Tradition!! Jewish tradition in European Music

Gustav Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony no. 5 Anton Rubinstein: Piano Concerto in d-minor   Rafał Lewandowski, piano (Poland) Felix Mendelssohn: Italian Symphony The program emphasizes the unique influence of the Jewish tradition and philosophy on classical music. Fri., Oct. 24, 2008, 8pm • Trinity-On-Main, New Britain ...more >

Concert Notes:

Rafal Lewandowski - Bio:

The winner of the First Prize at the Conservatoire Nationale de Musique Rueil Malmaison, Rafał Lewandowski He has given concerts and recitals in many European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Danemark, Austria), and several times in the USA.

Rafał Lewandowski studied piano at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, Poland. In 1995 he won a scholarship to attend a master-class in Weimar under direction of the world-famous French pianist Bernard Ringeissen. He continued his work with this eminent musician during a two year period in Paris.

He made his New York debut as a soloist performing with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center. He appears at the many prestigious festivals such as " Rencontres Internationales Frederic Chopin a Nohant", Pennsylvania Music Festival, Summer Music Festival in Łańcut. In 1999 proclamed by Unesco The Year of Fryderyk Chopin he gave the piano recital in the French Senate (Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris).

Rafał Lewandowski made recordings for TV France3, TV Muzzik, Polish Radio & TV.

He devotes much time to chamber music and collaborates with renowned instrumentalists, singers and conductors

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Symphony No. 4 in A major- by Felix Mendelssohn, commonly known as the Italian Symphony. The work has its origins, like the composer's Scottish Symphony and the orchestral overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), in the tour of Europe which occupied Mendelssohn from 1829 to 1831. Its inspiration is the colour and atmosphere of Italy. The Italian Symphony was completed in 1833, and was first performed in London at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert. However, Mendelssohn remained unsatisfied with the composition and even wrote an alternate version of the second, third, and fourth movements. He never published the symphony, which only appeared in print after his death.
 

Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor, op. 70- by Anton Rubinstein is a Romantic concerto that was once highly esteemed and was in the repertoire of the Russian and Polish piano virtuosos Sergei Rachmaninoff and Jan Paderewski. Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), himself a renowned pianist, left five piano concertos. (He wrote three earlier piano concertos; two were lost and the third was transformed into Octet, Op. 9.) Rubinstein composed the current concerto in 1864. He published two revisions of it and then a final revision in 1872. He dedicated the concerto to the violinist Ferdinand David. We are honored to welcome our friend and coworker Rafał Lewandowski (Poland) to perform this beautiful piece of music with us.
 

Adagietto - The fourth movement of his Fifth Symphony is arguably Mahler's most famous single piece of music, and is the most frequently performed extract from Mahler's works. It is frequently performed on its own because in the early 20th century music programmers did not believe whole Mahler symphonies would be acceptable to audiences. It lasts for approximately ten minutes, and Mahler adds the instruction sehr langsam (very slowly). The Adagietto was also performed at the mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York on 8 June 1968, the day of the burial of Robert Kennedy.


 

Discography:
"Chopin in Paris"- recital live / DVD
Chopin- Selected works/ Soliton records ( CD)
Chopin - The Sonatas / Soliton records (CD)
Mozart - Piano Concertos / ( CD)