Hello everyone, long time no see. As a great fan of Szymanowskis music, I often why it isn´t performed more often? Indeed, some of Szymanowskis large-scale works present rather huge challenges on the performer, especially if one is to play his music by heart - but in fact I find most of it to lie more comfortably under the hand than several piano works by, say, Ravel or Debussy. Are his works somehow more difficult to grasp for the listener and more difficult to plunge through for the average piano student in comparision to Ravel/Debussy? Even his "easier" piano works such as the mazurkas are tonally advanced, multi-layered and much more difficult (initially) to get through than the average Chopin mazurka.

Discuss please In addition to the discussion, I´m shamelessly promoting my own semi-decent performance of "Metopes" from a lunch concert earlier today. First time I performed it entirely from memory (I learned it recently and usually have the score for at least a few passages here and there that are easy to confuse), after a completely sleepless night I might add. I´m happy I came to the end of the piece without major [censored]-ups memorywise, also, I´m glad I managed to avoid falling asleep. For yer listening pleasure - http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=45113.0

Funny you mention this. I've got one of his great champions right here where I teach:

Kijanowska playing Szymanowski



Before she went on the road with this, she played wonderful concert here at a friend's house. She alternated between Chopin mazurkas and Szymanowski mazurkas.

In over 40 years of recital going I only remember hearing anything by this composer once. It was a recital at Mannes by Janina Fialkowska. I think she played some Etudes and ?? and I remember enjoying them tremendously.

I have told the story a few times about a master class where the student played a very difficult Szymanowski piece for Irina Morozova. After hearing the piece once and following the score, Morozova said something like "I haven't heard this piece before but I've played other pieces by Szymanowski." Then she proceeded to sight read the piece very well.

I enjoyed your performance of Metopes very much! Interestingly enough, one of Dubal's comments in The Art of the Piano is "once mastered they lie beautifully in the hands, more so than his earlier works."

Great work on the very complex and difficult Metopes. I'm entranced by Scheherezade myself, but it's just so danged hard. On the other hand, the Mazurkas need to be played more often. They're fantastic, and Artur Rubinstein loved them.

As suggested in other posts, Szymanowski is a composer whose piano works really, really don't get played much -- and that, really, is a crime, when you consider how elegant and rich his writing is. I've never heard Metopes before -- it strikes me as a synthesis of Ravel and mid-Scriabin; i.e., something Scriabin might have composed if he had not become obsessed with "the flame" and "the mystic chord". Wonderful stuff, and wonderfully played! Thanks for sharing this!

The 2nd sonata is on my bucket list, but until I mutate into a superhuman pianist, maybe I'll spend some time adding a few of his mazurkas and physically less-demanding music to my repertoire. His etudes are fantastic, and I am always amazed by Metopes. That must be such a rewarding piece to work on!

Thanks for the kind words on the recording, and nice to get some discussion on the topic of Szymanowskis music. I personally have the theory that many of the more well-known composers of the early 20th-century have some of their "general fame" also thanks to having written music that even the amateur can play. Look at Bartoks "Mikrokosmos" or the numerous works intended for children, or some of the easier works by Debussy (and Ravel, his 4-hands-works for example) - many amateurs have surely played through things like "Clair de lune" or the first arabesque (although the 3 against 2 might be tricky for some :)). I remember myself as a kid how I found it strange how Bartoks tiny little piece "Evening in Transylvania", which goes mostly in E minor/G major, had a E in the melody which was harmonized with a C# minor chord - it sounded so odd and out of place to my not-too-experienced ears! In a way, it seems that Bartok tried to introduce odd harmonies, rhythms and melodies through his educational pieces, making them a good introduction to his more complicated works.

In a way, Szymanowski probably didn´t do (or intend to do) this at all. He wrote no "easy" music, nothing intended for the average amateur that indeed found the polyrhythms of the Debussy arabesque a challenge. The time it takes to learn a whole Chopin mazurka might only get you a few measures in the ones written by Szymanowski.

The other problem was of course that he died. Relatively early. While many others got their works performed in the US after WW2, there were simply not a great deal of advocates of Szymanowskis music after his death, or so it seems. Possibly he was performed to some extent in Poland (I don´t really know much about this) in the 50´s but apart from that, it seems his music was very much neglected after the war. Luckily it is being rediscovered.

