Catalogue Connection: 25219

Marian Sawa lived his entire life in Poland (1937-2005) , a graduate of the Salesian School and from 1973 a member of the faculty of the Chopin Music Academy. During his lifetime he wrote about 800 pieces with the organ forming the core of his output.

His compositions were a mainstay of all Polish competitions, but his influence does seem to have remained within Poland. Some of his music is based on Gregorian Chant. On this disc, Carson Cooman plays nine of his organ works written between 1971 and 2005. Included are a Dance Suite, Aria, a five-part Suite of Organ Music and Passacaglia II.

The organ used is St Ludgerus, Billerbeck (4/71 by Orgelbau Fleiter in 2014) but via Jiri Zurek’s Hauptwerk system, so favoured by this recording company*. As always, with Cooman, very musical. An interesting CD.

 *footnote: the Hauptwerk system is not ‘favoured’ by Divine Art though its benefits are many – it is used by us only for recordings by Carson Cooman (and not all of those)

The indefatigable Carson Cooman con­tinues to put music lovers and com­posers in his debt with this fascinating and very successful disc of organ music by the Polish composer Marian Sawa (1937-2005).

Sawa’s music is little-known, outside of post-communist Poland, but he was a singular figure before the advent of glasnost or perestroika, as the intriguing Aria (1971) on this well-filled disc demonstrates.

Throughout this compelling prog­ramme, one can readily discern the inner intensity of Sawa’s invention. This is music that in many ways had to be written – it does not court popu­larity at any time, but retains the fascination of drawing the committed listener into its rarified and unique sound-world.

Nor is this ‘mystery-mongering’ for the sake of it: Sawa uses whatever means at his disposal, often juxtaposing ‘statements’ against and alongside one another with telling effect – as, most directly perhaps, in that selfsame Aria ­’sung’, as it were, not as an arioso but as a sequence of ideas drawn from a short series yet equally united by a creative thread that holds the attention.

Sawa’s Suite of 1980 is a remarkably varied combination of expressive ideas ­often intriguingly attractive, yet never meretricious – and, all things consid­ered, this release is fully recommended to those keen to explore the range of relatively recent organ music with which they otherwise not have the opportunity of coming into contact. The presentat­ion, as always from this source, is excellent.  (FIVE STARS)

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) was a Polish organist, composer, teacher, famous for his improvisations. He wrote over 800 pieces in various genres, including several hundred organ works—solo pieces, concertos, and chamber works with organ. He was the greatest organ composer in Polish music history “and probably the greatest Eastern European organ composer of the 20th Century”.

Sawa’s language strikes a balance between Polish Catholic romanticism and the aesthetic of the Polish mid-20th Century avant-garde.  The style draws strongly on traditional Polish music and Gregorian Chant, as evidenced in the two Sequences using the Dies Irae and Victimae Paschal Laudes, and the Three Dances in Old Style. I liked the Aria and Lomza Prayer and found this unknown composer’s music to be well worth exploring.

This is another recording from Cooman as a performer rather than composer. His success as a composer for the organ is due, in large part, to his considerable skills and innate understanding of the instrument as a performer, as demonstrated in these enjoyable performances. The recording was produced using the Hauptwerk digital sampling system of the 4-manual, 72-stop, 2014 Fleiter organ in St Ludgerus Church in Billerbeck, Germany, Notes by the performer on the composer and music, with specification.

Marian Sawa’s prolific output includes much religious music, including his De Profundis, but he also composed secular pieces such as Etudes. Sawa was and still is highly regarded in Poland, especially in organ circles, with an active Marian Sawa Society set up in 2006. Sawa’s style is neatly summed up in the booklet text for this CD: “Building in a modernist manner on the Polish romantic musical tradition…Sawa [integrated] fragments and phrases from Polish church hymns and folk music into works of serious concert music. Sawa’s personal style thus draws strongly on traditional Polish music and Gregorian chant; to this is added influences from the Polish avant-garde, including block formal structures, cluster harmonies, and improvisatory ideas of developing variation.”

This programme opens impressively with the stern and somewhat forbidding Sequence I, “Dies irae”, the famous plainchant on which the piece is based being already flagged in the title. The darkness of the text is reflected in weighty pedal tones, the plainchant melody clear but always chained down with stark harmonies and ominous counterpoint. A certain amount of light shines through in a penultimate fugato, before the mood of the opening returns in a forceful coda. Resurrection takes its narrative from Easter, from a meditative morning scene through a powerful sequence with hints of Messiaen, there are some quieter moments of counterpoint with ultimate triumph revealing itself out of a dramatic coda. The Aria has a feel of mystery about it from the outset. Its lyrical content is by no means easy, but carries an enigmatic persistence that holds its place in your memory like the atmosphere of a place rather than anything sing-along.

