BOLESLAW SZABELSKI (1896-1979): Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, HENRYK GÓRECKI (1933-2010): Refrain, EUGENIUSZ KNAPIK (b.1951): Islands.

Description: Szabelski's bright, brittle and generally neo-classical concertino dates from 1955 and adds a bit of neo-Romantic color to a sound world mainly derived from Bartók, Stravinsky and Bacewicz. Górecki went through four stylistic stages according to one Polish musicologist and Refrain (1965) is assigned to "reductive constructivism", which involves use of clusters, experiments in rhythmic textures and diversified dynamics (what's it sound like? A touch of minimalism and a dark Expressionist quality). Knapik is a member of the generation which reclaimed the romantic tradition from the avant-garde dominated in the early 60s by Penderecki and others. The 1983 Islands is a 17-minute tone-poem complete with program (described in the notes) which shares much in sound and style with the early neo-Romantic Penderecki: a mix of tonality and sonorism. Zbigniew Raubo (piano), Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra; Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk.