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Portuguese liner notes available on www.brilliantclassics.com
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SZYMANOWSKI COMPLETE MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO BRUNO MONTEIRO 窶｢ JOﾃグ PAULO SANTOS 94979 Szymanowski-Booklet.indd 3
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Karol Szymanowski Complete Music for Violin and Piano The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) was born in the Ukraine, where he began his musical studies, first at home, and later, in a school near Elisavetgrad. In 1901, he studied privately with Marek Zawirski and Zygmunt Noskowski in Warsaw. It was during this year that he met Pawel Kochanski, the violinist with whom he would establish a friendship and a longstanding musical partnership, reflected in the dedications and divulgation of the works, transcriptions and even pieces composed in collaboration. Conceived as an initiative analogous to the literary movement, Young Poland, the basic tenet of the group “Young Poland in Music” was the rejuvenation of Polish music. Founded by Szymanowski, with Fitelberg, Róz´ycki and Szeluto, and marked by a strong German influence, the group realized collaborations with national poets and the recently formed Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Szymanowski spent the years until the start of the First World War on various travels. Visits to Vienna, Paris, the south of Italy and the North of Africa are reflected in the composer’s production, most visibly, in a certain reduction of the aesthetic influence of Strauss in favor of others, namely Parisian ones, at the turn of the century (Debussy). This productive abundance was suddenly interrupted by the Russian Revolution. Syzmanowski’s musical output is nearly inexistent during this phase, – except for the song cycle, Pies´ni muezina szalonego (Songs of an Infatuated Muezzin) and the maturation of the opera Król Roger (King Roger) – replaced by literary work on the novel Efebos. The 1920’s mark a change, especially in terms of a completely new interest in the cultivation of certain characteristics of the traditional music of his country. This was, in part, the result of nationalist tendencies forming in the politics and literature of the recently independent Poland. After travels in the the United States, 2
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he divided his time between Warsaw, Zakopane and Paris as his reputation grew. Such recognition was a fundamental factor for his nomination as the director of the Conservatory and Dean of the Music Institute of Warsaw. The final decade of his life, however, saw progressive deterioration on a profession level and in terms of health: his exit from both musical institutions was compounded by periods of depression and tuberculosis that would prove fatal. After a short period of recuperation, between 1932 and 34, with the Sinfonia Concertante and the Second Violin Concerto, his last years were marked by costly European tours, the loss of his home, and ultimately his death in a sanitarium in Lausanne in 1937. Sonata in D minor – M9 – Op.9 – 1903/4 Premiered by Rubinstein and Pawel Kochanski, this sonata exhibits clear indication of study of the work of late-nineteenth century composers, and evidences, in terms of form and thematic presentation, a classical tendency that reflects the composer’s training at Warsaw: a tripartite structure in conventional movements, and within each, traditional forms reign. The two themes of the Allegro moderato are presented in sonata-form: the first, patetico, the second, contrasting, dolcissimo, with an exploration of chromaticism that demonstrates knowledge of lateRomantic German composers. The Andantino tranquillo is an ABA form in which the central section brings contrast through pizzicato and compound rhythm, and the Allegro molto carries the lively dance rhythm of the theme in canon, which will appear, inverted, in the following section of the movement. Pies´n´ Roksany – Chant de Roxane – 1931 This work for violin and piano is in reality a transcription realized by Kochanski of the aria from Szymanowski’s opera, King Roger. The opera, set in eleventh-century Sicily, concerns a conflict of creeds: the christian and the pagan, linked to hedonism and Dionysius. Disguised as a pastor-prophet, the pagan is received by Roxanne, Roger’s wife with a seductive song. The Mediterranean and Arabic influences 3
