Manru (2024)

"The 1901 premiere of Manru in Dresden was an outstanding success. Paderewski was called to the stage some thirty times. The work had been commissioned with a German libretto by the Director of the Royal Opera House in Dresden, who conducted its first performance. Perhaps even someone as accustomed to fame and approbation as Paderewski might have been surprised, and certainly gratified, at the work’s rapid uptake in Kraków, Prague, Cologne, Zurich, New York, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Warsaw, Budapest. Nice, Monte Carlo, Bonn, London, Moscow and Kiev. (...) All in all, this most welcome recording firmly demonstrates that Paderewski was far more than a composer of salon trifles. The label is to be commended for issuing the opera in association with the German National Radio Deutschlandfunk Kultur, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The latter’s mission is to build globally a lasting interest in Polish culture." (musicwebinternational.com)