Information
Composer: Karol Szymanowski
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Date: 2003
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67399
- (01-20 Twenty Mazurkas, Op. 50
- (21) Valse Romantique
- (22-25) Four Polish Dances
- (26-27) Two Mazurkas, Op. 62
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Date: 2003
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67399
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Szymanowski’s elusive treatment of the mazurka here finds the perfect interpreter
A more potent or original voice than Szymanowski’s is hard to imagine. True, there are key influences to be observed in his rapidly evolving art (Chopin, inevitably, but also Scriabin, Strauss, Reger, the French impressionists and a final rediscovery of Polish roots) yet the results are never less than personal and exotic, and never more so than in the Op 50 Mazurkas.
Chopin’s 58 or so Mazurkas form his most intimate and confessional diary and it is understandable that many other composers (Liszt, Fauré, Debussy), after an initial and uncertain start, shied away from what is after all an intimidating ethnic genre. Scriabin’s 20 Mazurkas are an exception, but unlike Szymanowski’s their style becomes increasingly Russian. Szymanowski’s avowed aim was the revitalising of an exclusively Polish idiom and if the results are initially puzzling – rather like Chopin seen through a distorting mirror – the Mazurkas’ bitter-sweet fragrance (try Nos 1 and 3, both indelibly associated with Artur Rubinstein), and their alternation of introspection and flickering half-lights with an almost crazed exuberance, is increasingly evocative.
Chopin’s spectre may, of necessity, haunt their presence, but so does Szymanowski’s beloved Zakopane and the Tatra mountains, areas central to his late musical thinking; in his own words, a ‘crystallising of elements of tribal heritage’. How significant that Szymanowski’s state funeral ended with a performance by the Obrochta family – whose music had inspired the composer and who had travelled with their rustic violins and bagpipes to Cracow for the occasion.
Such elusive music requires a pianist of rare sensitivity and dexterity and in Marc-André Hamelin Szymanowski has been granted a true champion. A marvel of stylistic inwardness and pianistic refinement, his performances capture the Mazurkas’ alternating whimsy and rigour to perfection. The recording – which also includes the strange (satirical?) Valse Romantique, Four Polish dances and two Op 62 Mazurkas – is of demonstration quality and I look forward to further Szymanowski from Hamelin, notably to the Second Sonata; music which, unlike the Mazurkas, is of outsize virtuoso proportions.
-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone
More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
BBC Music Magazine PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
https://www.amazon.com/Szymanowski-Mazurkas-Complete-Marc-Andre-Hamelin/dp/B00009NJ1W
A more potent or original voice than Szymanowski’s is hard to imagine. True, there are key influences to be observed in his rapidly evolving art (Chopin, inevitably, but also Scriabin, Strauss, Reger, the French impressionists and a final rediscovery of Polish roots) yet the results are never less than personal and exotic, and never more so than in the Op 50 Mazurkas.
Chopin’s 58 or so Mazurkas form his most intimate and confessional diary and it is understandable that many other composers (Liszt, Fauré, Debussy), after an initial and uncertain start, shied away from what is after all an intimidating ethnic genre. Scriabin’s 20 Mazurkas are an exception, but unlike Szymanowski’s their style becomes increasingly Russian. Szymanowski’s avowed aim was the revitalising of an exclusively Polish idiom and if the results are initially puzzling – rather like Chopin seen through a distorting mirror – the Mazurkas’ bitter-sweet fragrance (try Nos 1 and 3, both indelibly associated with Artur Rubinstein), and their alternation of introspection and flickering half-lights with an almost crazed exuberance, is increasingly evocative.
Chopin’s spectre may, of necessity, haunt their presence, but so does Szymanowski’s beloved Zakopane and the Tatra mountains, areas central to his late musical thinking; in his own words, a ‘crystallising of elements of tribal heritage’. How significant that Szymanowski’s state funeral ended with a performance by the Obrochta family – whose music had inspired the composer and who had travelled with their rustic violins and bagpipes to Cracow for the occasion.
Such elusive music requires a pianist of rare sensitivity and dexterity and in Marc-André Hamelin Szymanowski has been granted a true champion. A marvel of stylistic inwardness and pianistic refinement, his performances capture the Mazurkas’ alternating whimsy and rigour to perfection. The recording – which also includes the strange (satirical?) Valse Romantique, Four Polish dances and two Op 62 Mazurkas – is of demonstration quality and I look forward to further Szymanowski from Hamelin, notably to the Second Sonata; music which, unlike the Mazurkas, is of outsize virtuoso proportions.
-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone
More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
BBC Music Magazine PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
https://www.amazon.com/Szymanowski-Mazurkas-Complete-Marc-Andre-Hamelin/dp/B00009NJ1W
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Karol Szymanowski (6 October 1882 – 29 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist, the most celebrated Polish composer of the early 20th century. His career divided in 3 periods. The early works show the influence of the late Romantic German school as well as the early works of Alexander Scriabin. Later, he developed an impressionistic and partially atonal style. His third period was influenced by the folk music of the Polish Górale people. He is considered a member of the late 19th-/early 20th-century modernist movement Young Poland and widely viewed as one of the greatest Polish composers.
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Marc-André Hamelin (born September 5, 1961 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical brilliance of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has made recordings of a wide variety of composers with the Hyperion label. He is well known for his attention to lesser-known composers especially of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and for performing works by pianist-composers. Hamelin has also composed several works, including a set of piano études in all of the minor keys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_Hamelin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_Hamelin
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