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op. 33 no. 1 in G-sharp minor
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op. 33 no. 4 in B minor
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op. 17 no. 1 in B-flat major
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op. 17 no. 2 in E minor
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op. 17 no. 3 in A-flat major
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op. 17 no. 4 in A minor
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no. 1 in E minor
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no. 2 in A major
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no. 3 in C-sharp minor
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no. 4 in B-flat major
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no. 2 in C minor
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no. 1 in A-flat major
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F-sharp major – con moto festoso
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B minor – Andantino
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F-sharp major – Andantino
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D- flat major – con slancio
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no. 1 in F-sharp minor
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no. 2 in D-flat major
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no. 3 in C-sharp minor
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no. 1 in A minor
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no. 2 in E major
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no. 3 in F-sharp major
Program
First Part
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Mazurkas
Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)
Four Mazurkas op. 50
Felix Blumenfeld (1863–1931)
Two Mazurkas op. 35
Intermission
Second Part
Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne op. 9 no. 1 in B- flat minor
Stanislav Lyudkevych (1879–1979)
Nocturne in C-sharp minor
Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877–1952)
Lyrica Nova op. 59
Viktor Kosenko (1896–1938)
Three Mazurkas op. 3
Sergei Bortkiewicz
Three Mazurkas op. 64
Mazurkas and Nocturnes – a Dialogue between Poland and Ukraine
This concert is conceived as a musical dialogue between Poland and Ukraine. Two cultural worlds meet in forms they share: the mazurka and the nocturne. Without Frédéric Chopin, such an evening would be unthinkable. He stands at the origin of both genres in their poetic incarnation and remains their radiant point of reference.
Chopin transformed the mazurka from a folk dance into an intimate musical miniature—rich in subtle rubato, harmonic boldness, and inner tension. With the nocturne, he created a new language of the night: music of stillness, of quiet utterance, of closeness. His works are not descriptions but memories—personal, fragile, and truthful.
From this origin, the evening unfolds further.
A very different path leads to Karol Szymanowski. He came to the mazurka relatively late in his creative life—and opened it to an entirely new perspective. His Mazurkas op. 50 were composed in the Tatra Mountains, inspired by the archaic Gorals’ folk music of Zakopane. Irregular rhythms, raw timbres, and freely unfolding melodic lines merge here with modern harmony and impressionistic luminosity. This music is less dance than soundscape, less salon than mountain range. The cycle is dedicated to Anton Rubinstein—a conscious dialogue between tradition and renewal.
A more refined, lyrical voice is offered by Felix Blumenfeld. Related to Szymanowski by family ties, he was also closely connected to him through frequent joint music-making. Blumenfeld’s mazurkas are imbued with Slavic elegance and cultivated warmth—music of quiet nobility, suggesting more than it states.
The second half of the evening turns more strongly toward the night.
Chopin’s Nocturne op. 9 no. 1 is among the most famous works in the piano repertoire. It is music of floating simplicity, of breathing melancholy. Time seems to stand still; each phrase appears like a gentle thought. This nocturne is less a musical event than a state of being—a moment of inner concentration in which the piano begins to speak without explaining.
This is answered by the Nocturne of Stanislav Lyudkevych, a work of particular intimacy. It was composed on December 24 in the post-war years and is bound to a personal story. On that evening, Lyudkevych played the nocturne for his hostess, the Ukrainian geophysicist and seismologist Olha Olena Yurkevych. In her later writings, she describes a relationship shaped by closeness and distance, simplicity and inner tension—a quiet bond that is reflected directly in the music.
With Sergei Bortkiewicz, the night opens into a broader lyrical space. Lyrica Nova op. 59 may be heard like a novel without words—or like four short poems, four snapshots of inner states. The music is wholly lyrical, deeply romantic, full of songfulness and emotional movement. Not a closed concept, but a free wandering between light and shadow.
The mazurka ultimately returns—transformed by personal experience.
Viktor Kosenko, born in Warsaw, was deeply in love with Chopin’s music. This affinity is clearly audible in his mazurkas: they take up Chopin’s poetic language and expand it with new harmonic paths, shaping a very personal Ukrainian sound world.
The evening concludes once more with mazurkas by Sergei Bortkiewicz—music of salon elegance and Slavic melancholy. Here, the dance becomes again a mirror of inner movement, sustained by nobility and pianistic brilliance.
Thus, on this evening, Poland and Ukraine meet not as opposites, but as kindred voices—connected through mazurka and nocturne, through memory, intimacy, and a shared poetic tradition.
