A.Tansman: Works for Orchestra -Frescobaldi Variations/Symphony No.4/4 Danses Polonaises/etc (11-12/2005):Marcin Nalecz-Niesiolowski(cond)/Podlasian Opera & Philharmonic SO

Called by some the best-known Polish composer between Szymanowski and Penderecki, Aleksander Tansman is still not all that well-known. Perhaps it's because he never stayed in any one place for too long. Born in 1897, Tansman left Poland for France in the '20s to find fame, left France for the United States in the late '30s to find safety, left the United States for France in the late '40s to find culture, and traveled back and forth to Poland many times starting in the late '60s to reconnect with his native culture. The four works on this 2007 Dux disc all come from Tansman's earlier French period. Although each is well-crafted, brilliantly scored, and highly individualistic, each is also to a greater or lesser extent influenced by Ravel and Les Six: one can hear the neo-classical clarity, high modernist angularity, jazz age harmony, and the entre les guerres irony in every bar. The opening Variations sur un theme de Frescobaldi from 1937 -- a theme, five variations plus coda -- is coolly sentimental and quite lovely. The central Symphony No. 4 from 1939 -- two fast, driven outer movements for full orchestra enclosing a deeply felt Adagio for strings -- is expertly balanced between keen objectivity and profound subjectivity. The closing Quatre danses polonaises from 1931 -- a polka followed by a "Kujwiak," "Dumka," and "Oberek" -- is clearly influenced by Polish folk music but just as clearly retains the lucidity and asperity of French music. The brief but heartfelt encore -- Que la Sauveur des Pains Vienne Maintenant (Nun komm der Heiden Heiland) from Deux Chorals de J.S. Bach from 1939 -- is manifestly an arrangement of Bach's setting of the famous Lutheran chorale, but with its gravity and severity, it is just as manifestly Tansman's orchestration. Persuasively performed by the Symphony Orchestra of The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic directed by Marcin Nalecz-Niesiolowski, this disc will entertain those who enjoy modernist music, enthuse those who enjoy discovering new music, and enlighten those who thought there was no Polish music between Szymanowski and Penderecki. Recorded in Bialystok in late 2005, Dux's sound is comparable to contemporary Supraphon or Hungaroton recordings in its sense of place, time, and space.