While the overture to Tatry - Król Wichrów (The Tatras - the King of the Winds) by Feliks Nowowiejski seems to be played and recorded often enough, it is quite another matter when it comes to this 1929 opera-ballet which is, unless this reviewer is mistaken, recorded here for the first time. Nowowiejski's style stands at a junction of many different schools: yes, he studied in Germany, under Max Bruch among others, and he even won the Meyerbeer Prize for his oratorio The Return of the Prodigal Son which allowed him to make a grand tour of Europe, over the course of which he would meet Mahler, Saint-Saëns, Mascagni and Leoncavallo. That said, upon listening to the first strains of the overture, you could be forgiven for thinking that you'd put on Debussy instead, or indeed, a few bars later and faintly posthumously, Bruckner, Liszt or Wagner, before the discourse becomes much more personal. Of course, the Polish composer was very much taken with musical nationalism: Nowowiejski deploys a number of themes of Polish inspiration in this work set in the Polish mountains; but the language overall remains, let's say, very "European". Either way, this is one of the most interesting works which we would love to see on stage on the other side of the Oder-Neisse line. The Sinfonia Varsovia brings all of its passion to the resurrection of this intriguing music. © SM/Qobuz