A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands Ravel Piano Duo

• Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819 - 1872):
• 1 Polonaise in D Major 05:27
• Stanislaw Moniuszko: Kontredanse:
• 2 Kontredanse: No. 1 in F Major 01:07
• 3 Kontredanse: No. 2 in F Major 00:49
• 4 Kontredanse: No. 3 in A Major 01:08
• 5 Kontredanse: No. 4 in C Major 00:58
• 6 Kontredanse: No. 5 in G Minor 02:21
• 7 Kontredanse: No. 6 in D Major 01:57
• Wladyslaw Zelenski (1837 - 1921):
• 8 2 Danses polonaises, Op. 31: No. 2, Masovienne (Version for Piano Duet) 06:02
• Ignaz Friedman (1882 - 1948): 5 Waltzes, Op. 51:
• 9 5 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Allegretto comodo 00:47
• 10 5 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 2 in G Major, Sciolto 01:40
• 11 5 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 3 in A Major, Grazioso, non troppo vivo 00:49
• 12 5 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 4 in C Minor, Quasi andante 01:40
• 13 5 Waltzes, Op. 51: No. 5 in D Major, Vivo e ben marcato 00:54
• Zygmunt Noskowski (1846 - 1909): Danses masoviennes, Op. 38:
• 14 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Poco allegro 03:39
• 15 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 2 in D Major, Allegretto moderato 02:06
• 16 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 3 in G Minor, Poco allegro 03:25
• 17 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Allegro non troppo 03:01
• 18 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 5 in A Minor, Poco moderato e cantabile 03:53
• 19 Danses masoviennes, Op. 38: No. 6 in F Major, Allegro animato 02:50
• Moritz Moszkowski (1854 - 1925): Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43:
• 20 Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43: I. Cortège. Allegro ma non troppo 04:27
• 21 Cortège et gavotte, Op. 43: II. Gavotte. Moderato 04:11
• Moritz Moszkowski: Album espagnol, Op. 21:
• 22 Album espagnol, Op. 21: I. Allegro moderato 02:48
• 23 Album espagnol, Op. 21: II. Vivace assai 02:20
• 24 Album espagnol, Op. 21: III. Con moto 03:57
• 25 Album espagnol, Op. 21: IV. Moderato e grazioso 03:49
• Total Runtime 01:06:05

Info for A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands

The third album of the Ravel Piano Duo from the Polish Kaleidoscope series is entirely devoted to piano dance music originated in the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, Fryderyk Chopin is widely recognised as the most brilliant Polish composer creating this type of works. However, adoring and admiring the craft of Chopin’s art, we often forget about many outstanding artists who have undeniable merits in the promotion of both national and foreign dances. That having been said, the present album includes a number of stylistically diverse dance miniatures of respected Polish artists: Moniuszko, Noskowski, Zelelski, Moszkowski, and Friedman.

Ravel Piano Duo:
Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska, piano
Agnieszka Kozlo, piano

The Ravel Piano Duo
is one of Poland’s leading piano duos. Its members studied under the supervision of Professor Maja Nosowska at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. They developed their skills at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany, as postgraduate students of the duo Hans-Peter Stenzl and Volker Stenzl, gaining a diploma with the highest honours (2005). They have also worked under the guidance of such outstanding musicians as Jan Ekier, Alexander Tamir, Bracha Eden, Berndt Goetzke, Leonard Hokanson, Tomasz Herbut, and members of the Camerata Quartet.

The Ravel Piano Duo has received awards at numer­ous competitions, including the International Piano Competition in Marcopoulo, Greece (Third Prize, the first two prizes were not awarded), the 11th International Franz Schubert Competition in Jesenik, the Czech Republic (First Prize and a special award for the best performance of a work by Schubert) and the Valentino Bucchi International Competition of 20th and 21st‑Cen­tury Music in Rome (Second Prize).

The duo has developed a fine concert career, appearing across Poland and in most European coun­tries. It has a vast repertoire which includes composi­tions both for four hands and for two pianos, from the Baroque period to the present. A special interest in French music resulted in a CD featuring works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. The duo also participated in the recording of a CD with Brahms’s works for cham­ber choir and piano duo (the Fryderyk Prize of the Pol­ish recording industry, 2005) and of a CD with Paweł Łukaszewski’s Symphony No.2 (2012).

From several years the activity of both pianist is concentrated on Polish piano duet’s repertoire, its researches, editing, performing and recording. As a part of this project duet performed many concert in Europe and Asia and recorded three CD’s being the beginning of the longer series. First CD A Polish Kaleidoscope was awarded with prestigious Prize Fryderyk 2016. Its continuation A Polish Kaleidoscope 2 was also nominated for this prize in 2018. Third part of this anthology A Polish Kaleidoscope 3. Dance music for four hands was released in November 2019.

The Ravel Piano Duo has held grants from the Min­ister of Culture and National Heritage and the Zonta International Foundation.

Agnieszka Kozło and Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska also pursue a teaching career as faculty members of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the State Fryderyk Chopin School of Music in Warsaw and numerous music courses.

Booklet for A Polish Kaleidoscope 3: Dance Music for 4 Hands