Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, one of the oldest and most respected orchestras in Germany, founded in 1833, will grace Wrocław together with the excellent Fauré Quartett piano quartet, whose line-up has remained unchanged for twenty-eight years. The musicians will be led by the German Japanese conductor Elias Grandy, who has been Artistic Director of the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg for the last eight years. The concert programme features works by Grażyna Bacewicz and Aleksander Tansman and will be crowned with Anton Bruckner’s monumental Fifth Symphony, called Fantastique by the composer.

Bacewicz’s brilliant, youthful Scherzo from 1934 will be played not in its original version (for piano), but in an orchestral arrangement by Krzysztof Urbański. Although Bacewicz is remembered mainly as a composer and violinist, it is worth remembering that she also mastered playing the piano. The idea of orchestral arrangements of her rarely performed piano pieces, such as the Scherzo, is an excellent way to bring them back to concert life. This has already happened in the case of Aleksander Tansman’s heritage, who was forgotten for years. They were both born in Łódź, and they both travelled to France. Bacewicz studied at the École Normale de Musique in Paris for only one year. Tansman, on the other hand, left for France at the age of twenty-two and settled permanently there. Because of his Jewish origin, he took refuge in the United States during World War II. Yet Tansman did not have to cross the Atlantic to be inspired by American music. This is evidenced by his Sinfonia Concertante No. 3, written in 1931. Its second movement clearly demonstrates Tansman’s fascination with the works of George Gershwin.

After the intermission, the light, Neoclassical works by Polish composers will be complemented by the monumental, late-Romantic symphony of Anton Bruckner. His fifth symphony has been given several nicknames – such as “medieval”, “Catholic”, “chorale” and “tragic”. The composer not only coined the adjective “fantastique”, but also referred to it as a “masterful contrapuntal work”. Bearing in mind that each of these terms reveals some part of the mystery of this wonderful work, one of the longest in Bruckner’s achievements, while listening, it is worth devoting yourself solely to its contemplation without looking for any names.