Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary / Stabat Mater / Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night'
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JACEK SZYMANOWSKI
Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary / Stabat Mater / Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night'
Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano) Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo) Dmitry Korchak (tenor) Artur Ruciński (bar) / Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Jacek Kaspsz
[ Warner Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 25 September 2017
This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.
The follow-up to their Grammy-winning album "Penderecki conducts Penderecki"
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.
"Litany to the Virgin Mary" to a poem by Jerzy Liebert (1904-1931) - a poet known for his love of lyrical verse on philosophical and religious subjects - is a piece which Szymanowski began to compose in 1930.
"Stabat Mater", completed in 1926, was officially commissioned from Szymanowski by the Polish art collector Bronisław Krystall to commemorate his wife's death. The work was inspired, however, by a tragic event that affected Szymanowski's family. Szymanowski's "Stabat Mater" holds a special place in the history of Polish music after Chopin. It exerted a powerful impact even on eminent composers working fifty years later, wrote Marcin Gmys, PhD, professor of Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
The last work on this CD is Symphony No. 3 "Song of the Night" for solo voice, mixed choir and orchestra (1914-1916) - a whole new world of musical imagination, whose protagonist and speaker is an artist - at first unable to express his own feelings.
The performers are Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under the baton of the Philharmonic's artistic director, Jacek Kaspszyk, as well as outstanding soloists: Aleksandra Kurzak, Agnieszka Rehlis, Artur Ruciński, and Dmitry Korchak.
"This huge ensemble is captured in brilliant sound - essential for appreciating the composer's luxuriantly detailed soundworld...[in the Stabat Mater] Kaspszyk ensures that everything is balanced between introversion and dramatic impact...[in the Third Symphony] Kaspszyk brings out the dancing flexibility oof the central movement while controlling his forces masterfully." BBC Music Magazine Choral & Song Choice - September 2017
"This huge ensemble is captured in brilliant sound - essential for appreciating the composer's luxuriantly detailed soundworld...[in the Stabat Mater] Kaspszyk ensures that everything is balanced between introversion and dramatic impact...[in the Third Symphony] Kaspszyk brings out the dancing flexibility oof the central movement while controlling his forces masterfully." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - June 2017
"Inflections of Polish folk music, glancing memories of north African travels - all are vividly conjured up by Kaspszyk and his players. The singers are excellent, the women of the choir igniting a glowing halo around Aleksandra Kurzak's soaring soprano." Guardian
Tracks:
Stabat Mater, Op. 53
Litania do Marii Panny (Litany to the Virgin Mary), Op. 59
Symphony No. 3 'The Song of the Night', Op. 27
