Although Polish composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909) is less well known for his works than those by his teacher (Stanisław Moniuszko) and his students (Karol Szymanowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz), he was nonetheless the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland for most of the 19th century; he also introduced the idea of the symphonic poem to colleagues who would follow in his footsteps. This programme of his Third Symphony and the symphonic poem The Steppe, Op. 66 blends sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony is a journey through the seasons, while The Steppe evokes Poland’s vast landscapes with colourful hints of Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia. Conductor Antoni Wit breathes new life into these forgotten gems to produce a highly engaging orchestral programme.

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Award-winning composer Paweł Łukaszewski is considered one of Poland’s most outstanding creators of sacred music. The Nocturnes, based on some of his own sacred pieces, are inspired by the cosmos, with each nocturne named after a newly discovered bright star in constellations including Sails, Scorpio and the Southern Cross. Łukaszewski takes the listener on a journey through the beauty of the night sky with these intimate and atmospheric sound paintings. Appearing here in his Grand Piano debut, Maciej Zagórski is a Polish pianist with a doctorate in musicology, currently serving as vice-dean of the Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa.

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Composed in 1848, Hiob (Job) was the twelfth of Loewe’s eighteen oratorios. To understand the context of the work and Loewe’s oratorio style in general, one should note that Mendelssohn had died a year earlier, having already published his benchmark oratorios St Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846/47), and Loewe is likely to have been familiar with them. Telschow’s libretto for the oratorio comprised a summary of the 42 chapters of the Book of Job from the textbooks and psalms of the Old Testament. The rediscovery and reconstruction of Hiob in Bad Dürkheim in 2001 instigated this recording.

The 150th anniversary of Reger’s birth was celebrated in 2023, yet his music appears on concert programmes only very occasionally, despite being highly admired during his lifetime. Paul Hindemith described Reger as ‘the last giant of music’ and when Schoenberg founded his Society for Private Musical Performances in 1918, Max Reger, along with Debussy and Bartók, was one of the most frequently performed composers. Admiring Reger’s importance as an innovator, Schoenberg promoted his music because ‘he still remains unfamiliar’ and ‘I consider him a genius.’ This new album from the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jaime Martín amply vindicates Schoenberg’s judgment with fine performances of two of Reger’s orchestral works written towards the end of his life: the Four Tone Poems after Böcklin and the Romantic Suite.