Zygmunt Krauze Piano Recital – Works by Polish composers

Zygmunt Krauze ranks as one of today’s best known Polish composers, although he has gained a reputation not only through his own compositions but also as a pianist performing in the concert halls of Europe, America and Asia. At the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he was appointed artistic advisor to IRCAM in 1982 and he headed the Polish chamber ensemble Warsztat Muzyczny (which he founded) for 25 years. His achievements have been acknowledged with several French and Polish state honours. This Budapest concert features his own works and pieces by 20th century Polish composers. To this day, Fryderyk Chopin remains the single towering figure of Polish music: his folk-inspired works created the foundations of Polish national music. His oeuvre had a huge influence on turn-of-the-century Polish artists, among them Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who himself composed primarily Romantic piano pieces, and Karol Szymanowski, who was intensely preoccupied with the idea of further developing the national style. Although Witold Lutosławski struck a completely individualistic tone in his own works, in his youth folk music left a deep impression on him. For the first half of the concert, Zygmunt Krauze supplements works with his own improvizations and then after the intermission he performs not only own works but a piece each by two composers little known in Hungary, Tomasz Sikorski and Bogusław Schaeffer.