KAROL SZYMANOWSKI (1882-1937)

 

Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3

 

Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19*

Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, ‘Pieśń o nocy’

(Song of the Night)†

 

Ewa Marczyk (violin solo),*

Ryszard Minkiewicz (tenor)†

Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra / Antoni Wit

(Chorus-master: Henryk Wojnarowski)

 

Composed in 1910, at a time when Szymanowski was influenced by Richard Strauss, Reger and Scriabin, the unusually structured Symphony No. 2 is a work of great power and invention, with many passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments, in particular the violin.

 

Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Song of the Night’, in which orchestra, tenor and choir are subtly blended in a continuous web of intoxicating sound, is a ravishing setting of a Polish translation of a poem by the great medieval Persian mystic known as Mevlânâ, our Master, Jalāl ad-Dīn, which evokes the mysteries and beauty of a starlit Persian night.

 

“Naxos offers an exceptionally clear recording of these [works by Szymanowski]...Having a Polish conductor and orchestra…adds to the idiomatic feel of each, with the magical orchestral sounds beautifully conjured up… The point which trumps all competition inevitably is that the Naxos issue, beautifully and idiomatically played and brilliantly recorded, comes at such a reasonable price.” Gramophone on Naxos 8553683

 

Naxos 8570721