Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 12

570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 12

voix de soprano et d’alto. Retour du baryton solo dans le en 1933. Dès le 13 octobre le public de Varsovie put la Karol nº 5 ‘Douce Vierge, permets à mon âme’ où le dialogue découvrir lors d’un concert donné en l’honneur de avec le chœur mixte et l’orchestre est d’abord synonyme Szymanowski et dirigé par Grzegorz Fitelberg, avec, de tension. Mais l’intimisme du propos reprend le pour la partie de soprano, la sœur du musicien : SZYMANOWSKI dessus dans la section conclusive ‘Que le Christ soit Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska. La période mon défenseur’ où l’ensemble de l’effectif est convié impressionniste est sans doute éloignée désormais, dans un andante tranquillissimo savamment agencé. toutefois Szymanowski - engagé dans la ‘cristallisation Le Stabat Mater fut créé à Varsovie le 11 janvier des éléments de l’héritage tribal’ - témoigne toujours Stabat Mater 1929 sous la baguette de Grzegorz Fitelberg, un an donc d’un éblouissant art de l’orchestration et ce petit chef avant la rédaction et la première audition du nouvel d’œuvre ravit de bout en bout par son économie, sa Veni Creator • Litany to the Virgin Mary ouvrage sacré de Szymanowski: le Veni Creator, op. 57. transparence et sa luminosité. L’utilisation de la paraphrase du texte latin due à Moins connues, les deux partitions qui complètent Stanisław Wyspiański prenait un sens particulier pour le programme, Penthésilée, op. 18 et Demeter, op. 37b, Hossa • Marciniec • Bręk Szymanowski dans la mesure où l’écrivain l’avait s’incrivent plus tôt dans la chronologie. Datée de 1908 achevée en 1905 alors que le courant indépendantiste et réorchestrée par son auteur en 1912, la première Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir • Antoni Wit était très puissant dans une Pologne sous domination s’appuie sur une scène de la pièce de Wyspiański : russe. Autre symbole, c’est à l’occasion de l’ouverture Achille. Demeter vit pour sa part le jour en 1917, peu de l’Académie de Musique de Varsovie - dont après la naissance d’œuvres aussi essentielles que la Szymanowski fut le premier directeur - que l’œuvre fut Symphonie nº 3 ‘Chant de la Nuit’ ou le Concerto pour créée le 7 novembre 1930. Le Veni Creator réunit violon nº 1. A partir d’un texte de sa sœur Zofia inspiré soprano, chœur, orchestre et orgue. des Bacchantes d’Euripide, Szymanowski livre un Dès l’achèvement de l’Opus 57, le maître polonais exemple d’une esthétique qui allait culminer un peu plus renoua avec le genre sacré et entreprit de mettre en tard dans l’opéra Le Roi Roger. musique un poème de Jerzy Liebert - il n’en retint finalement que deux strophes. Le projet des Litanies à la Vierge Marie, op. 59 était né et son élaboration prit fin Alain Cochard

Get this free download from Classicsonline! Dvoﬁák: Stabat Mater, Op. 58, B. 71 Copy this Promotion Code NaxwGyRjnA0S and go to http://www.classicsonline.com/mpkey/dvor7_main. Downloading Instructions 1 Log on to Classicsonline. If you do not have a Classicsonline account yet, please register at http://www.classicsonline.com/UserLogIn/SignUp.aspx. 2 Enter the Promotion Code mentioned above. 3 On the next screen, click on “Add to My Downloads”.

