ANDRZEJ CWOJDZINSKI (b.1928): Symphony No. 1, KAZIMIERZ ROZBICKI (b.1932): Fading Raptures, KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (b.1933): Cadenza for Violin Solo, GRAZYNA BACEWICZ (1909-1969): Polish Caprice for Violin Solo (Agata Szymczewska [violin]).

Description: Cwojdzinski's 1994 symphony is an essentially conservative Romantic work in the traditional four-movement form. While breaking no new ground, it is a compelling and wholly successful example of its genre which should immediately appeal to anyone whose collection centers around Vaughan Williams and Sibelius and has explored the likes of Moeran and Atterberg. The brief solo violin works are expressive virtuoso showpieces, the Penderecki from the early years of his recent neo-Romantic phase. The Rozbicki is a darkly dramatic tone-poem with a sense of brooding menace punctuated by percussive outbursts and brass glissandi suggesting an unspecified narrative of conflict. By no means atonal, the music is less reliant on conventional harmonic structures than the Cwojdzinski and generally sounds more modern, though it shares a similar expressive potency; the juxtaposition of driven motoric passages with tense, static music has somewhat in common with Panufnik. Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra; Ruben Silva.