This 10-inch Polskie Nagrania disc from the mid-50s presents short works by three composers from Poland - and a highly enjoyable and well recorded collection it is.
The first side contains two pieces by Karol Szymanowski, in transcriptions by his close associate, the conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg - Roxanna's Song from the opera King Roger and a tarantella, originally for violin (if I am deciphering the back cover correctly). The performances from the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (which Fitelberg founded) could hardly be better. These date from 1953 or earlier - the conductor died in that year.
Nearly as attractive are the two works on the reverse, early compositions by two artists who are associated with film - Zdzisław Szostak and the better known Wojciech Kilar. These concert overtures were written in 1954 and 1955. Again, the performances are excellent - these are by the Orchestra of the Poznań Philharmonic with conductor Józef Wiłkomirski. (I think he might be violinist Wanda Wiłkomirska's father, but haven't been able to confirm that.)
By the way, I looked up Polskie Nagrania on Wikipedia, only to discover that its catalogue supposedly includes numerous symphonies conducted by Jackie Gleason as well as several Stepin Fetchit records. I'm not sure whether this is because of the legendary Wikipedia accuracy or a Google Translate effect, but it certainly was unexpected!
LINK
