APOLINARY SZELUTO (1884-1966): String Quartet in E Flat, Op. 72, Violin Sonata in D, Op. 73, Cello Sonata in F, Op. 9.

Description: Szeluto was a lifelong leftist who had to hide from both the Czar and the Nazis during his long life and yet, in 1947, after participating in the "October Revolution" which put Poland under the thumb of the USSR for 42 years, he got no benefit for it from the Polish Communists (for whom he inflated his CV with seven symphonies, an opera and many "hymns to labor" etc. which he never actually wrote). Still, his 17 extant symphonies make him a major figure worth rediscovering. His early (1906) cello sonata is a febrile, intense work with an insistent, nagging theme that will invade your brain and not let go - the stuff of the Scriabineque avant-garde. The other two works, from 1931, are much more conservative and late romantic in spirit. We need to hear more of this composer who was lauded by Godowsky, Busoni and Kreisler! Konstanty Kulka (violin), Andrzej Wróbel (cello), Andrzej Tatarski (piano), Camerata Vistula Quartet.