Warsaw Philharmonic / Jacek Kaspszyk SZYMANOWSKI

The new album by the Warsaw Philharmonic features music by eminent Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. His Litany to the Virgin Mary, Stabat Mater and Song of the Night were written between 1914 and 1933, which is considered to have been the most fruitful period in his creative life. 

Litany to the Virgin Mary to a poem by Jerzy Liebert (1904-1931) – a poet known for his love of lyrical verse on philosophical and religious subjects – is a piece which Szymanowski began to compose in 1930.  

Stabat Mater, completed in 1926, was officially commissioned from Szymanowski by the Polish art collector Bronisław Krystall to commemorate his wife’s death. The work was inspired, however, by a tragic event that affected Szymanowski’s family. Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater holds a special place in the history of Polish music after Chopin. It exerted a powerful impact even on eminent composers working fifty years later, wrote Marcin Gmys, PhD, professor of Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

The last work on this CD is Symphony No. 3 Song of the Night for solo voice, mixed choir and orchestra (1914-1916) – a whole new world of musical imagination, whose protagonist and speaker is an artist – at first unable to express his own feelings.

The performers are Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under the baton of the Philharmonic’s artistic director, Jacek Kaspszyk, as well as outstanding soloists: Aleksandra Kurzak, Agnieszka Rehlis, Artur Ruciński, and Dmitry Korchak. (Warner Classics)

Fanny Robilliard / Paloma Kouider DEBUSSY - SZYMANOWSKI - HAHN - RAVEL

Violonist Fanny Robilliard commenced her studies at the age 16 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon with Marianne Piketty. First prize winner of Appassionato Competition 2006 in Caen, and Avignon International Competition 2007, she appeared as a soloist for several performances in France.

After getting her Diploma in the Masterclass at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, she was admitted in the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunks Orchester Academy. Named by french performing rights society “Adami” as “Révélation Classique 2010”, she has been a frequent guest in many festivals, including Aix-­en-­Provence, Prades, Baden Baden Festpiele, the Nymphenburger Schloss Konzert, Lenk Sommerakademy, Traunsteiner Sommerkonzerte.

Between 2012 - ­2014 she was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Karajan orchestra academy, which included regular concerts with the orchestra, as well as various chamber music performances and workshops with distinguished artists such as Simon Rattle, Christian Tetzlaff and Mitsuko Uchida.

Paloma Kouider studied with Sergueï Markarov at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and with Elisso Virssaladze in Florence. In 2012 she joined the class of Avedis Kouyoumdijan at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where her studies were further enriched by Claude Helffer in the field of contemporary music, and by Stéphane Béchy in early music and period performance. Paloma was named by French performing rights society ADAMI as a 'révélation classique', and was an award winner from the Groupe Banque Populaire foundation.

Invited at an early age to perform in prestigious programmes in Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and Japan, she has never neglected her passion for literature, which she pursues in a classe préparatoire at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

Alongside her concert activities, and in collaboration with Alexandra Soumm and Maria Mosconi, Paloma founded the association "Esperanz'Arts", which organises artistic events for the socially disadvantaged.

Lucas Debargue SCHUBERT - SZYMANOWSKI

For his eagerly anticipated third Sony Classical album, Lucas Debargue continues his passionate exploration of unfamiliar and unexpected repertoire. On his new recital he recorded a monumental but rarely-performed work: Karol Szymanowski’s Sonata No. 2 (1911) and two so-called ‘little’ sonatas by Schubert: D664 in A major and D784 in A minor. “I am feeling like a very deep duty is to go as deep as possible in some pieces that are very well known by the musicians and the audience, like the Schubert sonatas – mostly the A major one – but also to give the opportunity to some audiences to get to know some pieces that they don’t have the opportunity to hear very often”, says Debargue.

Cathy Krier DEBUSSY - SZYMANOWSKI

"In this new album, Cathy Krier takes an original step and goes entirely against the grain of her previous programmatic approach. In her two most recent CDs she had juxtaposed the apparently divergent styles of Rameau and Ligeti, or Liszt vs. Berg/Schoenberg, uncovering astounding new connections among them. The current release now takes the opposite path. At first glance, Claude Debussy – the inventor of musical Impressionism – and Karol Szymanowski – often called the ‘Polish Impressionist’ – would seem to have much in common. Both composers even use the same title in French: Masques (masks). Cathy Krier affirms, nevertheless, that she is much more interested in the differences one can observe between these two works written roughly during the same period. Our listening experience is thus enriched thanks to a new, fascinating aesthetical perspective."(excerpts from the booklet notes by Clemens Matuschek)

Isabelle Faust / Ewa Kupiec JANÁCEK Sonate pour violon et piano - LUTOSLAWSKI Partita - SZYMANOWSKI Mythes

Here's a really terrific recital, both enterprising and intelligent, that winds up being much more than the sum of its very considerable parts. Isabelle Faust and Ewa Kupiec play Janácek's quirky Violin Sonata with uninhibited passion, making no attempt to smooth over the music's rough edges but at the same time (as in the gorgeous second-movement Ballada) offering playing of bewitching beauty and fantasy. Kupiec in this respect proves herself a more than worthy partner to her gifted colleague. For example, her approach to La Fontaine d'Aréthuse, the first of Szymanowski's Mythes, points the music's rhythms with unusual care. No impressionistic fog here! The result, when combined with Faust's exquisitely poised tracery in her upper register, must be the most characterful interpretation of this music since the celebrated Danczowska/Zimerman version on DG, and it couldn't be more different--sharply focused and precise where the DG offers dreamy washes of sound.
The two Lutoslawski pieces--the brief, eruptive Subito and the Partita--find a natural home in this highly individual company of composers and performers. Partita is best known in its orchestral guise, but there's a very good case to be made for hearing it as originally written for violin and piano, particularly when played as here. Kupiec's notably keen attention to harmonic detail provides a much firmer launching pad than does the orchestral version for the violin's evocative, often microtonal explorations. Curiously, although you might think this harder edge makes the music more difficult listening, it's actually easier to hear both its neo-Baroque patterning and beautifully shaped melodic contours, particularly when phrased with the sensitivity Faust routinely displays (witness the poignant Largo central section). Perfectly balanced recorded sound completes as fine a chamber music recital as anyone could hope for. Stunning! (David Hurwitz)