Robert Muczynski
Piano Concerto No. 1

THE REVIEW

I discovered this composer (Polish-American) purely by chance.

This concerto of his (actually a concertino, lasting only about a quarter of an hour) was part of an album I listened to on Spotify, whose highlight is Kabalevsky's piano concerto No. 3.

Unknown to most, with fewer views on YouTube than the amateur videos on the gossip of the Big Brother VIP house made by my neighbor, my distraction and superficiality led me to mistakenly consider this a work of the Soviet composer instead of poor Muczynski for a couple of days.

It would have been a pity, and above all unjust, if the misunderstanding had continued, even if we are no longer in the Cold War (or perhaps we are..).

Prefacing that I am more of a classical music enthusiast (at times) than an expert, and as such almost never look for technical innovations in what I listen to, even though I can recognize them, and essentially let myself be carried away by the emotions that the music conveys, I feel compelled to recommend listening to this concerto.

A few pointers.

Consider that you might find a very pleasant and suggestive intersection between the musical impressionism of Debussy-Ravel and the soundtracks of Ennio Morricone (the latter especially in the first movement, and I don't mean to say that he anticipated them).

If I've managed to intrigue you, all I can do is wish you happy listening.

Information on Robert Muczynski: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Muczynski

Piano Concerto No. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZJjNpB-R3E