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A Witold Szalonek Double Portrait Released by ANAKLASIS

Dec. 01, 2024

A four-disc edition of the albums Songs of Silesia and Connections (ANA 033 & ANA 034) with vocal and instrumental compositions by the Silesian master, Witold Szalonek, was released on December 3. Szalonek once commented, "Art, and...also music to a significant extent, is a key ingredient of social bonding and human communication. Without art, humans become stunted. This is the knowledge, unsystematized though it still may be, that I have derived from my work with choirs." Szalonek claimed that his art was a search for the instrument’s musical soul, and his music, in general, could be described as a "search." The half-century of Szalonek's work as a composer was filled with experimentation using traditional elements, and the construction of his individual language was based on classical foundations with a study of Bach and Chopin and attentive listening to the sounds of his immediate surroundings, including folk music.

The album SONGS OF SILESIA (ANA 033) comprises a collection of the Silesian master’s vocal pieces, which perfectly reflect his broad horizons. Szalonek was a visionary and an innovator, but also an artist inspired by local folklore (e.g., On Johnnie’s Cathy, Katowice Ballad, From Opole Region, Silesian Folk Ballad for solo soprano and mixed choir) and by religious subjects (Litany of Loreto – to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Miserere). His music could be charmingly simple or extraordinarily complex. On this album, Szalonek's vocal works are performed by the Camerata Silesia Katowice City Singers’ Ensemble under Anna Szostak.


Dyptyk I: Srebrne preludium by Witold Szalonek, from Songs of Silesia, ANA 033

The CONNECTIONS album (ANA 034), features selected instrumental compositions by Szalonek, from his oldest (his student work – Toccata polyphonica for string orchestra of 1954, as well as the cycle that brought him international recognition, Confessions. Triptych to Words by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna for speaking voice, mixed choir, and chamber orchestra of 1959) to his last works (such as L’Hautbois mon amour of 1999, the composer’s confession of his love for the oboe, written for a solo performer, here – NOSPR principal oboist Maksymilian Lipień). Additional performers on the album include bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, flutist Ania Karpowicz, alto Urszula Kryger, narrator Joanna Freszel, the Camerata Silesia Katowice City Singers’ Ensemble, and AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy.


Wyznania: I by Witold Szalonek, from Connections, ANA 034

To learn more and purchase Songs of Silesia and Connections, visit anaklasis.pl.
To learn more about Witold Szalonek, visit pwm.com.pl.

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