Stojowski: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Marek Szlezer, Witold Wilczek, Sinfonia Iuventus & Marek Wroniszewski

• Zygmunt Stojowski (1870 - 1946): Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 3:
• 1 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: I. Andante poco mosso 14:40
• 2 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: II. Romanza. Andante sostenuto e molto cantabile 08:49
• 3 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: III. Allegro con fuoco 10:29
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32:
• 4 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: I. Prologue. Andante con moto 08:06
• 5 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: II. Scherzo. Presto 05:28
• 6 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIa. Tema. Maestoso e moderato molto 01:08
• 7 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIb. Var. 1, Molto sostenuto 01:30
• 8 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIc. Var. 2, Con espressione, poco rubato 01:09
• 9 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIId. Var. 4, Più mosso 01:22
• 10 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIe. Var. 5, Allegretto moderato 00:31
• 11 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIf. Var. 5, Molto vivace 00:31
• 12 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIg. Var. 6, Con fuoco, agitato 01:11
• 13 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIh. Var. 7, Con moto, energico 01:38
• 14 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIi. Var. 9, Andante sostenuto 01:13
• 15 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIj. Var. 9, Andantino ben moderato 02:25
• 16 Stojowski: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 32: IIIk. Var. 10, Allegro molto 08:41
• Total Runtime 01:08:51

Info for Stojowski: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

This long awaited album was released by DUX and features two piano concertos by the outstanding Polish post-Romantic Zygmunt Stojowski, a student and friend of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. It is our great pleasure to be able to remind listeners once again of such a valuable repertoire. We are certain that this new album will bring them much joy and satisfaction!

However, this is not the first encounter with Stojowki’s music for the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. In 2017, alongside pianist Jonathan Plowright and under the direction of Łukasz Borowicz, it recorded the impressive “Symphonic Rhapsody” for piano and orchestra (Warner Classics). The piano concertos included on the CD were composed over a fairly long time interval (1891 and 1913). These compositions cleverly demonstrate the evolution of the composer’s style, as well as his loyalty to the late-Romantic idiom. Delightful in their virtuosity, and thematic and conceptual originality, these works, which were so popular in their time, are interpreted by two highly respected and award-winning pianists, Marek Szlezer (op. 3) and Witold Wilczek (op. 32), under the direction of Marek Wroniszewski (with additional direction by Zofia Guz).

Marek Szlezer, piano (tracks 1-3)
Witold Wilczek, piano (tracks 4-16)
Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Marek Wroniszewski, conductor (track 1, 3-16)
Zofia Guz, conductor (track 2)

Marek Szlezer
was born on September 4th, 1981 in Kraków, in a family of professional musicians. He started to play the piano at the age of five under the tutorship of his mother. From 1994 to 2000 he studied at the “Ecole Normale de Musique "A.Cortot" in Paris, in the piano class of professor Marcella Crudeli, and was one of the youngest graduates to obtain “Diplome Superieure de Concertiste.” He graduated “summa cum laude” from the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, where he studied with distinguished professors Stefan Wojtas and Ewa Bukojemska. He is currently professor of the Piano Faculty at his alma mater. He received a royal scholarship of the Queen Elisabeth’s Music Foundation in Belgium for the academic year 2004/2005 to study at the renowned Chapelle Musicale with Abdel Rahman El Bacha. In June 2005, he received the “Master after Master” diploma, awarded “a l’unanimite.”

His pianistic career started when as a twelve-year old he received Grand Prix at the 4th International Piano Competition in Rome. Since then the pianist has actively performed in Poland and abroad, participating in many important and prestigious music events. He was granted a scholarship of the Ministry of Culture five times, as well as scholarships from Roussel and Amical foundations in Paris and the YAMAHA Foundation Europe. He has participated in master classes conducted by Dmitri Bashkirov, Aldo Ciccolini, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Menahem Pressler, Evgeni Mogilevski, Dominique Merlet and Jean Claude Vanden-Eyden. He has also received lessons from Fou Ts’ong and Kevin Kenner.

Marek Szlezer is an active performer of modern music – he has been selected to participate in Krzysztof Penderecki’s music interpretation class, run by the composer himself. He has also premiered numerous modern compositions written especially for him. His consummate performances of Frederic Chopin’s music have won him numerous prizes: 1st Prize at the National Chopin Competition in Warsaw, 3rd Prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition in Marienbad, a special prize of the Chopin National Edition, and the Polish Radio award at the International Piano Competition "A.Rubinstein in memoriam". He had the honor to play a concert on Chopin’s original piano at the Jagiellonian University on the night Poland entered the European Union. In occasion of composers 205 th Birth Anniversary he has performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Marek Szlezer has performed in such prestigious concert halls as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Palais des Beaux-Arts, St.Martin-in-the-fields, Salle Cortot, Seoul Arts Center, NCPA and Palacio de Bellas Artes. In October 2005, during the opening gala concert for the Queen Elisabeth’s Foundation in Belgium, he performed a Mozart’s concerto accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded for many TV and Radio stations all over Europe and the Middle East.

