Polonica Michał Gondko

• 1 Eiusdem nationis 01:36
• 2 Chorea polonica 00:58
• 3 Eiusdem authoris 00:45
• 4 Cantio polonica 01:17
• 5 Polnischer Tantz No. 1 01:10
• 6 Polnischer Tantz No. 33 02:00
• 7 Polnischer Tantz No. 10 01:15
• 8 Polnischer Tantz No. 19 01:39
• 9 Polnischer Tantz No. 13 02:32
• 10 Villanella 02:48
• 11 Villanella polonica 01:39
• 12 Finale Alberti Dlugoraj 00:56
• 13 Choreo polonica 01:01
• 14 Chorea polonica 02:22
• 15 Chorea polonica 02:37
• 16 Fantasia 01:58
• 17 Polskey tanecz welmy pekney 02:40
• 18 Polnisch tantz 01:18
• 19 Ein Polnischer Tantz 03:24
• 20 Praeludium Diomedis 01:45
• 21 Gallarda di Diomede 01:33
• 22 Danza [Bassano di Grappa: ca.1600] 02:45
• 23 Caspari poloni Gagliarda 01:47
• 24 Fantasia Alberti Dlugorai Poloni 02:03
• 25 No. 16. A Polish Vilanell 01:48
• 26 No. 15. A Polish Ayre 00:58
• 27 Libro de intavolatura, Book 2: Ballo polaco 01:25
• 28 Mowi na mie sasiada 01:04
• 29 Ein polnischer Tantz 01:36
• 30 Autre taned Spolski 01:36
• 31 Le secret des Muses: Chancon a la Polonnoise Susannesco 00:52
• 32 Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 20v] 02:50
• 33 Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 28v] 01:12
• 34 Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 29v] 02:05
• 35 Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 30v] 02:02
• 36 Balletto Polacho [Berlin, f. 32r] 01:53
• 37 Allemande 01:15
• 38 Taned spolski 02:10
• 39 Galliarda eiusdem authoris 01:39
• 40 Fantasia Jacob Reys 02:15
• Total Runtime 01:10:28

Info for Polonica

In addition to the works attributed to the lutenists active at the Royal Polish court in the late sixteenth century, there is a substantial repertoire of compositions identified as ‘Polish dances’ or ‘Polish songs’ which have been preserved in numerous sources of late Renaissance lute music. Characterized by an irresistible melodic charm and a straightforward harmonic and rhythmical texture, such musical polonica spread across Europe, achieving what might have been the widest distribution of musical ‘Polishness’ before Chopin.

Four hundred years later, Polish lutenist Michal Gondko sets out to trace polonica in lute tablatures from around 1600, and presents a selection of forty compositions, many of which have not been previously recorded.

Michal Gondko, Renaissance lute

Michal Gondko
Founder and spiritus movens of LA MORRA. He specializes in performance on Medieval and Renaissance instruments of the lute family.

He received classical guitar training in his native Poland, but eventually abandoned the guitar in order to focus on early plucked instruments.

His earliest professional experiences with 'early music' include an anthology of late Renaissance 'Polish' lute music, recorded in 1997, but released six years later and voted Early Music Release of the Year 2003 by the Polish Recording Producers' Association.

Based since 1997 in Basel, he graduated from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he studied Renaissance lute (with Hopkinson Smith) and medieval plucked instruments (with Crawford Young).

With LA MORRA claiming most of his time and energy, he nevertheless finds room for other projects and has appeared as accompanist and continuo player with various singers and ensembles (including Jordi Savall's La Capella Reial de Cataluña).

As a soloist, he is primarily interested in exploring neglected repertoire for Renaissance lute. A release of music from fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century German keyboard and lute sources (recorded together with Corina Marti) appeared in May 2008.

Booklet for Polonica