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from Szymanowski’s intermediate creative phase are clearly recognizable in this work. As in the opera aria, the melodic instrument is the initial protagonist, alone, introducing a vocalize in melismas that evoke an oriental atmosphere. From there, two themes are presented by the violin in alternation – and the piano, like the operatic chorus, echoes. The themes are explored in different registers, textures and dynamics, until dissolving in to a final, held note. Taniec z “Harnasiów” – Dance from Harnasie – 1931 Szymanowski’s ballet, Harnasie, completed in 1931, was, even before its premiere (in 1935) the subject of a transcription by Pawel Kochanski for violin and piano. The work is, from a literary and musical point of view, one of the most paradigmatic examples of the influence of the traditional culture of the Tatra mountains, which would mark Szymanowski’s final creative phase. This shepherds’ dance, transcribed from the original, begins with a long, slow introduction that turns into a traditional cantilena led by the violin. The second section brings a lively character, begun by piano chords, to which the violin at first responds, cultivating, with the piano, the fast, up-beat rhythm over a shared melodic motive that repeats. It finishes, however, by sounding its own theme, in long notes, in a crescendo that reaches its climax in the extremely high register. Becoming steadily more rapid and frenetic, these high sounds are cut off by the piano’s arpeggio and by the tremolo and final bow stroke of the violin. Romance in D Major – M23 – Op.23 – 1910 This work, written in the same year as Szymanowski’s Second Symphony, is dedicated to the violinist Pawel Kochanski. The piece, however, was premiered by Józef Oziminski in 1913. The influence of the poetic-literary movement Young Poland is recognizable in this work, marked by its lyric character. The themes, always exploring chromaticism both melodically and harmonically, are carried by the violin, which presents itself in an expressive crescendo that passes from 4
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the lento assai of the first theme to the molto affettuoso of the second. This arc of dynamic gradations and progressive ascent into ever-higher registers culminates in an fff molto appassionato, which, after a brief hiatus in the form of a new theme, returns with the second theme of the violin. The initial motive, with its intervals of a sixth and octave over a dotted figure, is briefly recalled by the piano just before the piece ends, ppp. Three Capriccios of Paganini – Op.40 – 1918 For the centenary of the Milan edition of Paganini’s Capriccios, Szymanowski created paraphrases after three of them. Numbers 20 and 12 are dedicated to Pawel Kochanski and the famous theme and variations of number 24 are for Józef Ozimin´ski. The violinist who premiered the transcription was, however, Wiktor Goldfeld, in Elisavetgrad, with the composer. Paganini’s Capriccios were written as an object of personal study, not with the end goal of public presentation (for this, the composer’s repertory included, above all, the six concertos). Despite this, they inspired countless generations of composers. In this transcription, Szymanowski took essentially the opposite perspective from Paganini’s toward the Capriccios: he wanted to create concert repertoire to present with his violinist friends. The presence of the piano alters, evidently, the texture of the work, cultivating the characteristics of of tonal harmonization contemporary with the original composition of Paganini, in a reality completely separate from the language of Szymanowski in this phase of his compositional career. Mythes – M29 – Op.30 – 1915 The three great cycles of 1915 – Metopy, Myti and Pies´ni ksie˛niczki – mark a new compositional phase in which Szymanowski is developing his own language, although with influences of Debussy and Ravel, the music with which he was in contact during his southern European travels and, even, to some extent, German composers like Richard Strauss. The triptych Myti (Myths) was premiered in 1916 by Kochanski and 5
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Szymanowski. The violinist collaborated in the composition of this work. Arethusa is a nymph transformed into a fountain by the goddess Artemis when she fled from Alpheus. The piano invokes the liquid element that conjures streams of water and, at the same time, betrays the influence of Debussy. For its part, the violin incorporates pentatonicism and bitonality. The young Narcissus, in love with his own reflection, is evoked by the slow tempo and through the exploration of very different sonorities in the violin, dolcissimo espressivo, that come from the use of the mute, tremolo, harmonics or from the extremely high register, all with a piano that at times sustains, at others, echoes the melodic motives. The nymphs’ chase of Pan and his flight are given by the violin thirds that open the final movement. Aided by the thirty-second notes and continued by the sixteenth notes of the piano, in jumps from low to high, the melody moves forward, fluidly, briefly invoked by the violin. The frenzy continues, with virtuoso