Dancing under the shadows, Shetland-Glasgow-Stirling

Sextet concerts with Simon Smith, piano

Tour Dates
Thu 5 June 2014, Mareel Lerwick, Shetland Isles
Fri 6 June 2014, Cottiers Glasgow launch concert of The Cottier Chamber Project at Glasgow's West End Festival
Sat 29 Nov 2014, Stirling Tolbooth Tickets go on sale soon

Dancing under the Shadows see the ensemble performing with pianist Simon Smith - “a phenomenon – nothing daunts him, technically or musically” (The Scotsman) – in concerts that explore the music of Eastern European dance bands. In the twenties and thirties Argentine tango took the whole world by storm, but nowhere more so than Poland, where songwriters and dance band leaders wrote their own tango numbers and, during the 30’s, developed a specifically Polish style. The lavish nightclub scene in Warsaw and Krakow flourished to the music of these composers, albeit under the shadow of the rise of fascism over the border in Germany.

Many of the songwriters, composers, bandleaders, singers and musicians, the vast majority of whom were Jewish, were murdered in the death camps. This programme features tango numbers by Artur Gold, Jerzy Petersburski, Fanny Gordon and Zygmunt Wiehler, amongst others. It also includes Grazyna Bacewicz’s first piano quintet, written soon after the war. Bacewicz, leader of the Polish Radio Orchestra from 1936 until 1938, continued to live in Warsaw throughout the war, playing in clandestine concerts as well as for the Main Relief Council.

Grazyna Bacewicz – piano quintet – Moderato molto espressivo/Allegro; Scherzo; Grave; Con Passione
Jerzy Petersburski – Tango Milonga (1928)
Artur Gold - Gdzie Twoje Serce? (1930)
Fanny Gordon (Faige Jofé) – Skrwawione Serce (1932)
Zygmunt Wiehler – Usta (1934)
Wiktor Krupinski – Prztul, Uscisnij, Pocaluj (1935)
Stanislaw Ferszko – Gdy Odejdziersz (1937)