Printemps à Varsovie

Printemps à Varsovie traces a century of Polish identity through the intimate lens of the flute-and-piano duo, from the interwar embrace of French neoclassicism to the crushing weight of Stalinist censorship and, finally, a new generation writing freely. Alexandre Tansman’s 1924 Sonatine, written in Paris and laced with polonaise rhythms and fox-trot, opens the program’s exploration of exile and belonging. Mieczysław Weinberg’s Twelve Miniatures (1945), composed during his fragile peace in Moscow under Shostakovich’s protection, sit alongside Andrzej Panufnik’s Hommage à Chopin, a work he was barred by Stalinist authorities from even attending the premiere of — and which he later revised in London exile. Wojciech Kilar’s student Sonatina and Witold Lutosławski’s radio-drama miniatures Trzy Fragmenty reveal how composers who stayed in Poland smuggled French-inflected craft past the censors, while Aleksandra Chmielewska’s Mohawk Tale (2017) closes the album with a contemporary voice still drawing on oral storytelling traditions.

Flutist Gala Kossakowski and pianist Luis Arias, recording at the Auditorio Manuel de Falla, use this repertoire to map how Polish musical identity was forged, suppressed, and ultimately renewed — dedicating the album to the memory of Krzysztof Kossakowski and Agnieszka Kossakowska.

Gala Kossakowski – flute
Luis Arias Fernández – piano