Six composers – seven quintets – four pianists – one quartet. The latest double-CD album of the Silesian Quartet contains compositions by Aleksander Lasoń, Krzysztof Meyer, Zbigniew Bargielski, Bettina Skrzypczak and Bartosz Witkowski. The quartet is accompanied by pianists: Eugeniusz Knapik, Piotr Sałajczyk, Zygmunt Krazue and Tymoteusz Bies.

This disc by Polish label CD Accord takes the listener on a non-chronological journey along the highways and byways of fugal history. 'The Art of Fugue' once again proves irresistible as a title, but as a musical form at least the fugue offers plenty of diversity and much scope for a composer's imagination. Many of the items in the programme are, to be sure, movements from larger works or arrangements, but the NFM Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra, a subset of the Witold Lutoslawski Philharmonic, has a dark-roasted expressive sound that brings out both the variety and detail in all these pieces.

The String Quartet that Weinberg completed in May 1937 bears no resemblance to the music that young Warsaw composers were fascinated with at that time. It is devoid of any clear echoes of Szymanowskis style or of neoclassicism, the latter being most appealing to the younger generation of composers at the time. It seems that Weinberg was writing from the perspective of a pianist. The result was a three-movement cycle with a slow central movement and a dance-like finale that brings back themes from the beginning of the piece. Weinberg wrote his String Quartet No. 16 (completed in January 1981) at the same time he was working on his Symphony No. 16. While the Symphony was penned in memory of his mother, the Quartet was composed with his sister in mind. He had parted with his loved ones forever in September 1939. His parents and sister were unable to get out of Warsaw in time and four years later they perished in Trawniki concentration camp. 'Many of my works refer to the war' explained Weinberg. 'But it wasnt me who chose that topic. It was dictated by fate, the tragic fate of those who were dear to me. I believe its my moral obligation to write about the war and the terrible suffering that our century brought upon people.'

‘We already know that he was an outstanding composer, the only musician who, while working in a country during the hardest period for the nation, in such adverse conditions, with the strength of his talent and character, stubbornness and perseverance, gained a position of exceptional importance,’ Witold Rudzinski writes in his book about Stanislaw Moniuszko. Due to historical and political circumstances, the artistic achievements of this Polish composer are a special part of the Polish national idiom. His operas (Flis, Halka, The Countess, Paria, The Haunted Manor, Verbum nobile) and songs became an excellent carrier of patriotic content. The latter, in terms of quantity, constitutes the vast majority – Moniuszko wrote approximately 300 songs.