Warsaw Concerto is an interesting piece of music, and it’s one of my favorites. It was composed in 1941 as the theme for the movie Dangerous Moonlight, released by RKO Radio British Productions. It is the story of a Polish pianist, Stefan Radecki, who is also a pilot in the Polish Air Force. He escapes from his native Warsaw after the Nazi invasion of 1939 and makes his way to America. There he marries a beautiful newspaper reporter and begins a successful career as a pianist, meanwhile working on his composition, Warsaw Concerto. His fame grows even as he is torn by his desire to join the fight against Nazi menace. After presenting his finished composition to an enthusiastic American audience, he goes to England and flies with the RAF, battling the Nazis over the English Channel in the Battle of Britain in 1940. When the movie was released, it was just months after the events portrayed, and to the audience it must have seemed almost like current events.
RKO needed a dramatic theme for its movie and asked Sergio Rachmaninoff to write the theme. Rachmaninoff refused, and the task was assigned to one of RKO’s composers, Richard Addinsell. Addinsell knocked the ball out of the park. The movie is now all but forgotten, but the theme Warsaw Concerto was a great hit. It has been recorded many times by various musical artists.
Warsaw Concerto was composed long after the heyday of player pianos, but in 1973, Klavier Music Rolls released an AMPICO version of it. Copies are very rare, and this is the only one I’ve ever seen for sale. I’m proud to present it here.
30 сен 2024
