Roman Statkowski - Piano Works, Vol. 2 (Barbara Karaśkiewicz)

Information

Composer: Roman Statkowski

• 2 Idylles, Op. 18
• 3 Obereks, Op. 22
• 3 Mazureks, Op. 24
• 3 Piécettes polonaises, Op. 9
• 3 Krakowiaks, Op. 23
• 6 Pièces, Op. 16

Barbara Karaśkiewicz, piano

Date: 2008 / 2020

Label: Acte Préalable

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Review

This is the second volume in a series devoted to Roman Statkowski’s piano music. As before, pianist Barbara Karaskiewicz is our guide. Statkowski was born in 1859, studied music at the Instytut Muzyczny in Warsaw (1872-78), and then in Moscow with Anton Rubinstein amongst others. From 1904 he lived in Warsaw, taught at his alma mater, in 1909 becoming a composition professor there. A dedicated teacher, his professorial activities curtailed his compositional ones and so very few works were written after 1906. Statkowski died in 1925. Szymanowski apparently had held him in high regard, though this would surely have been for his meticulous professionalism and not the compositions he wrote per se.

 

None of the works here is dated in the helpful notes. As he left the conservatory in St Petersburg in 1890 and effectively gave up writing music in 1906 maybe we can date them to the two decades between 1886 and 1906.

 

We have some delightful, mellifluous and ingenious music-making here; an hour’s worth of lyricism and charm. The sets are of dance music, conventional enough sounding pieces, strong on Krakowiaks and Obereks, but the results don’t pall. The First Idyll is cut from a slightly different cloth, being light-hearted with romantic hues and folkloric innocence. There are deliciously fast trills in the second, in A flat major. Karaskiewicz has a fine time in the C major Oberek, its stuttering rhythm bringing amusement and the A flat major full of energetic salon verve.

 

Chopin, perhaps inevitably, haunts the Op.24 set of Mazureks, though Statkowski piles on some strong chordal power in the G minor. The Three Piècettes polonaises Op.9 have good moments; touches of reverie swirl about the first, a Cracovienne, whilst the second – an Oberek – is positively galvanic. The final Dumka tries hard to rid itself of melancholia – but fails. The longest set is the Six Pièces Op.16. They include an extrovert Capriccio, an elegant Impromptu, a pulsing Waltz, a nostalgia laden All’antico (with a lovely music-box B section) and a characteristically busy Auprès de la fontaine.

 

Full marks to this enterprising label, and the dedicated and buoyant Barbara Karaskiewicz, for this delightful recital.

 

— Jonathan Woolf

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Roman Statkowski (24 December 1859 – 12 November 1925) was a Polish composer. He initially pursued law before dedicating himself to music, completing his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire under Rimsky-Korsakov and Solovjov. He achieved notable acclaim for his operas, winning international competitions for Filenis (1903) and Maria (1904). Despite these successes, his conservative style and relatively limited output kept him from broad global fame. Settling in Warsaw in 1904, Statkowski served as a respected professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, mentoring numerous prominent Polish composers.

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Barbara Karaśkiewicz (born 8 May 1975) is a Polish pianist. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Katowice, she earned her doctorate, which focused on the piano works of Roman Statkowski, from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. Karaśkiewicz has won numerous national and international awards, including distinctions at the Karol Szymanowski and Fryderyk Chopin competitions. Her discography features recordings of Statkowski, Szymanowski and Rachmaninov. She currently serves as an associate professor at the Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa and teaches at the Academy of Music in Wrocław.

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