This is the third CD in a series dedicated to a type of repertoire that is rare in contemporary music; namely, transcriptions for two pianos. Once again, we set out to discover, first and foremost, the extraordinary space of Roman Maciejewski’s imagination and musical fascinations. The composer’s colourful life story has already become the subject of two films (the biographical Outsider by Stefan Szlachtycz in 1993, and the 1995 TV production I Am Not a Child of My Time scripted by Anna Biedak and Wojciech Maciejewski). In his lifetime, he was praised for his fresh and daring approach to new Polish music, but his monumental Requiem met with an extremely varied reception. Today his music seems to have won its proper place among the works of 20th-century Polish composers. Proof of this can be found in concert repertoires, which now include such pieces as his mazurkas and Piano duo concertante, as well as in attempts to reconstruct his ballet music, in the considerable success of his Kurpie Songs, the numerous performances and recordings of his opus vitae, the already mentioned Requiem.

                  Maciejewski’s music for two pianos, substantial both in terms of its size and artistic quality, now gets its chance for recognition and revival. Notably, this group includes numerous transcriptions and paraphrases, which Maciejewski created in different periods of his life, not only for his own current concert needs, as a unique piano repertoire, but also owing to his predilection for such ways of presenting music. The composer practised the art of arrangement, paraphrase, and improvisation from his earliest years. As a young man he improvised on the piano and organ to earn a living in the hard interwar period. He performed as a pianist both in Poland and after his emigration. He soon gained fame playing both his own pieces and paraphrases of works by other composers. From his early youth he liked to play and write for two pianos, or for piano four hands. He gave concerts with Kazimierz Kranc (in Paris and the USA), Martin Penny, Sixten Eckerberg, and Alex Portnoff (in Sweden) as well as Jerzy Lefeld (in Warsaw).

(Aleksandra Kłaput-Wiśniewska)

ROMAN MACIEJEWSKI (1910–1998)
Transcriptions for two pianos

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
1. Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542   12:12

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
2. Chant sans paroles Op. 2 No. 3   3:01
3. Humoresque Op. 10 No. 2    2:21

Ignacy Jan Paderewski  (1860–1941)
4. Elegy in B flat minor Op. 4   6:19
5. Nocturne in B flat major Op. 16 No. 4   3:34

Fritz Kreisler  (1875–1962)
6. Schön Rosmarin   2:15

Evert Taube  (1890–1976)
7. Potpourri   6:56

Isaac Albéniz  (1860–1909)
8. Navarra   6:21

César Franck  (1822–1890)
Grande pièce symphonique op. 17    21:51
9. Andantino serioso – Allegro non troppo e maestoso   10:12
10. Andante – Allegro   6:27
11. Andante – Beaucoup plus largement que précédemment   5:11

Total time:       64:52