Szymanowski: Choral Works

This CD, which includes three of Szymanowski's works for orchestra with vocal soloists and chorus, is a welcome reissue of EMI's 1994 recording of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle. Rattle has been an ardent champion of Szymanowski's music since the early '80s and began including it in the repertoire of the City of Birmingham Symphony's concerts early in his tenure as its music director. A major hurdle for the Birmingham Symphony was mastering the Polish language, and in fact, the first performances of the Stabat Mater were in Latin. By the time these recordings were made, Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony had become something of specialists in the music of Szymanowski, as well as proficient performers in Polish.
Szymanowski's idiom is most frequently evoked by mentioning the disparate composers whose work it resembles -- Richard Strauss, Scriabin, Ravel -- and it's not difficult to hear their influence, but his music has aesthetic integrity and never sounds like a patchwork. The Third Symphony, both in its subject matter and the orientalism of its musical tone, celebrates Szymanowski's lifelong fascination with the Middle East. Subtitled "Song of the Night," its first and third movements are settings of texts by Rumi, the thirteenth century Persian poet and mystic, and the second movement features a wordless chorus. If it were not for the difficulty of the Polish language, it would be easy to imagine the symphony, which includes a tenor soloist and chorus, becoming established in the repertoire of any orchestra with the resources to handle Mahler. It is notable for its mysticism, the opulence of its orchestration and harmonic language, and its passionate sense of drama, which culminates ecstatically in the third movement. (Lutoslawski said that after hearing the piece, he "felt quite dizzy for a number of weeks," and that it was this music that cemented his decision to commit his life to composition.)
The Stabat Mater and Litany to the Virgin Mary are more austere works, as their subject matter requires, with reflective moments of a cappella choral singing and delicately accompanied vocal solos, but they inhabit the same harmonic landscape as the Third Symphony. While the symphony is characterized by an almost erotically charged ecstasy, the passions that these pieces voice are expressions of intense grief or profound religious devotion.
The confidence and vitality of this recording testifies to the performers' familiarity and fluency with this music. The singing and playing of the chorus and orchestra under Rattle are consistently luscious and passionate -- it's hard to imagine a more compelling and emotionally charged delivery of these works. Among the soloists, mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar's velvety lower register is especially memorable. Rattle's committed and emotionally engaging reading of these pieces makes a convincing case for Szymanowski and makes this CD an ideal introduction to his work.