Aleksandra Brejza is a graduate of the Department of Composition and Theory of Music of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the composition class of Prof. Franciszek Wozniak. She participated in the Young Composer Courses organized by the Polish Composers’ Union (1988) and in the International Composers’ Courses held as part of the Bartók Seminar in Szombathely, Hungary (1992).

Sergei Bortkiewicz's artistic path was shaped by the history and geopolitics of the turbulent 20th century. He was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as a Russian of Polish descent; he received his education in St Petersburg and Berlin; after fleeing from revolutionary Russia, he worked in Constantinople; he spent the last decades of his life in Vienna, where he escaped from Nazi-controlled Berlin. All the above had an effect on his piano output – he was influenced by the music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff, an incurable romanticist and lyricist, looking in his compositions for the beauty of the melody.

Here we have a complete set of songs by Grazyna Bacewicz and a selection of songs by Ludomir Rózycki. All of them were written for texts of outstanding Polish poets, including Wyspianski, Mickiewicz, and Galczynski. Songs were recorded by award-winning musicians: young soprano Joanna Freszel and respected pianist Bartlomiej Kominek, two friends who were united by passion for beautiful songs.

Grażyna Bacewicz is one of the most famous composers of the last century. She was distinguished by a bold, experimental approach to music and, at the same time, an excellent compositional technique, characterized by precision and predilection for an orderly form. This made her belong to the Neoclassical trend, which is reflected by the Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952) featured on the album. The second piece of this genre, Piano Quintet No. 2, was written in 1965 and shows a new, sonoristic approach to the sound matter, but it is still kept in Bacewicz’s elegant and at the same time temperamental compositional idiom.

Messages Quartet has been founded in 2014 and in just a year won the Second Prize, Silver Medal and a Special Award for interpretation of Shostakovich’s Quartet in the Second International Competition of Chamber Music in Plovdiv (Bulgaria, X 2015). The Quartet has also been recognized by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage and in February 2016 awarded a grant under “Young Poland” Scholarship Programme, thanks to which in 2017, the debut record of the ensemble containing the recording of string quartets by Szymon Laks was released by the record company DUX. The album received excellent reviews in the French, German, British, American and Polish press. This newest release showcases music from Stanislaw Moniuszko, Andrzej Panufnik, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

’Genesis’ is the debut album from accordionist Bartosz Glowacki, containing music from various eras and styles including works by D. Scarlatti, Arvo Part, and Piazzolla.