Joanna Słowińska / Sinfonietta Cracovia / Stanisław Słowiński Quartet - Zielnik Polski (2016)

Joanna Słowińska/Sinfonietta Cracovia/Stanisław Słowiński Quartet

Joanna Słowińska - vocals
Stanisław Słowiński - violin
Katarzyna Pietrzko - piano

Justy Małodobry - bass

Max Olszewski - drums

with Sinfonietta Cracovia

Zielnik Polski

ROZSTAJE CR0116

By Adam Baruch

This is an album which presents a live recording of a very grand musical undertaking, which brings together vocalist Joanna Słowińska, a well known Polish World Music singer, with a Polish Classical orchestra Sinfonietta Cracovia and a Polish Jazz quartet led by young and upcoming violinist Stanisław Słowiński, which also includes pianist Katarzyna Pietrzko, bassist Justyn Małodobry and drummer Maksymilian Olszewski. 

Together they perform twelve pieces, two of which are instrumentals and ten are songs featuring lyrics by Jan Słowiński. In case you are wondering, Joanna and Jan are Stanisław´s parents. Stanisław Słowiński composed the music to eleven of these pieces and the last piece on the album was composed by Joanna Słowińska and arranged by Stanisław. The album´s title ("Polish Herbarium"), the titles of the individual pieces and their subject matter clearly suggest that this is a concept album and the pieces are in fact a song cycle.

The overall atmosphere, soaked in typical Polish melancholy, religious martyrology and solemn reflection is heavy and overbearing, and creates a piece of music that is definitely not easy to absorb or even listen to. The sound is mostly massive and daunting, often overdramatic and even cataclysmic, something which could easily be used as a horror movie soundtrack, rather than something listeners would chose to listen to voluntarily. The only piece, which is performed by just the vocalist and the Jazz quartet, is definitely the most coherent piece on the album.

The music, although dominated by Classical influences, manages to amalgamate strong folkloristic themes and subtle Jazz sensitivity and shows talent and dedication by the composer and all the musicians involved. It seems Stanisław Słowiński is trying to conquer the musical world a bit too aggressively and a bit prematurely, even for such talented young men as he is. It is worth to remember that less is often more, both in music and life in general. Having said all that, this is still definitely an unusual and ambitious album that deserves to be heard and appreciated. A little less intensity and drama next time should make everything just perfect.