Moniuszko Sung Differently

This album, recorded by the choirs of the Choral Academy Project – Singing Poland and the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra conducted by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, was released on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Stanisław Moniuszko’s birth. The album contains works by this composer in a modern arrangement by Roman I. Drozd.

Price: 30 zł

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Album premiere: 2020

Publishers: National Forum of Music, CD Accord

Conductor: Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny

Performers: Paulina Boreczko-Wilczyńska, Aleksandra Sosna, Jerzy Butryn, Sebastian Mach, Katarzyna Neugebauer-Jastrzębska, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, choirs of the Choral Academy Project – Singing Poland

Moniuszko composed both short verse songs, intended for amateurs with limited performing skills, and multi-movement ballad pieces, created with professional singers in mind. According to Stefan Kisielewski: “He found his way not only into noble manors or bourgeois houses, but also to simple thatched houses of the people.” And because he was an excellent melodist, his songs “entered the blood of society, became an integral part of the climate, atmosphere, and style of Polish life (...)”. Thus, Moniuszko blurred the line between elite art and popular art, i.e. art attractive to a wider audience. And none of his works have lost their artistic value.

A similar idea lies behind the Choral Academy Project, the aim of which is to disseminate singing, especially collective singing, which has not only artistic value but also brings psychological and social benefits. This time, the artists worked with the melodies of Stanisław Moniuszko. Roman Ilia Drozd adapted them into a contemporary language that is definitely closer to that of young performers and audiences.

The result was a collection of extraordinary pieces taken from Moniuszko’s operas, the Crimean Sonnets and Songbooks for Home Use, written to the words of outstanding Polish poets. In the new arrangement, they were intended for solo voices, homogeneous choirs, piano, string orchestra and percussion instruments with body percussion elements. […]

The modern arrangements of melodies known for almost two centuries breathed new life into them and gave them a completely different energy. I had the opportunity to see how many positive emotions they evoke among the audience and the commitment of young performers during one of the concerts, in which – in addition to soloists and the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra conducted by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny – several children’s and youth choirs took part. You will find the same energy and joy of making music in this album.

Agata Adamczyk