• WL100/58: ‘old’ Derwid CDs

It’s all happening at once for Derwid, or so it seems.  Polskie Nagrania has announced a new CD of original recordings of Lutosławski’s pseudonymous popular songs from 1957-63, just as Agata Zubel’s CD of modern interpretations has arrived in the shops (see yesterday’s post WL100/57).  Yet PN’s new CD is, apart from two of its 14 tracks, a reissue of another CD that was produced in 2010 and which can be listened to online for free. Confused?  Here’s a run-down of the Derwid discography so far.

2005: Derwid. Lutosławski’s Concealed Portrait (Acte Prealable, APO134).  New arrangements of twelve songs, sung by Mariusz Klimek and an instrumental quartet (keyboards, tenor sax, bass guitar, percussion).

2010: Piosenki Derwida (Studio MTS).  Remastering of twelve recordings published in the 1950s and 1960s on the Muza and Pronit labels.  It somewhat bizarrely includes a bonus track, Le fiacre de Varsovie, a French-language version of Warszawski dorożkarz, sung by the Greek singer Yovanna at the 1962 Sopot Festival in northern Poland.

2013 (PNCD): Piosenki Derwida / Witolda Lutosławskiego. Warszawski Dorożkarz (Polskie Nagrania, PNCD 1503).  A reissue of Studio MTS’s remastering (2010), plus two other period tracks.

2013 (ACD): el Derwid (CD Accord, ACD 192).  New arrangements of eleven songs, sung by Agata Zubel, with Andrzej Bauer (cello) and Cezary Duchnowski (keyboards, computer).

According to the Studio MTS website, its set of twelve period recordings was issued, though I can find no record of its CD number.  In fact, it was never issued commercially, but was available for educational purposes only.  So it is very good that it has now resurfaced – in a different track order – under the PN label.  At the time of writing, the Studio MTS recordings are still available to listen for free online: http://studiomts.pl/NewFiles/Opisy_plyt/Derwid.html.

Here’s an alphabetical list of which tracks you can find on which CDs.  These 20 songs represent just over half of Derwid’s output and there remain some gems yet to be recorded (for a full list of songs and English translations of the titles, see WL100/42: 33 ‘Derwid’ songs published).  I know that in the mid-1990s there still were tapes in Polish Radio of period broadcasts of many of these songs, some in different versions, and also of others not in this list, so perhaps some day they too will be aired again.

• Cyrk jedzie: 2005, 2010 + 2013 (PNCD), 2013 (ACD)
• Czarownica: 2005, 2010 + 2013 (PNCD), 2013 (ACD)
• Daleka podróż: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD), 2013 (ACD)
• Filipince nudno: 2013 (PNCD)
• Jak zdobywać serduszka: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD
• Jeden przystanek dalej: 2005, 2013 (ACD)
• Kapitańska ballada: 2013 (PNCD)
• Milczące serce: 2005 (twice), 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• Miłość i świat: 2005, 2013 (ACD)
• Nie oczekuję dziś nikogo: 2005, 2010 + 2013 (PNCD), 2013 (ACD)
• Plamy na słońcu: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD), 2013 (ACD)
• Po co śpiewać piosenki: 2005
• Tabu: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• Tylko to słowo: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• W lunaparku: 2005, 2013 (ACD)
• W naszym pustym pokoju hula wiatr: 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• Warszawski dorożkarz: 2005, 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• (Le fiacre de Varsovie): 2010 + 2013 (PNCD)
• Z lat dziecinnych: 2005, 2013 (ACD)
• Złote pantofelki: 2013 (ACD)
• Znajdziesz mnie wszędzie: 2005, 2013 (ACD)