The world premiere recording of various works for voice and piano by Polish composer Piotr Maszynski (1855 1934).

Maszynski's musical education consisted of piano and composition studies. He also had experience as a choral conductor in Switzerland, where he studied, and then in Warsaw, with which he tied his life. This influenced his compositional interests in addition to founding the famous Warsaw Singing Society 'Lutnia', he conducted many choral ensembles, arranging and composing songs for them. His passion for vocalism was also expressed in an impressive collection of nearly 120 pieces for voice and piano, of which a representative selection is featured on this album.

These are songs to words by poets from different eras, very diverse in terms of style. Maszynski reached for Polish poetry, including poems by Adam Mickiewicz as well as by his contemporaries, such as Leopold Staff, Wladyslaw Nawrocki or Artur Oppman. His compositions also included poems by somewhat eccentric Polish Romanticist Karol Brzozowski and Maria Konopnicka's work, written in a simple language, sometimes imitating the characteristics of a folk song, as well as a symbolic and somewhat mysterious poem by Maurycy Meaterlinck. Most of these pieces share nature-related themes, and the music of Maszynski, following the emotions of the text, perfectly reflects the admiration for the beauty of the world. The vocal part is performed by Lilianna Zalesinska, mezzo-soprano, a world-renowned artist, scholarship holder of many foundations and winner of prestigious awards; the piano part is interpreted by Joanna Pszczolkowska Pawlik, pianist and chamber musician as well as art manager and organiser of musical life, especially linked to the output of Stanislaw Moniuszko.