ME 251 Rowicki Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3 Sviatoslav Richter, piano Symphony No 7/ Warsaw PO

Rowicki conducts Beethoven PIANO CONCERTO NO 3 Sviatoslaw Richter, piano Warsaw Philharmonic SYMPHONY NO 7

Polish Radio Symphony, Katowice

“…This recording [of the Seventh Symphony] is conducted by Witold Rowicki, who has made several record- ings for larger Western companies (including some excellent LP’s of con- temporary music), and who is bound to be a ‘Sto Lat’*regular. His work is […] represented in this release by a provoca- tive rendition of Beethoven’s ”Eroica” Symphony (SZM 0101) marked by brisk tempos and solid playing until the final movement, which Mr Rowicki takes in a strangely episodic fashion…”

New York Times, 26 July 1981

*Sto Lat (100 Years) was an US version of the Polskie Nagranie label

“…one of the best early LP recordings [of Beethoven’s Seventh] came from a newly founded Polish label, Polskie Nagrania Muza, with the revered Polish conductor Witold Rowicki conducting his own locally created Polish Radio SO. When the 1956 recording finally reached these shores courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon, Gramo-phone’s Deryck Cooke was rightly enthusiastic. ‘The tempo of each movement, beautifully chosen to accommodate both dynamic and lyric elements, is adhered to firmly throughout, and, most important, it is kept moving with a persistent forward impulse that nevertheless gives the play- ers time to phrase each note.’ Points of climax and arrival were similarly judged to a nicety…”

Richard Osborne, The Gramophone, 21 February 2025

ME.251

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