We invite you to a recital of the outstanding organist Andrzej Chorosiński, during which we will hear three masterpieces. Only one of them was originally conceived by the composer as an organ composition, the other two are arrangements of pieces for a cappella choir and piano.

The concert will begin with the monumental Fantasia and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos, ad salutarem undam by Ferenc Liszt, written in 1850 in Weimar. In it, the composer relied on the chorale from the first act of the then popular opera The Prophet by Giacomo Meyerbeer, to whom he dedicated his work. The piece consists of three episodes: the first is a moderately paced fantasy that develops to a powerful climax, the second, bright and cheerful in sound, is in turn kept at a slow pace, and the whole is crowned with a fugue with a powerful, luminous apotheosis.

Then we will listen to Agnus Dei by Krzysztof Penderecki, which he wrote at the news of the death of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, and later included it in the monumental Polish Requiem. The work was heard for the first time during the mourning ceremony of the cardinal on May 31, 1981 in the Cathedral Basilica of St John the Baptist in Warsaw. The composition begins slowly, in quiet dynamics, evoking a mood of prayerful concentration. The music gradually becomes more and more passionate and expressive, and after the poignant, marked in the score quasi in grido (almost like a scream) climax on the word peccata (sins), it is softened again and slowed down.

The last piece in the concert programme, the suite Pictures at an Exhibition, is one of the most famous works by Modest Mussorgsky. It was created as a tribute to the composer’s friend, painter Wiktor Hartmann. The Russian artist added music to his friend’s paintings. The individual movements include the melancholic Old Castle, Cattle, the playful Ballet of Unhatched Chicks a musical portrait of a rich and poor Jew, i.e. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle, a spooky The Hut on Hen's Legs and the monumental Great Kiev Gate. Mussorgsky’s suite was originally intended for piano, but quickly began to be arranged for other ensembles. The best known is undoubtedly the arrangement prepared for a great orchestra by Maurice Ravel. During this concert, the piece will be performed in a version prepared by the German composer Oskar Gottlieb Blarr and Andrzej Chorosiński.