A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands Ravel Piano Duo

• Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819 - 1872):
• 1Polonaise in D Major05:27
• Stanislaw Moniuszko: Kontredanse:
• 2Kontredanse: No. 1 in F Major01:07
• 3Kontredanse: No. 2 in F Major00:49
• 4Kontredanse: No. 3 in A Major01:08
• 5Kontredanse: No. 4 in C Major00:58
• 6Kontredanse: No. 5 in G Minor02:21
• 7Kontredanse: No. 6 in D Major01:57
• Wladyslaw Zelenski (1837 - 1921):
• 82 Danses polonaises, Op. 31: No. 2, Masovienne (Version for Piano Duet)06:02
• Ignaz Friedman (1882 - 1948): 5 Waltzes, Op. 51:
• 95 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Allegretto comodo00:47
• 105 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 2 in G Major, Sciolto01:40
• 115 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 3 in A Major, Grazioso, non troppo vivo00:49
• 125 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 4 in C Minor, Quasi andante01:40
• 135 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 5 in D Major, Vivo e ben marcato00:54
• Zygmunt Noskowski (1846 - 1909): Danses masoviennes, Op. 38:
• 14Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Poco allegro03:39
• 15Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 2 in D Major, Allegretto moderato02:06
• 16Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 3 in G Minor, Poco allegro03:25
• 17Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Allegro non troppo03:01
• 18Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 5 in A Minor, Poco moderato e cantabile03:53
• 19Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 6 in F Major, Allegro animato02:50
• Moritz Moszkowski (1854 - 1925): Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43:
• 20Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43: I. Cortège. Allegro ma non troppo04:27
• 21Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43: II. Gavotte. Moderato04:11
• Moritz Moszkowski: Album espagnol, Op. 21:
• 22Album espagnol, Op. 21: I. Allegro moderato02:48
• 23Album espagnol, Op. 21: II. Vivace assai02:20
• 24Album espagnol, Op. 21: III. Con moto03:57
• 25Album espagnol, Op. 21: IV. Moderato e grazioso03:49
• Total Runtime01:06:05

Info zu A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands

The third album of the Ravel Piano Duo from the Polish Kaleidoscope series is entirely devoted to piano dance music originated in the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, Fryderyk Chopin is widely recognised as the most brilliant Polish composer creating this type of works. However, adoring and admiring the craft of Chopin’s art, we often forget about many outstanding artists who have undeniable merits in the promotion of both national and foreign dances. That having been said, the present album includes a number of stylistically diverse dance miniatures of respected Polish artists: Moniuszko, Noskowski, Zelelski, Moszkowski, and Friedman.

Ravel Piano Duo:
Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska, piano
Agnieszka Kozlo, piano

The Ravel Piano Duo
is one of Poland’s leading piano duos. Its members studied under the supervision of Professor Maja Nosowska at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. They developed their skills at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany, as postgraduate students of the duo Hans-Peter Stenzl and Volker Stenzl, gaining a diploma with the highest honours (2005). They have also worked under the guidance of such outstanding musicians as Jan Ekier, Alexander Tamir, Bracha Eden, Berndt Goetzke, Leonard Hokanson, Tomasz Herbut, and members of the Camerata Quartet.

The Ravel Piano Duo has received awards at numer­ous competitions, including the International Piano Competition in Marcopoulo, Greece (Third Prize, the first two prizes were not awarded), the 11th International Franz Schubert Competition in Jesenik, the Czech Republic (First Prize and a special award for the best performance of a work by Schubert) and the Valentino Bucchi International Competition of 20th and 21st‑Cen­tury Music in Rome (Second Prize).

The duo has developed a fine concert career, appearing across Poland and in most European coun­tries. It has a vast repertoire which includes composi­tions both for four hands and for two pianos, from the Baroque period to the present. A special interest in French music resulted in a CD featuring works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. The duo also participated in the recording of a CD with Brahms’s works for cham­ber choir and piano duo (the Fryderyk Prize of the Pol­ish recording industry, 2005) and of a CD with Paweł Łukaszewski’s Symphony No.2 (2012).

From several years the activity of both pianist is concentrated on Polish piano duet’s repertoire, its researches, editing, performing and recording. As a part of this project duet performed many concert in Europe and Asia and recorded three CD’s being the beginning of the longer series. First CD A Polish Kaleidoscope was awarded with prestigious Prize Fryderyk 2016. Its continuation A Polish Kaleidoscope 2 was also nominated for this prize in 2018. Third part of this anthology A Polish Kaleidoscope 3. Dance music for four hands was released in November 2019.

The Ravel Piano Duo has held grants from the Min­ister of Culture and National Heritage and the Zonta International Foundation.

Agnieszka Kozło and Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska also pursue a teaching career as faculty members of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the State Fryderyk Chopin School of Music in Warsaw and numerous music courses.

Booklet für A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands