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Aldona Nawrocka (*1977) | Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska (*1968) | Bartosz Kowalski (*1977) 
Edward Sielicki (*1956) | Przemysław Zych (*1980) | Tadeusz Baird (1928–1981)

Dialogue of Modernity with Tradition in 20th- and 21st-Century Music
Łucja Szablewska-Borzykowska (soprano); Piotr Pieron (baritone); Leszek Lorent (percussion); Alina Ratkowska, Weronika Janyst (harpsichord); Sebastian Aleksandrowicz (oboe); Agnieszka Marucha, Przemysław Pacek, Cecylia Chinek (violins); Klara Chinek (viola); Zuzanna Nierubca (cello); Grzegorz Lalek, Alicja Sierpińska, Magdalena Habera, Ewa Chmielewska-Zorzano (period violins); Marcin Stefaniuk, Anna Wieczorek (period violas); Jakub Kościukiewicz, Anna Cierpisz (period cellos); Anna Bator (double bass); Przemysław Zych (conductor)
©℗ Chopin University of Music | Chopin University Press, UMFC CD 255 | 2026

The works recorded on the album Dialogue of Modernity with Tradition in 20th- and 21st-Century Music were inspired by past centuries and form a kind of link between history and the present. The composers – Aldona Nawrocka, Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Bartosz Kowalski, Edward Sielicki, Przemysław Zych, and Tadeusz Baird – draw in their works on a centuries-old tradition, enriching it with contemporary harmonies. The spirit of the music of past centuries, present in these compositions, intertwines with twentieth-century sounds. The featured works were written with period instruments in mind, and although most of them were recorded on modern instruments, it is worth noting that Four Love Sonnets for baritone, harpsichord, and strings by Tadeusz Baird – the work scored for the largest ensemble on the album – was recorded for the first time on instruments similar to those of the period to which the composer referred.
A musical juxtaposition of two worlds – history and modernity – takes the listener on an extraordinary journey through time. Extraordinary because the present does not allow us to forget about it; nevertheless, it makes room for the legacy of past centuries, for without ‘then’ there would be no ‘now’.

The recordings were made in 2021–2023 in Warsaw, in the Concert Hall of the Chopin University of Music.
Sound engineering, editing, mastering: Katarzyna Rakowiecka-Rojsza, Bartosz Gardziński, Paweł Żochowski (Baird)
Harpsichord preparation: Weronika Janyst, Krzysztof Garstka
Booklet notes: Bartosz Kowalski-Banasewicz
Editor: Agata Górzyńska-Kielak
English translations: Żaneta Pniewska
Photos: Mateusz Żaboklicki, Rafał Kazanecki, Tomasz Poręba, Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Graphic design, typesetting: Karol Meissner
Editor, production supervisor & executive producer: Emilia Dudkiewicz