JULIUSZ LUCIUK (b.1927): Marathon, 4 Miniatures, Lirica di timbri, Arabesque, Passacaglia, 3 excerpts from the Mystery Play The Penitent from Osjak, 3 excerpts from the Choreodrama Brand, 3 excperts from Meditations on the Book of Genesis on the Doorstep of the Sistine Chapel, Pacem in terris for Soprano and Piano (Zofia Janukowicz [soprano]).

Description: Luciuk addresses the piano in a very personal way; respectful of its traditions, but aware of the manifold possibilities for expanded sonorities that it presents. Several of the works here are played only directly on the strings - the dramatic Marathon, for instance, and the timbrally hugely varied Lirica, subtitled '5 pieces for prepared piano'. Pacem uses two players at one prepared piano - mainly playing inside the instrument - to provide a sonorous backdrop for an expressive vocal work. The composer's range is illustrated by the conventionally played works included here; the 4 Miniatures are serial, concise and disciplined; the Arabesque is a meditative wash of clusters and folk-derived melodic fragments, somewhere between 'spiritual minimalism' and New Age. The remarkable 1968 Passacaglia presents and reiterates a deep, tolling bass theme, over which every kind of extended playing technique is used to produce timbral 'variations' that at times evoke (but are not) electronic or 'concrète' sound sources. Juliusz Luciuk, Regina Smendzianka, Cezary Sanecki, Domicela Luciuk (piano).