Mazurkas by DORMAN, M.P. GORECKI, BENGSTON, WOS, GILL, LASKO, NOGUERA PALAU, KANIOWSKA, GERMAN, KULENTI, FORTMANN, PYKA, RAKOWSKI, STROINSKI, VIGELAND, MUNIZ, RITCHIE, YOUSUFI, BLECHARZ, BLOCH BONHOFF
This unique CD presents 25 mazurkas by 20 different composers commissioned by Polish-American pianist Anna Kijanowska for her project aimed at preserving and reviving the art of the Polish mazurka.
Mazurkas have a long and storied history. Contrary to popular belief, the word “mazurka” did not originate in Poland. It is a Western term used to describe three similar but distinct Polish folk dances in triple meter—mazur (or mazurek), oberek, and kujawiak. These dances were known as early as the 16th century, but the word “mazurka” first appeared in Joseph Riepel’s music dictionary, published in Germany in 1752. Originating in the Mazovia region of central Poland, the mazurka evolved from a lively folk dance into one of the defining musical genres of the Romantic era. It is distinguished by its triple meter, characteristic accents on the second or third beat, and rhythmic flexibility inherited from folk performance. By the late 18th century, the dance had become a favorite of the Polish nobility and soon spread throughout Europe, where composers began producing stylized mazurkas for the salon and concert hall.
The mazurka reached its artistic pinnacle in the hands of Frédéric Chopin, who transformed its Polish dance rhythms into a deeply personal and sophisticated art form combining harmonic innovation, rhythmic subtlety, and emotional depth. While Chopin remains the undisputed king of the mazurka, many other prominent composers made worthy contributions to the genre, among them Szymanowski, Paderewski, Tchaikovsky, Liadov, Scriabin, Dvořák, Debussy, and many others.
Very popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the mazurka fell into obscurity soon after World War II, and Anna Kijanowska’s project attempts to revitalize the genre. She has assembled a truly international cast of composers for this album. They come from the United States (Jeremy Gill, Matthew Bengtson, David Rakowski, Nils Vigeland, John Muniz), Israel (Avner Dorman), Colombia (Carolina Noguera Palau), Ukraine (Lyudmila German), Switzerland (Thomas Fortmann), New Zealand (Anthony Ritchie), Afghanistan (Milad Yousufi), Germany (Thomas Bloch Bonhoff), and, of course, Poland (Mikołaj Piotr Górecki, Łukasz Woś, Agnieszka Lasko, Małgorzata Kaniowska, Hanna Kulenty, Karol Pyka, Mikołaj Stroiński, Wojtek Blecharz).
Only eight of the 20 composers on this album have entries in the Fanfare Archive, and none of them can be considered household names. Łukasz Woś, Avner Dorman, and Mikołaj Piotr Górecki (son of Henryk Górecki) were the only three composers familiar to me. Nevertheless, the music on this CD is of high artistic quality and offers a wide variety of styles. We have the quite Chopinesque entries by M. P. Górecki and Agnieszka Lasko, Impressionistic works by Lyudmila German and Hanna Kulenty, the Jazz Mazurka by Karol Pyka, the sonoristic Mazurka for Solo Piano by Carolina Noguera Palau, the polystylistic Three Mazurkas by Thomas Fortmann, and the avant-garde Mazurka for Piano and 3 Wireless Speakers by Wojtek Blecharz, as well as Grenzland by Thomas Bloch Bonhoff. The size constraints of a single review do not allow me to discuss each composition in detail, but while this album may not contain any groundbreaking masterpieces, all the pieces are well crafted, lively, and entertaining.
It is hard to imagine these mazurkas being played any better. Kijanowska is an accomplished pianist, educator, and champion of Polish music. She is a graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, and Boise State University. She holds a doctorate and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York and currently is a professor of piano at the University of Silesia in Cieszyn, Poland. Kijanowska has a special affinity for mazurkas, having previously recorded an album of Szymanowski’s complete mazurkas (DUX 0417), which was enthusiastically reviewed in 29:6 by Adrian Corleonis, and another disc, Polish Mazurkas (DUX 1868), which was not reviewed in Fanfare.
The recorded sound is rich and vivid. The CD comes in a tastefully designed digipak with an informative booklet in English and Polish and provides almost 78 minutes of pure delight. Recommended without any reservations. Anton Angelo
This article originally appeared in Issue 50:2 (Nov/Dec 2026) of Fanfare Magazine.
