Juliusz Zarębski - Piano Works (Marian Mika)

Information

Composer: Juliusz Zarębski

1. Grande Polonaise in F sharp major, Op. 6
2. Les Roses et Les Épines, Op. 13: I. Andante con moto
3. Les Roses et Les Épines, Op. 13: II. Presto con fuoco
4. Les Roses et Les Épines, Op. 13: III. Andante con moto
5. Les Roses et Les Épines, Op. 13: IV. Allegro molto (quasi Presto)
6. Les Roses et Les Épines, Op. 13: V. Allegro moderato
7. Berceuse, Op. 22
8. Tarantelle, Op. 25
9. Valse, Op. 27 No. 2
10. Melodia, Op. 27 No. 5
11. Valse in A major, Op. 27 No. 6
12. Mazurka

Marian Mika, piano

Date: 2006

Label: CPO

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Review

The CPO label continues its campaign to resurrect forgotten music of the nineteenth century with this disc, and it's come up with at least one winner. Juliusz Zarebski (1854-1885) was a student of Liszt and the recipient of uncharacteristically generous praise from the rather self-centered master. This seems odd at first, for Zarebski's music, though it contains its share of technical difficulties, sounds very little like Liszt, or like Chopin, or the music of other Eastern European virtuosi. The centerpiece here is the five-movement Les roses et les épines (The Roses and the Thorns), and the Liszt connection comes clear when you think about the chronology: Zarebski was working with the aging Liszt, the Liszt who experimented in the fringe areas of tonality and affected (or, who knows, maybe even accepted) a monastic lifestyle. The five movements of Les roses et les épines have free forms and a tendency toward wandering melodies that thicken at times into a quite unexpected exultation. They are quite unusual, and the booklet's claim that they anticipated the coming of Impressionism can't be discounted. (It would be interesting to know how widely diffused Zarebski's music was; he moved on to Belgium from Paris before his untimely death from tuberculosis.) The rest of the music isn't quite so successful; the early Grand Polonaise in F sharp major, Op. 6, suffers from comparison with Chopin's polonaises, and the short pieces of Op. 27, written for student pianists, seem odd choices for a disc intended to introduce a forgotten composer to the world. The booklet is sparse, not giving dates for any works, and not mentioning the mazurka that concludes the disc at all. It might have been nice to know the significance of the title of Les roses et les épines, whose individual movement titles consist simply of Italian tempo indications. Still, Zarebski would seem to be a composer worth getting to know, and Polish pianist Marian Mika's laid-back, dreamy performances are perfectly in tune with the music.

— James Manheim

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Juliusz Zarębski (3 March 1854 – 15 September 1885) was a Polish composer and pianist. Born in Zhytomyr, he studied in Vienna, St. Petersburg, Rome, and with Franz Liszt. Zarębski gained international recognition through successful concert tours and his performances on the innovative two-keyboard piano, notably at the 1878 Paris Exhibition. He later became a piano professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. After developing tuberculosis, he shifted his focus to teaching and composition. Despite his early death at 31, he produced notable works, including the acclaimed Piano Quintet in G minor (1885).

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Marian Mika is a Polish pianist. He studied under Henryk Sztompka and Ludwik Stefański before graduating from the Kraków Academy. He has performed extensively as a soloist and with leading orchestras across Europe, appearing at major festivals and concert venues. He has held academic positions in Poland and the former Yugoslavia, conducted international masterclasses, and served on numerous competition juries. Mika has received prestigious awards for his achievements and made notable recordings, including the first-ever recording of Zarębski's piano works and a Chopin album for Brilliant Classics.

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