Kwartet Śląski and Guests / First Concert from the Series: Aleksander Tansman in France

Performers
Kwartet Śląski:
Szymon Krzeszowiec - first violin
Arkadiusz Kubica - viola
Piotr Janosik - cello
Krzysztof Firlus - double bass
Łukasz Chrzęszczyk - piano

Programme
Aleksander Tansman - String Quartet No. 2
Aleksander Tansman - Tombeau de Chopin for string quintet
Igor Stravinsky - 3 pieces for string quartet
César Franck - Piano Quintet

Kwartet Śląski encountered the music of Aleksander Tansman at the very beginning of their artistic journey. In this author-curated concert series, the ensemble returns to his work, creating a coherent narrative about the composer born in Łódź who found his artistic home in the circle of Parisian intellectuals at the turn of the 20th century. The subsequent concerts under the banner "Aleksander Tansman in France" present Tansman's chamber music and introduce other composers from his French circle.

"It is the purest musical form - in a quartet you cannot cheat," Tansman used to say. His catalogue includes nine string quartets. The second was composed in Paris in 1922 and dedicated to the composer's future wife, Annie Eleonore Brociner. Critics noted the work's melodic quality and distinct influences of Polish folk music. In 1949, commissioned by UNESCO for the centenary of Chopin's death, Tansman wrote Tombeau de Chopin - a brief composition structured in the romantic style: Nocturne, Mazurka, Postlude.

A different colour comes from Igor Stravinsky's 3 pieces for string quartet from 1914, which echo the rhythmic and timbral qualities of The Rite of Spring, composed just a year earlier. The programme concludes with Cézar Franck's Piano Quintet - a work coldly received by contemporaries but valued today for its symphonic scope and compositional craftsmanship.