Moniuszko: Widma

The latest release of the National Forum of Music and CD Accord features Phantoms- a cantata by Stanislaw Moniuszko according to Part II of Adam Mickiewicz’s Forefather’s Eve. The recording produced by prominent singers- among them Jaroslaw Brek, Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk and Jerzy Butryn, as well as actors, the NFM Choir and Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Andrzej Kosendiak- is the first in the original version, cleared of subsequent editorial changes. The album, which is the world premiere of the recording, is a rarity. The reconstruction of the score was made by Maciej Prochaska, whose commentary was included in the liner notes. Stanislaw Moniuszko is known as “the father of Polish opera” and the author of Songbook for Home Use. However, he was also a creator of cantatas, in which unlike any other Polish composer, he knew how to combine the typically operatic element of drama with characteristic lyricism and the meditative aura of songs. His cantatas are large-scale, multi-movement vocal-instrumental works, containing certain traits of both genres.