8.570724 12 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 2

Karol depuis 1920 environ et qui traduisaient un changement Polignac suggéra au musicien d’écrire un requiem d’orientation radical. polonais pour soliste et orchestre et il se mit alors à SZYMANOWSKI Dans une Pologne libérée du joug russe, le musicien échafauder un projet de ‘requiem paysan’ - n’oublions (1882-1937) découvrait les racines populaires de son art - ‘Je suis en pas que Szymanowski se trouvait alors en pleine période train de cristalliser en moi les éléments de l’héritage de retour aux racines populaires de son art. Stabat Mater, Op. 53 tribal’, affirmait-il-, les Mazurkas op. 50 (1925), le L’année 1924 touchait à son terme quand (Text: Józef Jankowski) 24:59 Stabat Mater (1925), les Chants Kurpiens (1929), le l’industriel Bronislaw Krystall demanda au compositeur ballet-pantomime Harnasie (1931), les Litanies à la de concevoir une partition à la mémoire de son épouse 1 Stabat mater dolorosa (Stała Matka Bolejąca): Vierge (1933) ou la Symphonie nº 4 ‘Symphonie récemment disparue : Izabella. Ce contact ne produisit Andante mesto (Soprano and chorus) 7:05 concertante’ pour piano et orchestre (1932) l’illustrent. pas immédiatement des fruits, car le choc que produisit . Nommé directeur du Conservatoire de Varsovie en sur le musicien la disparition de sa nièce en janvier 1925 2 Quis est homo qui non fleret (I któz widząc tak cierpiącą): 1926, Szymanowski ne tirait que d’assez maigres l’affecta profondément et le détourna de la création Moderato (Baritone and chorus) 2:48 revenus de cette activité épuisante et sa situation pendant quelques mois. A l’automne 1925 il reprit la matérielle demeurait très précaire. ‘Ma vie n’est faite plume et abandonna l’idée d’un requiem au profit de 3 Eia Mater, fons amoris (O Matka, źródło wszechmiłości): que de chagrin, de malheur, de maladie et de travail’, celle d’un Stabat Mater. Terminée en mars 1926 et (Soprano, alto and chorus) 4:11 confiait-il d’ailleurs en 1933 à Iwaszkiewicz. Aux dédiée à Izabella Krystallowa, la partition ne rompt 4 Fac me tecum pie flere (Spraw, niech płaczę z Tobą razem): ennuis d’argent s’ajoutait en effet une tuberculose qui toutefois pas avec l’esprit dans lequel Szymanowski chaque jour l’affaiblissait un peu plus. La frustration de conçevait son ‘requiem paysan’ : ‘une sorte de prière Moderato (Soprano, alto and unaccompanied chorus) 3:17 ne pas être reconnu à sa juste valeur dans un pays auquel pour les âmes... un mélange de religiosité candide et de 5 Virgo virginum praeclara (Panno słodka, racz mozołem): il se sentait viscéralement attaché - en dépit de quelques paganisme, avec une touche de réalisme austère et honneurs (ex: docteur Honoris causa de l’Université de campagnard’. Allegro (Baritone and chorus) 3:00 Cracovie en 1930) - lui pesait beaucoup également. Le Stabat Mater fascine par sa dimension 6 Christe, cum sit hinc exire (Chrystus niech mi będzie grodem): L’abus de tabac, d’alcool, de drogue appartenait archaïsante, dépouillée, quintessenciée et l’on y mesure désormais à son quotidien... à quel point l’étude approfondie de la musique Andante tranquillissimo (Soprano, alto, baritone and chorus) 4:36 Début 1937, Szymanowski partit se faire soigner en polonaise du XVIe siècle avait marqué son auteur. France. ‘Avant un de mes concerts, au Casino de Composé sur une traduction polonaise du texte latin 7 Veni Creator, Op. 57 10:22 Cannes’, se souvenait Arthur Rubinstein, ‘j’eus réalisée par Józef Jankowski, l’ouvrage fait appel à trois (Text: Stanisław Wyspiański) l’occasion d’aller voir mon pauvre Karol, qui était alité solistes (soprano, alto et baryton), au chœur et à un dans une clinique de Grasse. C’était désespérant de le orchestre aux dimensions modestes. Son caractère Litania do Marii Panny (Litany to the Virgin Mary), Op. 59 voir ainsi délabré. Il avait perdu sa voix, ne pouvait plus globalement intimiste s’impose dès l’épisode initial ‘La 9:11 que murmurer ( ... ) “je pensais que je ne le reverrais Mère se tenait douloureuse’ où le soprano et les voix de (Text: Jerzy Liebert) plus jamais”, ajoute-t-il plus loin’. femmes sont soutenues par une orchestration d’une 8 Dwunastodźwięczna cytaro 4:10 Juste pressentiment. Szymanowski était installé finesse exceptionnelle. Le baryton fait son entrée dans la depuis peu dans une clinique de Lausanne quand, le 29 deuxième partie ‘Et qui, voyant une telle souffrance’. 9 Jak krzak skarlały 5:01 mars 1937, la mort l’emporta. L’Etat polonais lui Associé au chœur mixte et à l’ensemble de l’effectif organisa des funérailles officielles et, insulte suprême, orchestral, il exprime une douleur admirablement 0 Demeter, Op. 37b 7:58 lors du retour de sa dépouille à Varsovie, demanda à ce contenue. ‘O Mère, source de tout amour’, le nº 3 réunit (Text: Zofia Szymanowska) que le train fasse halte à Berlin afin que l’Allemagne soprano et alto solos et le chœur de femmes. Noté lento nazie lui rende les honneurs militaires. dolcissimo, cet épisode renoue avec l’intimisme du nº 1. ! Sommet de la production sacrée de son auteur, le Parfait exemple des penchants archaïsants du musicien à Penthesilea, Op. 18 6:56 Stabat Mater constitue l’aboutissement d’une genèse l’époque, le nº 4 ‘Puissé-je pleurer avec toi’ offre le seul (Text from ‘Achilleis’ by Stanisław Wyspiański) assez complexe. En 1924 en effet, la princesse de accompagnement du chœur de femmes a cappella aux