pizzicatos in the left hand and tremolos in both parts, interrupted only by a short lyrical moment, in which the same agitation returns, seeming for a moment to decrease, until the final burst of energy – in a fingered arpeggio. La Berceuse d’Aïtacho Enia – Op.52 – 1925 Dedicated to his friend and American patron, Dorothy Jordan-Robinson, this lullaby was composed during a stay at their estate – Aitacho Enia – in San Juan de Luz, in the Basque Country, in July 1925. The gestures of grande emotional expressivity, observable in other works by Szymanowski, like the Sonata, op. 9, the Romance or the Nocturne, give way here to a place of extreme calm, in a sustained pp dolcissimo. Neither the ascent to the high register, nor the brief, enlivening crescendo remove the character of the almost ethereal violin line. The piano brings the element of repetition, enticing sleep, through the short-long rhythmic ostinato which is abandoned only momentarily in order to echo small motives or tremolos from the melody, and which returns until the close of the work. 6
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L’Aube – 1925 Like the Danse Sauvage, this is another work composed in collaboration with Pawel Kochanski, who created the violin part. Again, the piece is not part of Szymanowski’s official catalog of work. This dawn, in slow triple time, is a balanced dialogue between violin and piano in which the latter is limited to sustaining the melody of the former, but, in collaboration with the violin, the piano explores a contrapuntal dimension that develops between the two instruments. In a tripartite form of ABA, the middle section establishes contrast through an extremely light rhythmic acceleration, with a motive set out in the piano. The violin creates a unique melodic variation on this idea in a crescendo leading to a brief climax. The initial theme returns, in an A’ that this time explores the high register of the violin and is repeated until it fades away, pianissimo. Danse Sauvage – 1920 A fascination with the primitive, with a wild not yet “corrupted” by civilization is an aspect dear to culture and music in the years following the first world war, but which had already manifest clear signs since the second decade of the twentieth century. The Rite of Spring is a consummate example of this aspect, but not the only one: the Danse Sauvage by the Russian-American composer Leo Ornstein, presented in London in 1914 would have been known to Pawel Kochanski, who wrote the the violin part for a work of the same name, leaving the piano part to the care of Szymanowski. It is for this reason that the work is not included in the composer’s official catalog. Other Danses Sauvages appeared in the twenties, especially at the shows of Josephine Baker, which set Paris alight after 1925. In this ABA, the violin melody, which evokes oriental sonorities through nonEuropean scales, is sustained by the chords in the piano, pulsating to an extremely marked and frenetic binary rhythm, invoking the drumming of a primitive tribe. This is interrupted only by a brief, more lyrical section, before a new breath of agitation again takes hold. 7
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Zarz´yjze˛ kuniu (Kurpian Song) – 1931 Zarz´yjze˛ kuniu is part of the cycle of Twelve Songs from Kurpie, composed by Szymanowski between 1930-32. The composer’s interest in traditional music – in this case from the region of Kurpie, in the northeast of Poland – is again highlighted in this cycle for piano and voice. This interest was already present in the publication of the six traditional songs from Kurpie, for choir, in 1928-29. From the cycle of 12 songs, Kochanski created his version of number 9, Zarz´yjze˛ kuniu, for violin and piano. The modal character inherent in the traditional melody is, as in the vocal version, accompanied by the piano in light octave leaps. In the upward crescendo, the climax is reflected not only in the violin, but equally in the piano’s thirds, that conjure the idea of the galloping horse, who, in the song, is implored to run. The melody reappears varied until a new and fleeting expressive peak. This ends rapidly, with the return of the initial piano motive and a final note, suspended, pianissimo, in the violin. Nocturne and Tarantella – M30 – Op.28 – 1915 The reflection of Szymanovski’s travels through the south of Europe and the north of Africa is clearly perceptible in this work in two sections, composed at different times during the year 1915, and originally conceived as separate pieces. The Nocturne is quite far from any nineteenth century/Chopin-based paradigm: its contrasting slow sections conjure an oriental atmosphere (heard immediately in the violin’s intervals at the start of the piece) and an intense Spanish flavor in its allusions to flamenco and habanera rhythms, unconventional scales (playing with the intervals of the minor second) and violin pizzicatos, which evoke the imagery of the guitar. The frenetic Tarantella, reminiscent of Henryk Wieniawski’s Scherzo-tarantella, points to the traditional Neapolitan dance essentially in the ternary division of its extremely lively rhythm (6/8), again bringing, in melodic terms, non-European scales, but this time inspired by the music of the Middle-East. © Ana Carvalho Translation by Fredrick Gifford 8
