Szymanowski'

Two important chamber works from 19th-century Poland, in quality equivalent perhaps to Dvorák and Brahms, but completely unknown outside their native country. Zarebski was a virtuoso pianist, more feted during much of his short life as a performer than a composer. However his Piano Quintet is truly a masterpiece, demonstrating an originality and stature that match and even surpass better-known piano quintets by better-known composers. It shows a remarkably fresh ear for symphonic thinking, motivic development and sheer melodic invention.

Pianist Rafał Blechacz is returning with beautiful, ecstatic and very colorful French/Polish chamber music repertoire. For his first ever chamber music recording on DG he teams up with the supreme musicianship of Korean violinist Bomsori Kim.

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.

After a first Brahms recital that made a great impression (Alpha 851) and Mozart concertos (Alpha 1039) praised by the press for their natural fit (Gramophone) and fluidity (Le Monde), Jonathan Fournel, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition at the age of 27 and now an important figure on the international stage, has decided to record a programme that he has already performed extensively in concert: "I like Chopin's 3rd Sonata because the melodic lines don't need any embellishments, they're already beautiful — in the same way that the Mona Lisa doesn’t need any make-up. The same is true for Szymanowski's more virtuoso pieces. Szymanowski is a bit like a Scriabin who developed at full speed and who at times approached the Viennese style. I like that because there's research to be done inside, but it's not virtuosity à la Rachmaninov. What I like about these composers is that every element counts and expresses something.”

As stylistically different as Karol Szymanowski's two violin concertos are, they share a brilliance of orchestration that clearly identifies them with their composer. The Violin Concerto No. 1 is the most complex of the two in its evocative scene painting, exotic harmonies, and extremely virtuosic cadenza, while the Violin Concerto No. 2 stands in striking contrast with its long-breathed rhapsodic melodies and comparative directness and simplicity.

Karol Szymanowski & Paweł Szymański - Kwartet Akademos (2007) {Polskie Radio Katowice PRKCD 084}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 232 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 114 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 124 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Polskie Radio Katowice | PRKCD 084
Classical / Contemporary Classical / String Quartet

Kwartet Akademos was founded in 1997. The team members improved their skills at post-graduate studies: Anna Szabelka at the Music Academy in Warsaw in the class of prof. Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, while the other members of the quartet at the Music Academy in Katowice in the chamber music class of Marek Mos. In 2007, he was invited to Carnegie Hall in New York for the "The ESQ Workshop: Beethoven Quartets" course, which was led by members of The Emerson String Quartet.

Arabella Steinbacher has previously released a number of recordings on the Orfeo label, with both Shostakovich concertos, and those by Berg, Beethoven, Khatchaturian and Milhaud already under her belt. She now appears on the SACD specialist Pentatone label, perhaps taking over the baton from Julia Fischer after her move to Decca.