8.570724 2 11 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 10

à Vienne en 1895, l’adolescent assista à une russes de Diaghilev. L’impression énorme que le Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937): Stabat Mater, Op. 53 • Veni Creator, Op. 57 représentation de Lohengrin. Immédiatement conquis musicien russe produisit sur Szymanowski acheva de Litany to the Virgin Mary, Op. 59 • Demeter, Op. 37b • Penthesilea, Op. 18 par les sortilèges wagnériens, il se plongea sans tarder rompre le lien chaque jour plus ténu qui le rattachait dans les partitions du maître de Bayreuth, dont les encore à la musique allemande. Karol Szymanowski was born at Tymoszówka in the Władysław Lubomirski the Young Poland in Music richesses l’aidaient par ailleurs à oublier la vie musicale Cédant à l’appel du sud, le compositeur polonais Kiev District of the Ukraine in 1882, the son of a Polish group, for the publication and promotion of new Polish bien terne d’Elisavetgrad. entreprit en 1914, l’une de ses années les plus heureuses land-owner and of a mother of Swedish extraction, born music. Fitelberg, by training a violinist and composer, L’engagement de Szymanowski dans une carrière sans doute, un grand voyage qui lui permit de retrouver Baroness Anna Taube. The family and their immediate made his later career as a conductor, and directed the de compositeur ne faisait désormais plus le moindre son Italie bien-aimée, mais qui le conduisit aussi en circle had a deep interest in the arts, a fact reflected in the first concert of the group in Warsaw in 1906, when doute et, en 1901, son père l’autorisa à entreprendre des Afrique du Nord, point de départ d’une véritable subsequent careers of the five children of the marriage as Szymanowski’s Concert Overture was performed. He études privées à Varsovie auprès de Zawirski fascination pour le monde arabe et pour l’Orient. musicians, poets or painters. His sister Stanisława later won later distinction as conductor at the Vienna (harmonie) et de Noskowski (contrepoint et L’année 1914 le vit par ailleurs en France où il entra en became a singer and his brother Feliks a pianist. Staatsoper and in work for the Russian impresario composition). Outre ce qu’il tira de leur enseignement, contact avec Debussy et Ravel - deux rencontres Szymanowski’s early education was at home, since a leg Dyagilev, before returning to direct the Warsaw Varsovie permit au musicien de faire la connaissance décisives dans l’évolution de son esthétique. injury at the age of four prevented him from attending Philharmonic Orchestra and, from 1947, the Polish d’interprètes dont la fidélité dans l’amitié n’eut d’égal Les nuages s’amoncelaient au-dessus de l’Europe... school in the neighbouring town of Elisavetgrad (the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Kochański’s que l’ardeur avec laquelle ils défendirent les partitions Bientôt la guerre éclata, laissant Szymanowski loin de modern Kirowograd), where, nevertheless, he had music support was to prove invaluable, particularly in the de Szymanowski: le violoniste Pawel Kochański, le ses atrocités. Les séquelles d’une blessure au genou, lessons from a relative, Gustav Neuhaus, who had a composition of the first of Szymanowski’s two violin pianiste Arthur Rubinstein et le chef d’orchestre survenue en 1886, lui évitèrent en effet d’endosser school there. In 1901 he went to Warsaw to continue his concertos and in a number of works written for violin Grzegorz Fitelberg. l’uniforme et il vécut calmement à Tymoszówka musical studies, taking lessons from the composer and piano. Rubinstein, who, like Kochański, made his A Varsovie aussi l’activité musicale manquait jusqu’en 1917, quand la révolution bolchévique Zygmunt Noskowski in counterpoint and composition later career in the United States of America, proved an d’éclat et c’est pourquoi Szymanowski s’associa à l’obligea à abandonner la propriété familiale pour and from M. Zawirski in harmony. additional champion of Szymanowski, while Fitelberg, L. Różycki et A. Szeluto, deux élèves de s’installer à Elisavetgrad. The feelings of Polish nationalism that had inspired Paderewski, a musician of more conservative tendency, Noskowski, pour fonder le groupe ‘Mloda Polska’ (La C’est durant la période du premier conflit