Various

Featuring: Krzysztof Komeda, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Piotr Figiel, Józef Skrzek, SBB, Henryk Kuźniak, Bohdan Mazurek, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jerzy Matuszkiewicz, Jerzy Milian, Jan Freda, Zdzisław Szostak, Adam Walaciński, Andrzej Rokicki, Piotr Marczewski, Edward Pągowski, Adam Markiewicz, Eugeniusz Rudnik, Bogusław Schaeffer, Marek Wilczyński, Jan Ptaszyn-Wróblewski, Wojciech Kilar, Jerzy Geisler, Benon Hardy, Waldemar Kazanecki, Janusz Hajdun, Jerzy Krzemiński, Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz, Mateusz Święcicki, Ryszard Lindberg, Andrzej Salamon

The archive of the Educational Film Studio (Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych, WFO) in Łódź means jazz, rock, folk, electronics, avant-garde and the imagination of outstanding composers preserved on thousands of tapes. The Best of WFO is a fascinating journey into one of the least obvious and most surprising sound archives in Poland.

In the 75 years of its activity the WFO produced more than 4,500 films, from simple educational pieces used in schools to absorbing documentaries and avant-garde impressions. It was here, at 210 Kilińskiego Street in Łódź, that masters of cinema such as Wojciech Jerzy Has, Krzysztof Zanussi and Jacek Bławut started out. The music for WFO productions also came from the pens of the most distinguished composers: Krzysztof Komeda and Zbigniew Namysłowski smuggled jazz into educational films, Piotr Figiel and Józef Skrzek with SBB brought various shades of rock, while Henryk Kuźniak, Bohdan Mazurek and Krzysztof Penderecki moved successfully between the avant-garde and electronics. The Best of WFO tries to gather into one story at least a small slice of the studio's extraordinarily rich output: a cross-section history of musical illustration, from the chamber-scale Grotołazy by Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Jerzy Milian from 1957 to the genre-hopping games of the 1980s by Jan Freda (Karlino, Kometa Halley’a), a sound engineer associated with the WFO for many years.

The remastered recordings come from the original tapes in the WFO archive in Łódź. The booklet includes film stills and an essay on musical illustration in the history of the WFO. The album continues the many-threaded journey into the factory of the unexpected that is the archive of the Łódź studio. The series has already brought monographic discs by Zdzisław Szostak, Krzysztof Komeda and Józef Skrzek with SBB, with further titles in preparation.

The 32 tracks: Krzysztof Penderecki, Malarze gdańscy; Piotr Figiel, Tylko się jeździ; Adam Walaciński, Zygmunt Waliszewski; Andrzej Rokicki, Śladami myśli Kopernika; Piotr Marczewski, Łuk i cztery strzały; Krzysztof Komeda, Kraksa; Bohdan Mazurek, Bykowi chwała; Piotr Marczewski, Gruby; Edward Pągowski, Do Studziannej; Adam Markiewicz, Zaginął pies; Eugeniusz Rudnik, Pięciobój nowoczesny; Zbigniew Namysłowski, Fabryka bez dachu; Henryk Kuźniak, Historia żołnierza; Bogusław Schaeffer, Poza schematem; Henryk Kuźniak, Kantor; Jan Freda, Kometa Halley’a; Józef Skrzek, Ołowica; Marek Wilczyński, Oskar Kolberg; Jan Ptaszyn-Wróblewski, Kanon…; Wojciech Kilar, Maria Skłodowska-Curie; Jerzy Geisler and Benon Hardy, Łódzka niedziela; Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Jerzy Milian, Grotołazy; Jan Freda, Karlino; Zdzisław Szostak, Pokusa; Waldemar Kazanecki, Temat: Londyn; Janusz Hajdun, Lustro; Henryk Kuźniak, Wypracowanie; Jerzy Krzemiński, Spojrzenie na plakat; Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz, Ballada o Łodzi; Mateusz Święcicki and Ryszard Lindberg, Filmowy sezam; Andrzej Salamon, Biały walc; Waldemar Kazanecki, Wieczorne spotkania.