Polish musicians win major award for Panufnik set

He received the prestigious distinction for the 8-CD set featuring the complete symphonic music by the Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik recorded for the German label CPO (Classic Produktion Osnabrück).

In most of the works Borowicz conducted the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, in some – the Konzethausorchester Berlin, and the soloists featured in the recordings are Łukasz Długosz (flute), Ewa Kupiec (piano), Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Sarah van der Kemp (mezzo-soprano), Michael von Schönermark (bassoon) and Raphael Wallfisch (cello).

The Panufnik ‘Symphonic Works’ project was launched in 2010 and was completed last year, the centenary of the composer’s birth.

Thirty-seven-year-old Łukasz Borowicz has served as Music Director of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2007.

He has appeared as a guest conductor with many European orchestras and has done a great deal to re-discover in concert performance and recordings with the Polish Radio SO the almost forgotten works, such as the operas Lodoïska by Cherubini, Roman Statkowski’s Maria, Spohr’s Berggeist, Grażyna Bacewicz’s The Adventures of King Arthur, Weber’s Euryanthe and Szymon Laks’s L’hirondelle inattendue.

His recordings have been named the BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Choice (August 2010) and awarded the Diapason d’Or (March 2010).

His current project for CPO (with the Polish Radio SO) is the recording of the ballet suites by the Polish composer Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986).

The International Classical Music Awards were inaugurated in 2011, and the winners are picked by a jury of international music critics. (mk)