mondial Chopin and his contemporaries continued through the assisted in the wider dissemination of Szymanowski’s jeune musique polonaise) dont le premier concert, en que les impressions de voyage dont l’artiste était empli - nineteenth century, exacerbated by the repressive piano music, favouring especially the famous B flat 1906, remporta un franc succès, mais qui se vit ‘Chaque fois que je mettais la main sur mes souvenirs measures taken by Russia, in particular, in the face of minor Study, a work that owes much of its popularity to reprocher par la suite sa trop grande ouverture à la d’Afrique ou de Sicile, l’émotion m’étouffait’, confia-t- open revolt. Warsaw in 1901, however, remained as his advocacy. musique allemande. Il est vrai que celle-ci attirait il se souvenant de cette période - portèrent leurs fruits provincial as it had been in the time of Chopin, who had The first Young Poland concert in Warsaw had puissamment Szymanowski, chez qui l’influence de dans des chefs-d’œuvre tels que le Concerto pour violon sought his musical fortune abroad in Paris in 1830. The included performances of Szymanowski’s Variations on Richard Strauss et de Max Reger s’ajoutait désormais à nº 1 (1916), la Symphonie nº 3 ‘Le Chant de la nuit’ century had seen Polish performers of the greatest a Polish Folk Theme and his Study in B flat minor, celle de Richard Wagner. Dominée par la culture (1916), les Métopes (1915) et Masques (1916) pour distinction, particularly the violinists Lipiński and played by the pianist Harry Neuhaus, and had been well allemande, la première période de la carrière du piano, les Mythes pour violon et piano (1915) ou le Wieniawski. The opera composer Stanisław Moniuszko, enough received. Berlin, however, proved much less compositeur allait cependant bientôt prendre fin. Muezzin passionné (1918), partition brûlante de désir. however, a rival to Chopin in his own country, enjoyed interested, when Fitelberg conducted the Berlin En 1910, puis en 1911 Szymanowski se rendit en La dimension érotique est très présente dans l’opéra only a local reputation, while his successors, in Philharmonic Orchestra in a similar programme in the Italie et en Sicile et s’enthousiasma pour une terre ivre Le Roi Roger, que Szymanowski entama en 1918. Szymanowski’s esteem, occupied a still lower place. same year. Szymanowski spent the following two years de couleurs et de lumière : ‘Si l’Italie n’existait pas, je Travail de longue haleine, l’ouvrage lyrique du maître Polish music was to a great extent isolated and principally in Berlin and Leipzig, absorbing still further n’existerais pas non plus (....)’, s’exclama-t-il dans une polonais parvint à son terme en 1924 seulement et fut provincial, a reflection of the society in which it existed. the influence of Wagner, of Reger and of Richard lettre à son ami Z. Jachimecki. représenté pour la première fois en 1926 à Varsovie. The new century, however, brought together a group of Strauss, composers of whom he later took a cooler view. Pour des raisons financières - l’artiste fut sa vie Stylistiquement très homogène, il se rattache par son young musicians of much wider outlook, a circle that This period saw the composition of his Symphony No. 1 durant en proi aux ennuis pécuniaires -, Szymanowski langage aux partitions écrites pendant la guerre, tout en included the pianist Artur Rubinstein, the violinist in F minor, completed in 1907 and given its first n’entreprit pas d’important voyage en 1912-1913, se révélant aussi tributaire de l’exemple wagnérien dans Pawel Kochański and the conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg. performance in Warsaw two years later. The composer années toutefois très importantes car c’est à ce moment sa construction. The last named, the composer Ludomir Różycki and the subsequently withdrew the symphony and went so far as qu’il entra en contact avec l’art de Stravinski lors d’une Le contraste apparaissait très prononcé avec les pianist and composer Apolinary Szeluto, together with to destroy the 1907 piano trio, sensing what seemed to représentation de Petrouchka à Vienne par les Ballets autres œuvres que Szymanowski avait fait entendre Szymanowski, established under the patronage of Prince him the excessive influence of the post-Wagnerian, a

