The CD series Polish Music Today - Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers was inaugurated in 2013 by Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC in co-operation with Polish Radio SA, thanks to the generous support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Ten audio CDs have been released, each dedicated to one contemporary Polish composer. Different generations of composers, living in both Poland and abroad, are represented in this series. They are:
The composers were actively involved in the project, which made it possible to select works representative of their output in interpretations most valued by the composers themselves. The CD booklets contain texts by authors who were recommended by the composers. Most of the recordings come from the collection of the Library of the Polish Composers Union (live concert recordings from the festivals “Warsaw Autumn' and “Warsaw Music Encounters', the series “Generations', “Composer Portraits”, “Music Now”, and others) and the Polish Radio Archive (including the greatest historical radio recordings), as well as the composers’ private collections (mostly – their own electroacoustic music productions). Moreover, thanks to the kind support of many persons and institutions, we have been able to include studio and concert recordings highly appreciated by the composers, but produced by other institutions and labels (e.g. selections from a concert organised by Polish Music Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA, as well as a studio recording by DUX Recording Producers), and even make new recordings specially for this series: of Tadeusz Wielecki’s piano pieces performed by Małgorzata Walentynowicz (produced by Anna Kasprzycka and Musicon) and a composition for violin and electronics by Magdalena Długosz (Dagna Sadkowska – violin, prod. Ewa Guziołek-Tubelewicz).
The CD series has also been designed so as to promote the performers, who willingly agreed to take part in this project. The CDs contain excellent interpretations by the PNRSO, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, as well as many other outstanding Polish and foreign ensembles, conductors and soloists.
POLMIC plans to continue this project, as well as launching a parallel CD series dedicated to eminent performers and entitled Portraits of Contemporary Music Performers. Demand for this kind of series has become evident during work on the current project and conversations with both the composers and performers.
The Polish Music Today CD series has been released in 500 copies, 300 of which have been distributed by POLMIC free of charge for promotional purposes, and 200 – sold by Polish Radio SA as co-producer. The booklets contain information about the composers, works and their performers in the Polish and English language.
Polish Music Today was promoted at a meeting held as part of the conference What is the Polish Music Market Like? – on Tuesday, 21st January 2014 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.