FL: It was written by a Jewish-Polish composer, Jerzy Petersburski. Adam Aston, one of the most popular Polish singers of the Interwar period, also sang it in Hebrew.
How did you meet Martha Argerich?
MG: She lives in Brussels, just like me. She invited me to take part in her festival in Lugano – she is interested in tango as well – and I invited her to my festival in Pietrasanta. We played together with Néstor Marconi and we were on tour together. We have a similar approach to playing tango, and we quickly became friends.
FL: How did her taking part in the POLIN music festival come about?
MG: I think Martha was intrigued by the concept of the festival, but she also wanted to visit the museum. She is a very interesting person, she likes to learn new things, experience situations she has never experienced before. How many times can one person perform in big concert halls?
She went to POLIN with her friends and family: Annie Dutoit, her daughter, Akane Sakai, a pianist and Jing Zhao, a cellist (and Michael Guttman – editor’s note). Together with Sakai, she performed Witold Lutosławski’s Variations On A Theme Of Paganini for two pianos composed in occupied Warsaw. Sakai and Zhao performed Szymon Laks’ Sonata For Piano And Cello composed by an Auschwitz prisoner whose works were interpreted by Annie Dutoit. Is there a better place to perform Laks than POLIN?
Almost nobody believed me that Martha would come. She’d have the right not to – she is a free woman. Luckily, everything turned out just perfect.
FL: How are you feeling after the festival?
MG: I’m quite tired, but I hope that we created something special, which will survive in the memories of many people. I hope we will be able to recreate it. Kajetan and I, we have many ideas. Many questions to ask and a lot of music to present.
Originally written in Polish, translated by AP, May 2018