8.570724 10 3 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 4

reflection of a predominant aspect of music of the time Kochański and Rubinstein prudently chose to settle in Antoni Wit in Germany. The following years brought periods at the United States, but Szymanowski determined to stay home in the Ukraine and abroad. He wrote his in his own country and to seek there a further source of Antoni Wit, one of the most highly regarded Polish conductors, studied conducting Penthesilea, Opus 18, an orchestral work with soprano inspiration, particularly in the more primitive aspects of with Henryk Czyz and composition with Krzysztof Penderecki at the Academy of solo derived from the Achilleis of the contemporary indigenous music. His reputation grew at home and Music in Kraków, subsequently continuing his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Polish painter and dramatist Stanisław Wyspiański, in abroad, and in 1927 he rejected the offer of a position as He also graduated in law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Immediately after Italy in 1908, and in 1910 completed a very different director of the conservatory in Cairo in favour of the completing his studies he was engaged as an assistant at the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony No. 2 in B flat, Opus 19, a work in which the financially less rewarding position of director of the Orchestra by Witold Rowicki and was later appointed conductor of the Poznaƒ influence of Skryabin is noticeable, as it is in the piano Warsaw Conservatory, which in 1930 became the Philharmonic. He collaborated with the Warsaw Grand Theatre, and from 1964 to music of this period. The new symphony, played under Warsaw Academy of Music, an institution of which he 1977 was artistic director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic, before his appointment as Fitelberg in Warsaw in 1911, proved unacceptable to remained rector until his resignation in 1932. director of the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Chorus in Kraków. From both audience and critics, but won acclaim in Berlin, The five years that Szymanowski spent at the 1983 to 2000 he was the director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig and Vienna, establishing the international Conservatory and the Academy brought many Katowice, and from 1987 to 1994 he was the chief conductor and then first guest importance of the composer. Szymanowski determined, frustrations, particularly in dealing with musicians of a conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. In 2002 he became General after this experience, to live, at least for a time, in conservative turn of mind, and these difficulties finally and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. His international career Vienna, where Fitelberg was now employed at the led to his resignation. The remaining years of his life has brought engagements with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and Staatsoper, and where he reached an agreement with were not easy, without any regular source of income, Photo: Krzysztof Niesporek the Near and Far East. He has made nearly a hundred records, including an acclaimed Universal to publish his work. and he therefore made more public appearances as a release for Naxos of the piano concertos of Prokofiev, awarded the Diapason d’Or and Grand Prix du Disque de la Vienna proved less stimulating than Szymanowski performer, writing the piano part of his Symphony No. 4 Nouvelle Académie du Disque. In January 2002 his recording of the Turangalîla Symphony by Olivier Messiaen had hoped, but the period changed to some extent his in 1932 to suit his own relatively modest piano (Naxos 8.554478-79) was awarded the Cannes Classical Award at Midem Classic 2002. Antoni Wit is a professor at musical outlook, particularly through his experience of technique, no longer adequate for the more taxing the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. the music of Debussy and, still more, of Ravel, and of compositions of his earlier career. In the same year he the Dyagilev company in Stravinsky’s Firebird and was greatly encouraged by the performance in Prague of Petrushka. In March 1914 he left Vienna and travelled his opera King Roger, a work that deals imaginatively south to Italy, Sicily and North Africa, returning with a struggle in medieval Sicily between Christianity through Rome, Paris and London, where he met and an Eastern Dionysian religion, a further example of Stravinsky. The war years he spent in musical isolation his absorption of the essence of other cultures than his at home at Tymoszówka, turning his attention to a study own, and of his reading of Euripides. of Greek civilisation and literature, to the early history Szymanowski’s final years were clouded by illness Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937): Stabat Mater, op. 53 • Veni Creator, op. 57 of Christianity and to the culture of Islam, the last an and he sought an alleviation of the effects of Litanies à la Vierge Marie, op. 59 • Demeter, op. 37b • Penthesilea, op. 18 extension of an interest aroused by translations of the tuberculosis abroad in Davos, Grasse and Cannes, and poems of Hafiz by Hans Bethge, poet of Mahler’s Das finally in Lausanne, where he died on 29th March 1937. Chef de file de la musique polonaise durant la première Conscient des exceptionnelles dispositions de son Lied von der Erde, some of which he had set to music in His last orchestral work was the Second Violin moitié du XXe siècle, Karol Maciej Szymanowski vit le fils, Stanisław le confia en 1889 à son cousin Gustav 1911, and exemplified in the remarkable Symphony No. 3, Concerto, completed in 1933, followed by two jour le 3 octobre 1882 à Tymoszówka dans une famille Neuhaus, directeur d’une école de musique à completed in 1916, using poems by the 13th century Mazurkas for piano, written in the following year. The de propriétaires terriens où la musique occupait de Elisavetgrad. Les années pendant lesquelles ce dernier Persian mystic and poet Mevlânâ Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rûmi. ballet Harnasie, inspired by the primtive folk-music of longue date une place de choix. Son père, Stanisław eut en charge l’éducation de Karol laissèrent une The Russian revolution put an end to the people living in the Tatra mountains, was staged in Korwin-Szymanowski était en effet un remarquable empreinte durable sur le jeune artiste. Grâce à Neuhaus, Szymanowski’s period of war-time seclusion. The Prague in 1935 and the following year, with much violoncelliste et pianiste, tandis que sa mère, Anna Szymanowski étudia en effet les grands classiques, mais family was compelled to move, for reasons of safety, to success, in Paris, with choreography by Serge Lifar. It Taube, se dédiait avec beaucoup de talent au piano. également Chopin et Scriabine, deux modèles qui Elisavetgrad, and the property at Tymoszówka was became a popular part of Polish ballet repertoire after its Favorisée par ce contexte, l’éclosion des dons musicaux guidèrent ses débuts de créateur comme l’attestent, entre destroyed by the revolutionaries. In 1919 they moved to first performance in Poznań in 1938, a year after the de l’enfant ne tarda pas et il fit ses premiers pas au autres, les Préludes op. 1 pour piano (1900). Poland, after the proclamation of the new republic. composer’s death. clavier sous la conduite de son père. Autre découverte essentielle, au cours d’un voyage

