Szymanowski - Symphonies 3 & 4 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Szymanowski - Harnasie / Mandragora / Etude [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/07/2018

Karol Szymanowski is considered to be Poland's greatest composer after Chopin. A contemporary of Bartok, Stravinsky, Scriabin and Ravel, his earlier works are of the late romantic style - Strauss, Reger and Rimsky Korsakov. Later he developed an impressionistic, oriental and partially atonal style which he later fused with folk music of his native land. Marin Alsop leads the Polish National Symphony in the 4th and last of his symphonies. This masterpiece of the symphonic repertoireis is a 20th century take on the Sinfonia featuring a prominent piano part, performed by Szymon Nehring.

The symphonic oeuvre of the Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz has never before been recorded in it's entirety Inchfrom one sourceInch, so that the series beginning here represents a pioneering act. The Third Symphony for large symphony orchestra was written in early 1952 and the monumental and pathetic music shows a hitherto unknown face of the composer. One of it's characteristics is the use of large instrumental blocks, although fragments also appear that hint at the lighter expressivity of the neoclassical tradition. It is a masterfully constructed work and the overt formal schemes of the Classical period are complemented by the subtle use of elements that were characteristic of music between the wars - in particular the timbres of the French tradition. Nevertheless, this work is not about setting new accents. The same applies to the Fourth Symphony. The orchestra of this work from 1953 is larger than in the previous symphony - among other things, English horn, E-flat and bass clarinet, contrabassoon and harp are now also called for. In both works, the composer achieved an excellent balance between the music of the past (form referring to tradition) and new sources of inspiration (folklore) as well as a new approach to traditional elements (rhythm). As a result, she managed to reconcile the autonomous, artistic qualities of her music with the expectations of the cultural policy of the time. We are very happy to have found congenial interpreters for this project, which sets new standards in the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Polish conductor Lukasz Borowicz.