Piotr Borkowski - Conductor
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
Glos Pomorza, June 3-4, 1989"... Piotr Borkowski's interpretation of Beethoven's Eight Symphony had all the hallmarks of a conductor on the threshold of a major career: restraint and expendiency of gestures, excellent manual technique, self-discipline, musicality and sensitivity, a thorough knowledge of the score and musical styles. When it comes to young musicians at the very start of an independent career these are extremely rare features. Likewise, such an outstanding interpretation of the Eight Symphony can be heard rarely in the concert halls today ..."Glos Pomorza, November 25-26, 1989
"... Piotr Borkowskis's second apperance in Koszalin in a few months went a long way to confirm the astounding musicality, refinement and an exeptional conducting talent of this year's graduate of the Warsaw Music Academy. /.../ It was a performance clearly in the realm of the true art..."Nowiny Jeleniogorskie, February 7, 1990
"... The spontaneous and warm reception at tonight's concert should be surely attributed to Piotr Borkowski, very young conductor from Warsaw, whom the audience accepted almost without reservations. Small wonder, considering that Borkowski was able to demonstrate the full range of his talent. The fantastic memory, excellent command of the conductor's craft and manual skills have made his communication with the orchestra readable and highly suggestive..."Gazeta Olsztynska, February 13, 1991
"... The Friday concert was a success. First and foremost it was the conductor's success. For the young Piotr Borkowski it was the second opportunity to display his musical skills in the town of Olsztyn. The excellent technique, clear-cut gestures and the interpretative concepts, full of life and yet meticulously thought-out, make us believe that he has won a permanent place on the musical circuit."Gazeta Olsztynska, May 12, 1992
"... The D-minor Symphony by Cesar Franck has electrified the audience. Its mellow, "organ-like" sound, full of dynamic contrasts and nuances had a sense of inevitable unfolding. /.../ It seemed to me that all the atmospheric electricity on that rainy night in May found an outlet for itself on the concert stage. It was a truly unique experience. The concert was Borkowski's success. I do not really know how he achieved it. And I do not want - this time at least - to find it out. I trust in his talent !"Gazeta Olsztynska, July 1, 1992
"... It was a concert in an almost holiday mood; yet it gave much food for thought as to the scope of progress the orchestra has made since the start of the season. Piotr Borkowski deserves words of praise for what he has done for this ensemble ...Gazeta Pomorska, November 11, 1992
In Beethoven's Fifth, as if running counter its drama and pathos, he brought out the dance quality of the music. Add to it the conductor's sensitivity to the shadings of dynamics and colour, and his meticulous attention to all the sound nuances of almost Romantic nature - as if in a symphonic poem rather than a Beethoven symphony. The result was an astonishingly fresh reading of the piece, full of unique charm. I would have never expected such an interpretation of the Fifth. Bravo !"
"... On Friday evening a young conductor, the first one known this season by Bydgoszcz audience, met with loud cheers. Conductor's success generally comes together with musical and personal maturity. Piotr Borkowski is 29-year old and yet he is general and artistic director of the Olsztyn Philharmonic. Conducting the Friday concert with Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra he presented himself extremely well both visually - thanks to his elegant figure and unpretentious plasticity of gesture - and musically; the interpretation of each piece of music was clear, confident and vivid. /.../ Piotr Borkowski has an important virtue: under his leadership Tchaikovski sounds like Tchaikovski and Franck like Franck. He knows draw out stylistic differences of harmony and expression and to elicit from the orchestra as much latitude as discipline of performance. Full of temperament, he does not let it carry him away.Przeglad Powszechny, October 1993
/.../ Also in Variations the soloist was well supported by the conductor performing a difficult art of conducting the orchestra. /.../
The grateful orchestra sounded clearly, tunned and kept consonant structures even in fortissima. It was a vivid and mellow concert, clear in forms and at the same time light and unconstrained. The young public attending the event was leaving the concert hall very much animated and satisfied."
"... The festival was brought to a close with the first Polish performance of Nowowiejski's oratorio "The Return of the Prodigal Son", a work which in 1902 won the then 25-year old composer the Meyerbeer Award. The Symphony Orchestra of Olsztyn Philharmonic and the combined choruses of the College of Education and the Olsztyn Diocese were conducted by Piotr Borkowski. He handled the vast musical forces excellently, giving due attention to all the planes of the work's rich texture and maintaining a sense of proportion between the expressive and sound qualities of the oratorio. He also drew out the fine musical outlines of the evangelical parable."Gazeta Olsztynska, December 21, 1993
"... After the symphony concert last Friday, December 17, I was leaving the Olsztyn Philharmonic Hall very much impressed by the pianist Tatiana Szebanowa. And thought I do not want to deprive the famous pianist of her well deserved splendours I was equally, if not more, impressed by the performance of Piotr Borkowski, director of the Olsztyn orchestra. /.../
It seems to me, however, that we still underestimate the presence of Piotr Borkowski in Olsztyn. He is one of the most talented Polish conductors of younger generation. /.../. I have had many opportunities to admire his sensibility to the color of sound or his rhythmic vigour. /.../.
Meanwhile last night /.../ I saw a fully mature musician who is conscious of his own, consistent and well established artistic way.
/.../ As soon as I heard the Suite from "The Swan Lake" I pricked my ears. Trivialized by various sentimental interpretations, paraphrases, rearrangements the suite is not that much enjoyable for music lovers any more. And suddenly I realized that the instrumental solo parts and the sound of orchestral sections were refined, rhythms accurate, facture treatment clear, everything far from traditional drawn-out manner of Thaikovski's work's interpretation; on the contrary: restrained, composed and fresh.
And that was what really moved and impreassed me so much: the sound of certain concert parts for solo instruments of "The Swan Lake" conducted by Piotr Borkowski made me think of ballets composed by Igor Stravinsky 50 years later. Above all differences in music matter, purely technical disparities, above "revolutions", you could feel similar logic of shaping the course of music, continuity of its historic evolvement. Time after time /.../ you could feel the presence of timeless spirit of pure music. The spirit of mathematics, geometry, harmonious form and beauty - romantic in a way but in different manner."
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