EUGENIUSZ MORAWSKI (1876-1948): Don Quichotte, Ulalume, Nevermore.

Description: Morawski wrote nine symphonic poems, inspired in his youth by the examples of Richard Strauss and of his close friend, Mikolajus Ciurlionis, and producing what is likely to be the only serious competition from a European composer at the time to the originality and sound-world of Szymanowski. Unfortunately, because six of these poems, along with five operas, three symphonies, six string quartets, eight piano sonatas, a piano concerto, two violin concertos and other works were lost in the destruction of Warsaw in the 1944-45 Rising, almost no one know it. Nevermore appeared on a German EDA release back in June 2008 but the other two are likely CD premieres. Ulalume, at 24 minutes and likely dating from the period 1914-1917, is both the longest of these three and the closest to the shimmering, tonality-busting, intoxicating exoticism of Szymanowski's first violin concerto. Sinfonia Varsovia; Monika Wolinska.