This is an interesting and very worthwhile disc. Karol Lipinski (1790-1861) may have been a minor composer, but his music is very enjoyable, and the Violin Concerto “Concerto Militaire” of 1825, which was a favorite of Wieniawski, will excite the fancy of Romantic violin fans everywhere. The piece contains a colorful potpourri of Central European battle tunes arranged for violin and orchestra. As might be expected, the scoring includes lots of trumpets and drums, with a busy piccolo providing a touch of added brilliance on top. It’s really very ear-catching and it certainly deserves a place in the repertoire of modern performers.
Dominika Falger is not a world-class virtuoso, but she acquits herself more than respectably, with confident double-stops and a warm, dusky basic timbre. Only some thinness in her violin’s upper register and some occasional intonation problems betray her otherwise solid technique. The very natural balances (no spotlighting at all) may exaggerate this impression, but it wouldn’t do to make too big a fuss. This is a good performance of a very entertaining work.
Both the Overture and the Symphony, which date from 1814 and 1810 respectively, turn out to be surprisingly memorable as well. The Symphony, lightly scored but beautifully written for the woodwinds, openly recalls Beethoven’s Second in its second-movement Adagio, but otherwise a sort of Polish Schubert might come to mind. In particular, in both works Lipinski has the habit of moving freely between the major and minor modes, and this gives his melodies unusual appeal and prevents them from sounding generic. All of the music here is very well played by the Lublin Philharmonic under Piotr Wijatkowski, with distinguished contributions from all sections and a lively hand at the helm. Excellent sonics round out a most unusual and attractive production.
