Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf: Violand

The Strad Issue: May 2026

Description: Ardent championship holds together a wide-ranging recital

Musicians: Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf (viola)

Works: Music by Bacewicz, Komendarek, Lipiński, Lutosławski, Moc, Ossowska, Penderecki, Sewen, Skweres, Weinberg and Wieczorek

Catalogue number: POLSKIE RADIO PRCD2479

The present recital of unaccompanied viola music by Polish composers ranging over three centuries is Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf’s third solo album and shows this enterprising player at his most adventurous.

The disc’s pièce de résistance is Mieczysław Weinberg’s Sonata no.2, dispatched with nonchalant ease and a keen ear for colour. (Komendarek-Tymendorf included no.3 on his debut album for Naxos, so here’s hoping that the other two pieces of this mighty body of work will be forthcoming.)

Witold Lutosławski’s Sacher Variation, written for Rostropovich, works well on the viola, its micro-intervals falling naturally into place. The Tempo di Valse that Krzysztof Penderecki extracted from his own Cello Suite and arranged for viola sounds eerily phantasmagoric in Komendarek-Tymendorf’s hands.

Two transcriptions from the violin – Karol Lipiński’s Impromptu op.34 no.1 and Grażyna Bacewicz’s Caprice no.2 – put the soloist through his paces with extended passages of bariolage, ricochet and tremolo-accompanied song.

Violist–composer Marek Sewen’s somewhat Regerian musings show the instrument at its sonorous best, while Michał Moc’s pair of pieces, written for a viola competition, constitute a concentrated technical workout.

Tomasz Skweres’s Enigmatic Pathways explores some interesting timbres, but the album ends with three pieces that employ electronics of sundry kinds and made me jump up in fear that my stereo set might be giving up the ghost!

The recording’s close balance in a friendly acoustic lets the listener fully enjoy the player’s tonal virtues and refined musicianship.

CARLOS MARÍA SOLARE