Pianophilia

Has anyone anything by either Józef Koffler or Witold Rudzinski? There was a bit by the latter in one of Alfor's volumes, but only one movement from a suite. PWM website draws a blank...

isokani wrote:Has anyone anything by either Józef Koffler or Witold Rudzinski? There was a bit by the latter in one of Alfor's volumes, but only one movement from a suite. PWM website draws a blank...

Verehrtes großes Karnickel,

(Most of) his works have been published by Universal-Edition.
They are out-of-print but seem to be available as print-on-demand issues.
I have the Variations on a theme by Strauss op. 23. The other
piano work published by UE is the Sonatine op. 12.
If I am correct, these works are written in a mild, pleasant sounding twelve-tone technique.

There are some other piano works, but I do not know if they ever have been published.

Provided I get the ok from Sir Henbury-Ballan, I will post the Variations!

All best
alfor (world champion of sheet-music-scanning)

...my nice considers studying in Poland - we notice a slight rightward shift, though.
What is the experience of an "insider"?

Koffler is fine (died 1944) but defintely not any Rudzinski (died 2004).

Malcolm

Dear Malcolm
I had no idea Rudzinski died so recently -- what a long life!

Dear Alfor
Your offer of the Variations is very kind, and most welcome. I am currently awaiting a response re. some unpublished pieces and will let you know what happens.

Re. the situation in Poland: it's rather hard to tell. The government can now appoint bosses of the state broadcasters. This reminds me of how during the previous Labour (so supposedly centre Left) administration a BBC report criticised the government, so they replaced the entire board of directors of the BBC, and threatened removal of financial support via a licence fee. PiS (the new Polish governing party) claim to be cleaning out any remaining communist influence and malingerers. Some would say they are quite paranoid about this, and Kaczynski has made it his life's work, after being sidelined in the initial "uklad" (deal) between solidarnosc and Jaruzelski in 1989. The last lot were up to no good as well: arresting journalists, lots of surveillance, dodgy appointments (last minute in office) to the judiciary, but these actions were not widely reported y because of the party's "liberal" and pro-European credentials. I'm not sure either party is terribly trustworthy to be honest. But this is nothing new anywhere! The PiS do seem to reflect broader beliefs of the non-city population, particularly in the East and the South (where we live), where Catholicism is a really big deal, and where people are not terribly keen on what they see as liberal, EU influences. A lot of fear of the latter is stoked up by the agents of the former: our local priest denounced our pre-school, because it was partially funded by the EU, asking, in a sermon "will the boys have to wear girls' clothes? Don't send your children there" (we did). So a big load of nonsense really, but nothing to worry about.

Caro amico,

thank you for your interesting comment!

Cordiali saluti

alfor

To:
with my sincerest wishes for welfare and happiness!

Józef KOFFLER:
Variations sur une valse de Johann Strauss op. 23

Well-crafted work of medium difficulty and dimensions.
Of a mild 2nd Viennese School style - influenced by his teacher Wellesz
and (slightly) Berg.

Isokani, thank you for your most interesting comments. Today I gained a new respect for the Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski thanks to this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKNbTiI415c
I do keep a close eye on European and US events even though I am far removed from them and present this video without comment or desiring to hijack the thread.

Alfred, thank you for posting the Koffler variations. I've heard about this piece and am delighted to have the chance to play it now.

Thank you Alfor! I will let members know when I have found more Koffler.
There are two CDs on Acte Prealable.

Has anyone score of Różycki's piano concerto op.43? I'll be grateful

Has anyone score of Różycki's piano concerto op.43? I'll be grateful