Warsaw Philharmonic in Szymanowski and Beethoven

Der Youngster Jan Lisiecki läuft den alten Hasen der Warschauer Philharmoniker in Essen den Rang ab. 

Warsaw Philharmonic celebrates the 100th anniversary of Polish independence with performances of great local composers – Lutoslawski, Szymanowski and Szabelski – and Debussy’s La Mer for good measure.

Given the spate of visually distracting, if not irksome productions which seem to blight the opera world these days, there is something to be said for concert performances.

Surprisingly, this was the Warsaw Philharmonic’s first visit to the Proms, invited as part of this year’s focus on Polish music. About time too, one might say, and particularly so with it being both Lutosławski’s centenary year (and almost Panufnik’s too, shy by a year), and this the farewell concert of outgoing Artistic Director of twelve years, Antoni Wit.

This concert by Poland’s national orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, attracted a near-capacity audience which had in it a fair sprinkling of members of the local Polish community, judging from overheard conversations and some shouts of “Jeszcze raz!” (“More!”) at the end.

After more than 40 years, Szymanowski's Król Roger returned to Berlin with the Poznań Opera Orchestra and Jacek Kaspszyk on the podium - but the result was not exactly ecstatic.