In year 2009 he has received a doctor’s degree, presenting a thesis about an unknown polish composer Jadwiga Sarnecka, which piano works he has discovered and edited for Polish Musical Editions PWM. He has been also involved in an editing process of Alexandre Tansman Piano concerto for the left hand which he premiered in Poland in a year 2010. Since 2013 he works also as an editor for Eufonium, publishing important piano works of polish composers dating from 19 th and 20 th century. He has gave public lectures and performed at such prestigious universities as: Cambridge University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, UNAM, UNICAMP, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Royal Conservatory in Brussels.

He has recorded several albums for the recording companies Warner Music, Dux, EMI, Amadeus and Moderato Classics receiving an enthusiastic critical acclaim in prestigious musical magazines (among others Gramophone, Kulturspiegel, The Strad, Fanfare, American Record’s Guide). For the CD’s with music of Chopin, Szymanowski, Tansman, Kilar and Penderecki he has received twice the French music critics awards La Clef de ResMusica as well as Gramophone Editor’s Choice, 5 du Diapason, Global Music Awards Outstanding Achievement and various nominations for other phonographic prizes (i.e. Polish Phonographic Awards FRYDERYK). In 2017 his CD has been selected by Hi-fi music magazine as one of the best recordings of the year.

Witold Wilczek
Born on 30 December 1988 in a family with long musical traditions. He received his first piano lessons at the age of four from his grandmother, a concert pianist, who remained his mentor until he began his studies. He completed musical primary and secondary schools in Monika Bylica and Wojciech Cieciora classes. At the age of eighteen, he went to Switzerland where in the years 2007 – 2010 he studied in Hochschule der Kunste in Bern in prof. Tomasz Herbut class. From 2010 he studied in Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in prof. Monika Sikorska-Wojtacha and prof. Zbigniew Raubo classes, graduating in 2015. He perfected his skills at numerous virtuoso courses, with such professors as Dina Yoffe (Kraków, 2004), Andrzej Pikul (Kraków, 2005), Maja Nosowska (Bern, 2009), Lee Kum Sing (Katowice 2012), Anna Malikova (Katowice 2013) and for several years he also has had private consultations with Eugen Indjic. In 2021 he has received a PhD title with distinction at Krzysztof Penderecki Krakow Music Academy. His work, written under supervision of prof. Mariusz Sielski, was focused on the legacy of forgotten Russian composer - Alexei Stanchinsky. During his PhD studies, Witold received a research grant for a library inquiry in Moscow where he studied manuscripts of Stanchinsky compositions and consulted with pianists from Moscow State Conservatory - Ekaterina Derzhavina and Alexander Malkus.

He is a scholarship holder of the Swiss Lyra foundation, Polish Ministery of Culture and Heritage and the Polish Bielecki Art foundation. In 2011, he was nominated for the „Artystyczna Nadzieja Miasta Kraków“ title (Artistic Hope of Cracow City). Despite being a winner of piano competitions (Concour Musical de France – Grand Prix, categorie quatre mains, Paris, 2000; Premio Accademia Romana - 3rd prize, European Commission special prize, Rome, 2013; VI International Chopin Competition – honourably mentioned, Budapest, 2014, I International Tkaczewski Competition - finalist, Busko Zdrój, 2016), the idea of competing in art is completely alien to him.

He gives numerous concerts in Poland and abroad (Germany, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, France, USA, UK) as a soloist and chamber musician. He performed, among other things, at „Printemps Musical d'Annecy“ (Annecy, France, 2011), "Accademia Festival" (Saracinesco, Italy, 2015) and II Polish Music Festival (Petropavlowsk Khamchatka, 2019). Since 2007 he has appeard over 80 times a year in solo Chopin concerts in Kraków. In 2011, he did a concert tour in France where in addition to recitals he also held master courses in Paris and Chambery. The concerts were followed by excellent reviews and invitations for more concerts in this country (for instance in the prestigious Musée Grenoble). In 2019 he toured Russia from Moscow to Khamchatka playing both solo and in duo with soprano Łucja Czarnecka.

In 2012 Witold recorded his debut solo CD for Bielecki Art Foundation containing solo works by Paderewski, Bielecki and Chopin. In 2019 next album with complete Karłowicz songs, recorderd with soprano Łucja Czarnecka, was released by Music Info. In 2021 Polish biggest label DUX issued his second solo album dedicated to music of Alexei Stanchinsky which got excellent reviews in world press. In 2021 Witold has made his debut symphonic recording playing Stojowski 2nd Piano Concerto with Iuventus Orchestra under Marek Wroniszewski, yet again for DUX label.

He cooperates with numerous artists. Among them are Łucja Czarnecka (soprano), Julia Malik (soprano, cello), Jacek Szymik (clarinette), Zbigniew Stępniak (bas profondo) and Janusz Bielecki (composer). He also shared stage with orchestras Giardino d'Amore, Toruń Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Iuventus led by conductors Marta Gardolińska, Anna Duczmal-Mróz and Marek Wroniszewski.

Witold is a keen pedagogue, accompanist and a coach, working currently on all educational levels, from primary school to the academy.

Booklet for Stojowski: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2