In addition to this, I´d just say that playing his works is a challenge for any pianist, professional or not. The bigger cycles like Metopes and Masques are so improvisatory and rhapsodic in character that they can come across as difficult to understand, even though there´s a great understanding of momentum and structure from the composers side. I´d agree with the Dubal statement that these works lie very well under the hand most of the time (and yes, the earlier works might be more difficult in this regard, too) but considering the dense structure and the incredible amount of detail in the score, few performers can probably go off stage feeling completely satisfied with whatever major Szymanowski work they just might have played. Which leads me to the next question - any favourite Szymanowski performers out there...? Any recommendations?

The swedish pianist Roland Pöntinen, whom I know vaguely, made a lovely Szymanowski disc, very alive performances. Martin Roscoe also made some good recordings. I rather dislike Anderszewskis take on the metopes, and I found Hamelins recordings of the Mazurkas a bit too extreme, tempowise and so on.

no more thoughts on this topic...? :P

Well, he IS still rather obscure to most people ....

I'm with PianoDad on this one -- I frankly had to Google him to learn about his musical career. His late Mazurkas for me are reminiscent of another composer also pretty much forgotten -- Alexandre Tansman. They both wrote a body of exquisite 20th century Mazurkas for the piano as a "tip of the hat" to their Polish heritage -- although they were otherwise very different in their musical predilections. Apart from the Mazurkas, the only published solo piano works I've seen in the US is his 3rd Etude from OP 4 and a B Minor Prelude from OP 1 -- both Strauss-influenced early works from the turn of the century. Out of curiosity, who publishes mature Szymanowski?
I play some of the Tansman Mazurkas, and might just get a copy of the OP 50 and 62 Mazurkas.

I think I have a copy of the Etudes around here someplace. There's something I like about Szymanowski's over-the-top sort-of-impressionistic verge-of-tonality filigree.

Universal Edition was his publisher, and they still have most of his stuff. However, now that copyright has expired, you can get relatively inexpensive reprints of many of the major works from Music Masters. Unfortunately, not the mazurkas, though.

I adore the 3rd Piano Sonata.
I think it's such a well-conceived and executed work. The score itself is just beautiful to look at. As mentioned, Szymanowski's score is so detailed. I've been too daunted to even attempt playing through any of it.

You mentioned you don't like Anderszewski's disc? What do you think of the sonata? I think he handles the first movement masterfully - maybe playing it a bit more "beautifully" than intended? The passionate climax still gives me goosebumps.

The second movement is so hauntingly beautiful. I think his fugue could be played with a little more "bite", but I think it's a fine performance.

I've mentioned Szymanowski's music on here before, and besides wr who has already chimed in, I don't recall many that familiar or expressing much interest in his music. Glad to see some more interest this time around.

-Daniel

I must admit I've never looked at Szymanowski's piano music myself, though I've heard lots of performances of it (and own a couple of CDs - Dennis Lee's Hyperion CD is the best of those I've heard: he played most of the music in recital for the BBC in the 1980s-1990s. I don't like Anderszewski, but Zimerman is reputed to be making a recording......). I somehow prefer his orchestral music (especially the Violin Concerto No.1) and his choral works (Stabat Mater).

I didn't like the Anderszewski CD very much at first, but it got better on repeated hearings.

Many years ago I picked up an LP of the 3rd sonata played by Norman Shetler, and liked it a great deal. It has turned up on YouTube, and is worth a listen, I think, although the transfer is not all that great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1BU1T9Xp7U

There's also an interesting performance of this sonata by Richter on YouTube, but the sound is so bad it is very close to unlistenable. But, if you can deal with trying to focus on his playing instead of the very loud hum and other noise, it has some great moments. It's really a shame that he didn't release an "official" recording of this, or of the 2nd sonata, which he also played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H03VrTXPJ

I just came across this performance of Scheherazade from "Masques" and it strikes me as being pretty good (even if the recorded sound is not so good).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FxYnSVetFk

The one piece whose lack of exposure I really don't understand at all is the Symphonie Concertante. It certainly is among the most "accessible" of Szymanowski's pieces, and much of it is flat-out gorgeous. And it isn't really all that difficult to play. What's the problem? Is it just that his name is relatively unfamiliar? Is it that there's only one slot for this kind of music, and it's already filled (in alternation) by Falla's Nights and Bartok's 3rd?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FxYnSVetFk

It's interesting that his opera "King Roger" has been getting some attention recently. The Santa Fe opera is putting it on this summer - tempting.