“Record-wise”, 2024 was a very productive year for Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra: music market saw the ensemble release as many as five albums, two of which were additionally pressed in vinyl versions.

The album to have attracted most attention was “Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection”, which in January 2025 was honoured with one of the most prestigious music prizes in the world, the International Classical Music Award (ICMA 2025). It was the second time Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra garnered the great trophy: in 2018, the album Quo vadis by Feliks Nowowiejski was also recognised with an ICMA. Furthermore, one also has to mention the several nominations held by the ensemble. Conducted by Łukasz Borowicz, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra recorded “Urlicht” with Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone) and the boys’ voices of The Poznań Nightingales, the Boys and Men’s Choir of Poznań Philharmonic. The album was published by the record company Harmonia Mundi.

Released in two versions, as CD and limited-edition collector LP, “Symphony in F Major, Op. 14 Polonia” by Emil Młynarski (Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor) was published by DUX. As Łukasz Borowicz writes in the album booklet, the recording was inspired by a desire to promote one of the most interesting symphonies of its time, an apex achievement (side by side with Karol Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 2) of the post-Romantic vein in Polish music, and, simultaneously, one to complement the picture of the early-20th century Polish symphonic music. The concert recording and publication of Polonia was made with financial assistance from Culture Promotion Fund, a state earmarked fund of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, under “Musical Trace” programme operated by the National Institute for Music and Dance.

For many years Poznań Philharmonic has been promoting works by Franz Xaver Scharwenka, the composer born to a Polish-German family in Szamotuły. Not only are his pieces performed at philharmonic concerts, but also find their way to records. The newest, “Franz Xaver Scharwenka, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 32; Symphony in C Minor, Op. 60” (Jonathan Powell – piano, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) was published by cpo, just months before the centenary of the composer’s death, which was marked on 8 December 2024. The album cover features reproduction of Wojciech Weiss’ painting Pocałunek na trawie, or Kiss on the Grass, from the collection of the National Museum in Poznań, which kindly made it available to Poznań Philharmonic.

Kompozycja abstrakcyjna, or Abstract Composition, by another Polish painter, Władysław Strzemiński, which has kindly been shared with us by the Museum of Art in Łódź, decorates the cover of the CD and LP of Andrzej Panufnik’s works. Published by RecArt, the concert recording “Andrzej Panufnik, Nocturne / Fantasia” (Clare Hammond – piano, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) contains the Polish premiere performance of the latter piece.

Recorded at the 28th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the concert album “Darius Milhaud, Salade, Op. 83 / Le pauvre matelot, Op. 92” (Magdalena Lucjan – soprano, Natalia Rubiś – soprano, Krystian Krzeszowiak – tenor, Krzysztof Lachman – tenor, Mateusz Zajdel – tenor, Robert Gierlach – baritone, Adrian Janus – baritone, Wojciech Gierlach – bass, Łukasz Borowicz – conductor, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra) was the last release of 2024. Developed in collaboration with Stowarzyszenie im. Ludwiga van Beethovena (Ludwig van Beethoven Association) and published by DUX, the album contains the concert performance of yet another opera presented by Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under Łukasz Borowicz within the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival’s “Nieznane opery”, or “Unknown Operas” cycle.