Release Date: 02 January 2007
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313274826
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: SZYMANOWSKI
Description
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) Music for Violin and Piano Although they are less central to his output than orchestral, vocal or piano music, Karol Szymanowski wrote a number of works for violin and piano, spanning his entire career; enabling a decent appreciation of his musical development from this medium alone. That development falls into four main phases: a first phase (1900-1912), in which the influences of Chopin and Scriabin, are combined with those of the German late-Romantics, notably Strauss and Reger; a second phase (1913-19), which sees the evolution of a highly individual style, drawing on the Impressionism of Debussy and early Stravinsky but also on Middle Eastern culture and folklore; a third phase (1918-24), centering on the opera King Roger and which intensifies the previous phase while anticipating that to come; and a fourth phase (1925-34), drawing freely and also imaginatively on Polish folk-music, notably that of the Tatra region, in music whose astringent harmonies and bracing rhythms reflect the composer's Polish heritage, in a personal take on the neo-Classicism then being pursued by such composers as Bartók, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Composed in 1904, the Violin Sonata is one of several large-scale instrumental works that emerged in Szymanowski's first phase, which also saw the first two symphonies [Naxos 8.553683] and the first two piano sonatas [ Naxos 8.553867 and 8.553016 respectively]. Outwardly conventional both in its overall form and also that of each movement, the piece yet shows a thorough assimilation of its stylistic influences, as well as a confidence in writing for the difficult violin-and-piano medium that Szymanowski was to develop and refine in subsequent works. The first movement opens with an impassioned theme that involves both instruments in a forceful dialogue. A second theme is more inward and discursive, while not lacking expressive impetus, before winding down in a pensive codetta. The development draws both of these themes into a rhapsodic yet cumulative series of exchanges that reaches a hesitant pause, only for the reprise to commence with the intensified but curtailed return of the first theme. Its successor is duly given more space to unwind, anticipating the resigned tone that is confirmed by a subdued coda. Initiated by soothing piano figuration, the slow movement unfolds as a lyrical cantilena for violin, its unbroken melodic line at length curtailed by capricious violin pizzicati and piano chords in rhythmic unison. Ending as abruptly as it began, this passes into a resumption of the lyrical music, moving towards a rapt climax that presently winds down to the tender close. The finale opens with a declamatory call to attention from both instruments, then proceeds with a purposeful theme that moves naturally into the easeful secondary melody. The brief but energetic central section features incisive motivic exchanges, before the main themes are recalled in an expressively hei
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yaqi Yang; Margarita Parsamyan; Robynne Redmon; Minghao Liu; Frank Ragsdale; Kim Josephson; Kevin S
Vilmos Csikos; Olivier Lechardeur; Manon Lamaison
Tomas Cotik; Martingale Ensemble; Ken Selden
