fortune – Jacek Jaśkowiak lauded Wojciech Pawłowski on the occasion of endowing him with the Great Golden Seal of the Town of Poznań.
The ceremony of presenting the Great Golden Seal of the Town of Poznań to Wojciech Pawłowski was held on Friday, 2 February 2024, at the White Hall of the Municipality of Poznań.
The distinction, awarded yearly by the Mayor of the Town of Poznań, was established to mark the 750th anniversary of the location of the town of Poznań. Modelled on the seal press of early-14th century, and, like the original, containing the coat of arms of Poznań and concave Gothic inscription “SIGILLUM CIVITATIS POZNANIE”, it is awarded to persons who embody traditional Poznań virtues, and whose activity commands particular respect and recognition.
Wojciech Pawłowski – businessman, social activist, patron of culture, sponsor of cultural events, philanthropist… The list of terms aiming to chart the vast spectrum of his professional, social, and charitable activity is long. One of the fields of his engagement is the musical life of Poznań, which he has supported for years by providing assistance to the Academy of Music in Poznań, and by being the main patron of the Poznań Philharmonic.
– Thus, the Great Golden Seal of the Town of Poznań finds itself in the hands of a man who has earned it multiple times, and has turned his life into a work of art. It is a work of applied art (business), art of admiration (patronage), and art of sympathy (philanthropy) – said Jacek Jaśkowiak.
While acknowledging the distinction, Wojciech Pawłowski underlined his regard for the Golden Seal’s previous recipients.
– I extend my gratitude to the Mayor of Poznań for taking note of my extra-business activity in the field of promoting culture, or my engagement of charitable character, and added me to this worthy body. I find the Golden Seal not only a symbol of recognition, but also a commitment to support further projects intended to boost development of our town – said the prize holder.
During the ceremony, the chamber ensemble of the Poznań Philharmonic – Marcin Suszycki – violin, Marcin Herman – violin, Karolina Lewińska-Bąk – viola, Maria Liszkowska-Sikorska – cello – performed String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, No. 12 (“American”) by Antonín Dvořák.
Sincere congratulations to Wojciech Pawłowski!
PIZZICATO, the Luxembourg-based prestigious music portal, published a review of the newest release by the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra containing the recording of Symphony in E minor, Op. 16 by Grzegorz Fitelberg. The record, which is the world phonographic premiere of the piece, has been awarded a high grade of five notes!
Full text of review:
https://www.pizzicato.lu/fitelbergs-erste-in-grandioser-ersteinspielung/