Discography
TIKTIN
Maria Sławek, Lutosławski Quartet, Tomasz Januchta
After a special event that took place at the Great Synagogue in Tykocin one autumn evening in 2023, we are now presenting you TIKTIN—an album with music performed by Maria Sławek, the Lutosławski Quartet and Tomasz Januchta. The album features outstanding works by Andrzej Panufnik, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Chamber performances of great pieces by the three great composers, recorded live in a remarkable space, give TIKTIN the feel of a close encounter between the artists and the audience.
TIKTIN is the Yiddish name for Tykocin—a charming small town at the border of Mazovia and Podlasie regions which boasts the second biggest and one of the oldest synagogues in Poland. It was there that the music of Weinberg, Panufnik and Bach—composers who have more in common that one might think— resounded on an October evening last year.
Prior to the outbreak of World War Two, Panufnik and Weinberg studied together at the Warsaw Conservatory. Young Mieczysław Weinberg was the first to perform Andrzej Panufnik’s Piano Trio. The war had a significant impact on the lives of both composers—Weinberg fled to the east, to the USSR; Panufnik emigrated to the west, to Great Britain. The home country remained present in the postwar oeuvre of both composers.
On the TIKTIN album, the pieces by two émigré composers are accompanied by the work by Johann Sebastian Bach. Both Weinberg and Panufnik held Bach in remarkably high regard—Ciaccona can be heard in The Passenger opera, Weinberg’s most widely-recognized work.
“Weinberg and Panufnik—I have thought about such an album for a long time now. When I visited Tykocin, I knew straight away that it is an ideal place to perform the violin pieces. Anyway, the Great Synagogue in Tykocin is not merely a place that welcomed us and where the concert took place—it is a performer in its own right on this record,” says Maria Sławek, a violinist and prime mover behind this musical project.
“For many years I have been popularizing the works of Polish-Jewish composers, spread the knowledge about Jewish history, music, and culture. Last year’s autumn evening in the Great Synagogue in Tykocin was a moving experience not only for me and the wonderful musicians who joined me on the stage, but also for the listeners gathered in this unique place,” says Maria Sławek.
“This album would not exist without the support of several dozen people who donated the realization of my dream through an online fundraising campaign. I am very grateful for this. Thanks to them, the sounds recorded at that time can reach a wider audience,” adds the artist.
The album was released on 22 March 2024 by Orphée Classics, in cooperation with the Mieczysław Weinberg Institute. “TIKTIN” is available on the most popular streaming platforms. You can a buy CD here.
PATRONS AND PARTNERS:
Mieczysław Weinberg Institute Foundation
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Podlaskie Museum in Białystok
National Forum of Music (NFM)
Society of Authors ZAIKS
Dwojka Polish Radio
M. Weinberg – Rhapsody od Moldavian Themes
CD single from the upcoming album TIKTIN
Maria Sławek – violin
Lutosławski Quartet
Tomasz Januchta – double bass
Maciej Zimka – Out of the circle
Maria Sławek & Maciej Zimka – Sonata for violin and accordion
Requiem Records 2021
https://www.empik.com/out-of-the-circle,p1291537505,ebooki-i-mp3-p
Rejoice Maria Sławek/Marcin Zdunik (2020)
Two people – that’s all it takes to carry on an interesting and inspiring conversation. Twoinstruments constitute also the smallest possible ensemble – the dialogue between them is inherently intimate and unique. This perception becomes even clearer, when a piece is being played by two string instruments, which – although differing in timbre – are inextricably intertwined. We had thought about recording a duet record for a long time, as we have been playing together for several years now, in various chamber formations – from a duet to a string sextet. (…) The pieces on this record have a special link: each of the composers whose works we have recorded, refer in a certain way to Johann Sebastian Bach. In the case of Eugène Ysayë, it is a direct, thematic reference to PartitaNo. 3 in E major and to polyphonic voices in the following movements: “Malinconia” and “Dance des ombres”. Krzysztof Penderecki’s Ciaccona corresponds with Bach not only through its form, but also through the reference to religious content expressed in the title. Sofia Gubaidulina is connected to the master from Leipzig through an openly expressed complete devotion to God (“in a sense, all my compositions can be summarised as sacred music”, says the composer in an interview given to Vera Lukomska), mystical content hidden in sounds, and fascination with perfect, mathematical order and proportions.
Maria Sławek
transl. Maria Borzobohata-Sawicka
Mieczysław Weinberg Sonatas for violin and piano (2015)
Maria Sławek-violin
Piotr Różański-piano
Honor tradition and express his fascination with modernism – this is how, in short, one can characterize Mieczysław Weinberg’s style. It is possible that art which tries to meet the requirements of the two seemingly opposite artistic traditions, is doomed from the start to incomprehension and criticism. For many years Weinberg’s art was treated as something referential and anachronistic. From the 1960s to the 1990s, classical music underwent rapid changes with regards to discovering technical possibilities in the electronic, sonoristic and formalistic experimentations, and the emergence of performance. It is, therefore, no wonder that Weinberg’ music did not fit the modern world in the slightest.
In the recent years there have been a rise in the interest in this great composer’s work – his pieces are being performed on international stages and a growing number of recordings of Weinberg’s music appear every year. We present to you our record, hoping that we have managed to capture our delight over Weinberg’s unique music and share it with our listeners.Maria Sławek (transl.: Maria Borzobohata-Sawicka)
Schumann&Prokofiev sonatas for violin and piano (2012)
Maria Sławek-violin
Piotr Różański-piano
Portrety współczesnych kompozytorów polskich – Anna Zawadzka-Gołosz
Spettro na skrzypce, fortepian i orkiestrę symfoniczną (2013) 13’46’’ Nagranie live: koncert „Generacje XVI”, Studio Koncertowe Polskiego Radia im. Witolda Lutosławskiego w Warszawie, 24 lutego 2013; Maria Sławek – skrzypce, Piotr Różański – fortepian, Polska Orkiestra Radiowa pod dyrekcją Marka Mosia.