Label:	Quartet Records
Cat No:	SM030

Aglaja is about the members of a refugee family of circus artists from Eastern Europe, their enforced interdependence and later their break-up, the joy and the curse of belonging together – all seen from the viewpoint of a little girl, Aglaja. Watch the trailer at vimeo.com/album/2076064/video/49696458

Aglaja has garnered several international film festival prizes, including Best Film at the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival sand Best film, Director, Actress and the Special Prize at the Monte Carlo International TV Festival, as well as awards in Los Angeles and Orenburg.

The film features a lyrical new score by Zbigniew Preisner, featuring guitarist John Parricelli, bass guitarist Andy Pask, flautist Jacek Ostaszewski, pianist Konrad Mastylo and Hammond organist Jozef Skrzek.

The soundtrack CD of the score is now available on Quartet Records: www.quartetrecords.com/aglaja.html and is also available to download from all major e-stores. 

Label:	Virgin France
Cat No:	7243 841258-2

"I don't like going back and doing what I've already done, but I had to know whether my music 'sounded' as good without a film accompanying it. Did it stand up on its own two feet when removed from its cinematic context? To check this, I chose the Wieliczka salt mine, near Krakow: a secret, mysterious magical place 130 metres below ground. A unique atmosphere with exceptional acoustics.

The risk was great though: a subterranean symphony orchestra connected by 400 metres of cables to technical equipment on the ground above. Anything could have happened. Yet it all went incredibly well. I separated the music into five parts, which I chose in line with my tastes and instincts and which combined into a single 'suite'. I wanted to produce more than just a concert; I wanted to put on a musical show. The concert was indeed a rite, a 'mysterium'.

My audience and I felt that my music lived its own life, albeit entirely at my command. Far from the studios and the mixing rooms, I rediscovered the soul of the orchestra and, for the first time ever, I heard my music exactly as I imagined it. I will always remember the Wieliczka concert as a unique step forward in the pursuit of my artistic freedom."

Zbigniew Preisner

Recorded 130 metres below ground in the church of Wieliczka, Poland, excavated out of the abandoned salt mine of Cracovia.