Passacaglia II was Sawa’s last organ work, its central repeating melody based on a 19th century Polish hymn. There are some lovely harmonisations amongst the numerous variations, and delicious cadences that might remind you of Frank Martin, the whole piece being quite uplifting. The Three Dances in Old Style form an evocation of folk music and dances from Poland though there are no direct quotes included, Sawa evidently relishing his own inventiveness while immersed in his native musical language. The Suite has five contrasting movements, alternating quieter, aria or chant-like movements with more virtuoso displays of brilliance, capped by a final toccata-like Presto. This is a substantial and enjoyable work, the relative brevity of each movement containing a wealth of material that will bring you back for more. Fantazja Jasnogórska is filled with iconic symbolism, the piece having been named for a famous image of the Black Madonna, a theme that has inspired music with an open and positive character. Old hymns are invoked, and there is a passage with bell effects from the 2014 Fleiter organ. Chosen for maximum contrast, Łomza Prayer is a meditative and gently lyrical piece, Sawa’s tunes once again expressing the voice of the organ rather than imitating anything particularly natural to the human voice. The programme concludes fittingly with Sequence II, “Victimae paschali laudes”, a more joyous counterpart to the opening “Dies irae”, being based on a proclamation sequence from the Easter Day Mass.

Organist Carson Cooman is also a composer of some distinction, and he plays all of this music with sublime musicianship and a clear affinity to Marian Sawa’s highly communicative idiom. The recording is excellent, with plenty of deep lows and resonance but also a healthy level of detail from the very fine instrument chosen for this recording. The balance between bass, midrange and treble seems ideal to my ears. Organ specification is included in the booklet. We are told that the recording has been produced via the Hauptwerk virtual system, but whatever virtual jiggery-pokery has been used to create the final effect I would consider the whole thing entirely convincing and natural sounding. I was unaware of Marian Sawa’s organ music until encountering this recording, and consider myself enriched by the experience. There are few enough contemporary organ composers who have such a distinctive personal voice. Marian Sawa is most certainly among their number, and one with plenty to say and plenty of musical substance to back up the prolific nature of his output.

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) was a Polish composer, organist, improviser, musicologist and pedagogue. He studied organ and composition at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where after graduating he became organist at the Military Church. From 1966, he taught organ improvisation, harmony, counterpoint and liturgical accompaniment at many of the top musical establishments in Warsaw and was awarded numerous prizes and state decorations (including First Prize at the Young Composers Competition) for his impressive compositional output as well as his outstanding contributions to education and culture.

Sawa composed hundreds of pieces, including instrumental, vocal and vocal-instrumental works, though he is best known as a prolific composer of organ music (five organ concerts, sonatas, fantasies, preludes, toccatas, passacaglias). He also toured extensively as a soloist and accompanist and made many recordings. His works often resulted from religious inspiration and his music builds on the Polish post-Romantic tradition involving Gregorian chant, Polish church songs and folklore, sometimes combining them in one piece. Sawa’s personal and individual voice makes his music very recognizable and though little known in the West to date, he can be considered perhaps the greatest Eastern European organ composer of the 20th Century. The pieces on this album, composed between 1971 and 2005, demonstrate vividly the range, variety and often enormous power of his compositions. Highlights include the spectacular opening Dies irae, an ethereal Aria, three lively Dances in Old Style, and the majestic Sequence II ‘Victimae paschali laudes’.

The music is wonderfully played by American Carson Cooman, an exceptional composer himself of works ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, orchestral works and hymn tunes. As a concert organist, he specializes in contemporary music and over 300 new works have been composed for him by over 100 composers from around the world. This recording of the exquisite Fleiter organ (2014) at St. Ludgerus, Billerbeck, was made using the Hauptwerk remote digital access system.

For the late composer Marian Sawa, the organ was not only vital for his performing but also for his compositions, where they constitute a large core of his overall output.

This dedicated CD from Divine Art Recordings not only shows a composer with a natural knack and ear for the organ as instrument but also his development and exploration over a 30-year period.

Religious and Polish themes make a significant appearance throughout, with the Fantasia Jasnorgorska based entirely around the ancient Polish hymn. Throughout, Carson Cooman demonstrates his talents with the organ and there is the sense that the composer would have admired the dedication Cooman has placed into producing such a strong rendition of his multiple works. For anyone wanting something unique, there are many musical surprises to be found at Sawa’s door.