Chopin University Press - Zygmunt Noskowski: Complete Works for Piano Duet (2022)

2021 was the 175th anniversary of the birth of Zygmunt Noskowski - one of the greatest and most unfairly forgotten Polish composers of the second half of the 19th century. He worked in almost all known musical genres at the time. He devoted ten opuses (nearly 200 minutes of music) to pieces for piano duo, which include compositions originally written for four hands and original orchestral transcriptions.

The presented album contains the first ever complete recording of Noskowski's works for a piano duo in the masterful interpretation of Ravel Piano Duo (Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska and Agnieszka Kozło). The recording was made by Marcin Domżał in the concert hall of the Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Center in Lusławice. This music, written in the late-Romantic style, perfectly reflects the diversity of Polish (including borderland) musical culture of the 19th century. It contains pieces composed both for the needs of home amateur music-making, as well as suitable for use in concert practice - artistic stylizations characterized by a high originality of sound.

“We must be aware that we are in the process of removing the veil of silence and disregard for the works of Noskowski and many of his contemporaries. We still cannot fully define all the features of their individual style. We have to start by getting to know their works, by introducing them into the circulation of national culture. This album is another step in this direction ”(Maciej Negery).