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Bruno Monteiro violin Heralded by Público as “one of Portugal´s premier violinists” and by Expresso as “one of today´s most renowned Portuguese musicians”, Bruno Monteiro is internationally recognized as a distinguished violinist of his generation. Fanfare Magazine describes him as having a “burnished golden tone” and Strad states that his “generous vibrato produces radiant colors”. MusicWeb International refers to interpretations that have a “vitality and an imagination that is looking unequivocally to the future” and that reach an “almost ideal balance between the expressive and the intellectual”. Gramophone praises his “unfailing assurance and eloquence” and Strings Magazine summarises that he is “a young chamber musician of extraordinary sensitivity”. Monteiro studied in New York with Patinka Kopec (associated teacher to Pinchas Zukerman), the late Isidore Cohen (former member of both the Juilliard Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio) and members of the American String Quartet at the Manhattan School of Music with scholarships from the Gulbenkian Foundation and Centro Nacional de Cultura. He later completed his training in Chicago under Shmuel Ashkenasi (former leader of the Vermeer Quartet) as a scholar of the Ministério da Cultura and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. With a repertoire that ranges from Bach to Corigliano, including important Portuguese composers, Monteiro concertizes as recitalist, concert soloist and 9
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chamber musician in all the major musical centers of Portugal and internationally, appearing in countries such as Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea and the USA (Carnegie Hall). He has been a guest soloist with leading orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa. In recital, he has performed with João Paulo Santos since 2002. A noted recording artist, Monteiro´s recent CD with the complete works for violin and piano and solo violin by the esteemed Portuguese composer Fernando Lopes-Graça (Naxos) received the highest acclaim from newspapers and musical magazines all over the world. His upcoming release for Brilliant Classics will be Lalo´s Symphonie Espanhole and Saint-Saëns´s Violin Concerto nº3 in b minor with Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa conducted by Pedro Neves.
João Paulo Santos piano Born in Lisbon in 1959, João Paulo Santos is a graduate of the Lisbon National Conservatory. With sponsorship from the Gulbenkian Foundation, he completed his piano studies in Paris with Aldo Ciccolini (1979/84). For the past 40 years Santos has been associated with Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos, the Lisbon Opera House, first as Chief Chorus Conductor and now as Director of Musical and Stage Studies. Artistically, he has distinguished himself as opera conductor, concert pianist and researcher of lessknown and forgotten works by Portuguese composers. Santos has conducted operas from Menotti 10
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to Sondheim; in Portugal, he has premiered works by Stravinsky, Hosokawa, Hindemith, Martin and Henze, having received the Acarte 2000 Prize for his musical direction of Henze´s The English Cat. He has been invited to conduct world-premiere performances of works by António Chagas Rosa, António Pinho Vargas, Eurico Carrapatoso and Clotilde Rosa. He has also discovered, revised and brought Portuguese operas such as Serrana, Dona Branca, Lauriane and O Espadachim do Outeiro to the stage. As a pianist, he performs as a soloist, in chamber music groups, with major singers and in duo both with cellist Irene Lima and violinist Bruno Monteiro. His discography includes repertoire that ranges from Chat Noir Songs to classical works, including Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Satie, Martinu˚, Poulenc, Luís de Freitas Branco and Jorge Peixinho.
Recording: 22-25 September 2014, Igreja da Cartuxa, Caxias, Portugal Producer: Bruno Monteiro Engineer and Editor: José Fortes Artists photos: Inês Monteiro (Bruno Monteiro); Alfredo Rocha (João Paulo Santos) Cover image: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Portrait of Karol Szymanowski, 1931 – National Museum, Krakow P & © 2015 Brilliant Classics 11
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