Debut album from Marcin Sanakiewicz

For nearly three decades, Marcin Sanakiewicz has enjoyed a decorated career as a pianist, arranger, soloist and esteemed accompanist who’s moved between concert halls, recording studios and the stage of Kraków’s legendary Piwnica pod Baranami, where he’s been an artist since 1996. Long celebrated for his collaborations with some of Poland’s most distinguished performers and composers, Marcin now turns the light toward his own artistic voice, revealing a sound that’s gradually taken shape through years of experience and reflection.

Much of his career has been defined by partnership and as Janusz Radek’s long-time stage companion in the revered recital Serwus Madonna and through collaborations with artists including Anna Szałapak, Kamila Klimczak, Rafał Jędrzejczyk, Ada Fijał, Jacek Wójcicki and Agnieszka Chrzanowska, Marcin has shown an exceptional sensitivity as both performer and arranger. His musical path has also led him into film, television and symphonic projects, where he’s interpreted and premiered works by composers such as Zygmunt Konieczny, Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, Andrzej Zarycki and Stanisław Radwan, while maintaining an ongoing collaboration with Bartosz Chajdecki on film scores.

Beyond the piano stool, Marcin is equally at home in the world of media where his endeavours as a doctor of social sciences, journalist, publisher, television scriptwriter and familiar voice on radio and television brings various perspectives to his artistic vision. That expansive outlook is reflected in a performing life that’s seen him appear with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Yaroslav Shemet, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra and numerous ensembles both in Poland and abroad.

From presenting the music of Chopin by candlelight to interpreting celebrated film scores, he’s always sought to bring together tradition and modern expression. It’s fitting, then, that his first album under his own name should embrace exactly that conceptual overlap. Released through the MMSRecords imprint, Unfolked Piano. Some Polish Themes distils decades of musical experience into a highly personal statement that gently reframes Polish folk melodies in their familiar forms to allow them to dissolve into intimate, contemplative piano miniatures.

The album’s lead single and opening piece “Across My Garth” serves as a perfect curtain raiser; its title, invoking an enclosed garden, captures the composition’s quiet, pastoral atmosphere. Formed upon the traditional melody “W moim ogródecku”, the song moves with unhurried grace, its spacious phrasing and delicate touch encouraging close listening, as throughout the record, virtuosity gives way to nuance, the lasting decay of a single note and the eloquence of silence itself. Brought to life by Marcin’s elegant performance, it’s a stunning moment of jazz-tinged instrumental piano music that’s soothing and subtly buoyant.

“Rosemary’s Tune” follows with the soft rhythm of bass notes as twinkling lead plinks float above to cast a delicate blend of soft groove and bright melodic flourishes. “Caroline-Gogoline” arrives with fluttering piano runs before the pulse of zappy synth textures add to the song’s hypnotic rhythmic flow, forming an invigorating listening experience and incredible display of Marcin’s performance panache.

Compositions like “Little Lime” glide with lilting rhythmic sway and emotive melodic lines, crafting a dreamy and truly transportive soundscape that gradually develops with flickering lead notes to deliver a magical musical moment that captures beauty even in its restraint. “Brickin’ Cellar” forms with subtly unnerving sounds which quickly give way to lullaby-esque piano lines before shifting with the stutter of deep bass notes and intense performance, creating an engrossing scene of incredible ebb and flow.

“Cuckoo Song” jumps with bouncy, stabbed notes and dazzling flashes to set up a buoyant piece brimming with jumping energy and lively performance, putting Marcin’s virtuoso talents on full display. The final piece, “Rushin’ Brook” glides with bright lead notes, peppered with stretched tones to create an engaging instrumental finale that softly progresses with shifting rhythms and memorable melodic themes to offer a stellar conclusion to Marcin Sanakiewicz’s incredible debut solo album.

Commenting on the release, he shares, “I’ve spent my whole career serving other people’s music. This is the first time the music is simply mine — with traditional Polish roots — and the quietest I’ve ever been on a record.”

Listen to Unfolked Piano. Some Polish Themes below