Conducting achievements of Witold Rowicki in Poland and abroad
Witold Rowicki (1914–1989) was one of the most renowned Polish conductors of the 2nd half of the 20th century who gave unique renditions of symphonic music, based on a careful selection of dynamics, tempo and sound proportions between particular groups of instruments. The range of his artistic achievements as a conductor is impressive and comprises over 600 concerts in Poland (most of them with the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice), more than 500 concerts abroad, huge concert repertoire ranging from classicism to contemporary music, performances given alongside a number of outstanding soloists, more than 100 records, compositional output, numerous arrangements and instrumentations, popularization of music, teaching activity. His biggest organizational achievement was the revival of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (1945) and the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (1951) after the World War II. Witold Rowicki was a conductor of a particular merit for Polish culture.