Polonica Michał Gondko

• 1Eiusdem nationis01:36
• 2Chorea polonica00:58
• 3Eiusdem authoris00:45
• 4Cantio polonica01:17
• 5Polnischer Tantz No. 101:10
• 6Polnischer Tantz No. 3302:00
• 7Polnischer Tantz No. 1001:15
• 8Polnischer Tantz No. 1901:39
• 9Polnischer Tantz No. 1302:32
• 10Villanella02:48
• 11Villanella polonica01:39
• 12Finale Alberti Dlugoraj00:56
• 13Choreo polonica01:01
• 14Chorea polonica02:22
• 15Chorea polonica02:37
• 16Fantasia01:58
• 17Polskey tanecz welmy pekney02:40
• 18Polnisch tantz01:18
• 19Ein Polnischer Tantz03:24
• 20Praeludium Diomedis01:45
• 21Gallarda di Diomede01:33
• 22Danza [Bassano di Grappa: ca.1600]02:45
• 23Caspari poloni Gagliarda01:47
• 24Fantasia Alberti Dlugorai Poloni02:03
• 25No. 16. A Polish Vilanell01:48
• 26No. 15. A Polish Ayre00:58
• 27Libro de intavolatura, Book 2: Ballo polaco01:25
• 28Mowi na mie sasiada01:04
• 29Ein polnischer Tantz01:36
• 30Autre taned Spolski01:36
• 31Le secret des Muses: Chancon a la Polonnoise Susannesco00:52
• 32Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 20v]02:50
• 33Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 28v]01:12
• 34Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 29v]02:05
• 35Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 30v]02:02
• 36Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 32r]01:53
• 37Allemande01:15
• 38Taned spolski02:10
• 39Galliarda eiusdem authoris01:39
• 40Fantasia Jacob Reys02:15
• Total Runtime01:10:28

Info for Polonica

In addition to the works attributed to the lutenists active at the Royal Polish court in the late sixteenth century, there is a substantial repertoire of compositions identified as ‘Polish dances’ or ‘Polish songs’ which have been preserved in numerous sources of late Renaissance lute music. Characterized by an irresistible melodic charm and a straightforward harmonic and rhythmical texture, such musical polonica spread across Europe, achieving what might have been the widest distribution of musical ‘Polishness’ before Chopin.

Four hundred years later, Polish lutenist Michal Gondko sets out to trace polonica in lute tablatures from around 1600, and presents a selection of forty compositions, many of which have not been previously recorded.

Michal Gondko, Renaissance lute

Michal Gondko
Founder and spiritus movens of LA MORRA. He specializes in performance on Medieval and Renaissance instruments of the lute family.

He received classical guitar training in his native Poland, but eventually abandoned the guitar in order to focus on early plucked instruments.

His earliest professional experiences with 'early music' include an anthology of late Renaissance 'Polish' lute music, recorded in 1997, but released six years later and voted Early Music Release of the Year 2003 by the Polish Recording Producers' Association.

Based since 1997 in Basel, he graduated from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he studied Renaissance lute (with Hopkinson Smith) and medieval plucked instruments (with Crawford Young).

With LA MORRA claiming most of his time and energy, he nevertheless finds room for other projects and has appeared as accompanist and continuo player with various singers and ensembles (including Jordi Savall's La Capella Reial de Cataluña).

As a soloist, he is primarily interested in exploring neglected repertoire for Renaissance lute. A release of music from fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century German keyboard and lute sources (recorded together with Corina Marti) appeared in May 2008.

Booklet for Polonica