Simon Laks

Jezusek

Simon Laks (1901-1983), who came from an assimilated Jewish family in Warsaw, composed arrangements of both Jewish and Christian folk songs which captivate by their subtle piano writing. His Eight Jewish Folk Songs from 1947, composed two years after his liberation from the Auschwitz death camp, are classics of the repertoire. Another real gem is his version of the Polish Christmas carol Jezusek (Little Jesus), which was rediscovered only recently as part of the complete recording of Laks‘ songs. Still very popular in Poland today, the pastorale with the original title Oj maluśki, maluśki originates from the Podhale region of southern Poland. Laks’ piano accompaniment is especially enchanting, with its canonically treated secondary part and cleverly used chromatic suspensions and passing notes, which allude to the future suffering of Christ without taking away any of the melody's warmth. Holger Groschopp, who has been studying the works of Simon Laks as an interpreter and arranger for a long time, let himself be inspired by Laks' artful arrangement and wrote the present free arrangement as a 'song without words'.