Zygmunt Noskowski: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 ‘Elegijna’ – Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz & Antoni Wit

Few listeners know much, if anything, about Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909), even though Szymanowski featured among his distinguished students and Moniuszko among his renowned teachers. And yet, for most of the 19th century, Noskowski was the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland. As a conductor and concert organiser, he himself championed the causes of forgotten Polish composers. Now it’s the turn of Antoni Wit, who succeeded Noskowski at the helm of the Warsaw Philharmonic 94 years after his retirement, to raise the profile of his late-romantic colleague, having similarly promoted the music of Zygmunt Stojowski on a previous Capriccio recording (C5464).

Reviews

Presto Music August 2023

“A former Music Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, Noskowski was also one of the most prominent Polish composers of the late nineteenth century, but recordings of his music are few and far between. His compatriot Wit does him proud here, revelling in the Polish dance-rhythms which pepper the scherzos of these two symphonies from the 1870s and pacing the sweeping outer movements of the ‘Elegijna’ (echoes of Schumann and shades of early Tchaikovsky here) to perfection.