Ambronay: AMY010

Polish Baroque - Pekiel and his Contemporaries

At the time of the death of the last Jagellon king Sigismond II in 1572, Poland was at the height of its territorial expansion and power. Music and culture flourished.The next 80 years saw the beginning of the gradual decline and dismemberment of Poland in a series of disastrous wars with Russia, Sweden, the Cossacks of Ukraine, Brandenburg and the Ottoman Empire. By 1667, Poland had lost Lithuania, Livonia, the Duchy of Prussia and Western Ukraine, and the heroics of Sobieski against the Turks in 1683 seemed only to accelerate the process. By the end of the 18th century, Poland had disappeared entirely from the map of Europe. However it was not until the capture of what was by now the Court city of Warsaw by the Swedes in 1655, that these disasters impinged directly on the musical life of the Polish court. Indeed, the first half of the 17th century is considered to be an 'Age d'Or' of music in Poland.The best Italian musicians were invited to Krakow and Warsaw while talented young Poles studied with the best masters in Rome,Venice and Florence. Around Bartolomiej Pekiel and his fellow composers,Ambronay rediscovers this golden age entwining Italian influences with the quest for a specific Polish identity.A live CD from the 2007 Ambronay Festival recorded by France Musique.