• New Web Page for Marek Stachowski

A new web page for Marek Stachowski (1936-2004) has just appeared.  It’s partly in English – Biography, Works (an essay by Maciej Jabłoński), Compositions, Prizes and Awards – and partly in Polish – Kalendarium and Wspomnienie (Recollection, by Mariusz Dubaj).  Thanks to the composer and cellist Jacek Ajdinović for drawing this to my attention (his website is in Polish, but there’s an English bio at http://www.myspace.com/jacekwiktorajdinovic).

http://www.marekstachowski.pl

I have exceptionally happy memories of my meetings with Marek: at his home and at numerous concerts and festivals.  His music may have been eclipsed, like that of his fellow Cracovian Zbigniew Bujarski (b.1933), by his better-known contemporaries.  These include not only another Kraków-based composer, a certain Krzysztof Penderecki (b.1933), but also two composers from nearby Katowice, Wojciech Kilar (b.1932) and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010).  But Stachowski’s music is distinctive in its own right and is well worth exploring, not least for its often delicate and lyrical qualities.

This new website doesn’t (yet) have a Discography.  There is at present only one (CD-ripped) recording on YouTube, called ‘One Rose’.  It’s the concluding section from one of his first works, Pięć zmysłów i róża (The Five Senses and a Rose, 1964) for mezzo soprano, flute, xylorimba, trombone and harp, to a text by Tadeusz Kubiak.  It makes for an interesting comparison with contemporary pieces by his more famous colleagues.