The “Serenade” was the orchestral debut of Mieczysław Karłowicz, the then 20 year-old student of composition of Heinrich Urban in Berlin. It was the 1897. Karłowicz was content at that time to write for the strings.
When composing the “Three Pieces in Old Style” in 1963 Henryk Górecki did not give the work an opus number. Whot turned out to be one of his most popular and most frequently performed works was then considered by Górecki an insignificant composition.
Having written “Orawa” for strings in 1986 and two years later the “Chorale Prelude”(originally conceived as introduction to “Orawa”), Wijciech Kilar, preoccupied with film sound-tracks, did not compose another concert work (the “Piano Concerto”) until 1997…
Present amidst the three composers whose pieces are featured on this CD is the spirit of the composer of the modernist “Overture in E major Op. 12 (written in 1905 when Karłowicz, having comleted “Returning Waves”, was busy with sketches to “Eternal Songs”), the “Stabat Mater” Op. 53 (1926) and the ballet “Harnasie” Op. 55 (1931). Of course I have in mind here Karol Szymanowski. He can be described as a distant reference point and a sort of common denominator for the three pieces on this CD, dating from 1897, 1963 and 1986. Another common denominator is their deep presence in the Polish musical conciousness (sub-consciousness?), so deep in fact that they all attained the status of classical music hits… Andrzej Chłopecki 1998 – CD booklet.

CDAccord · ACD047- Karlowicz, Gorecki, Kilar