8.570724 49 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 8

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Wojciech Kilar, is a very important part of the choir’s repertoire. The choir has Szymanowski set a Polish translation of the Stabat character of the form of the litany, while the second performed all Penderecki’s oratorios and a cappella works, the Polish Requiem, Te Deum, Utrenja, Aus den Mater over a period of two years, from 1924 to 1926 includes a heartfelt prayer. The mystic character of the Psalmen Davids, Dies irae, Veni Creator, Song of Cherubim, St Luke Passion, Seven Gates of Jerusalem, and and it was given its first performance by the Warsaw music is accentuated by the archaic use of parallel Credo, as well as his opera Paradise Lost. The choir performs not only in Warsaw but also in other Polish cities, and Philharmonic Orchestra in 1929 under the direction of intervals and a relatively simple use of the orchestra. is also very active internationally, with appearances throughout Europe, as well as in Israel and in Turkey. In Grzegorz Fitelberg. The work calls for soprano, These choral works are as firmly embedded in Christian addition to performances with leading orchestras, the choir has also participated in opera at La Scala, Milan, La contralto and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra, musical tradition as they are recognisably of their Fenice in Venice, and elsewhere. In 1988 and 1990 the choir was invited to the Vatican to take part in the and makes use of traditional Polish musical ideas in its period, the Stabat Mater more passionate and the Litany celebrations of the successive anniversaries of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, with concerts televised throughout treatment of the medieval poem, integrating modern and more lyrical in its use of soprano soloist, female chorus Europe. In December 2001 the Choir together with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra performed for John Paul II earlier techniques. and orchestra, rising at times to a level of rhapsodic once again in a special concert commemorating the centenary of the Warsaw Philharmonic, this time presenting the Szymanowski wrote his setting of the Veni Creator, intensity. Missa pro pace by Wojciech Kilar. in a Polish version by Stanisław Wyspiański, in 1930 for Demeter, with a text by Szymanowski’s sister Zofia the opening of the Warsaw Academy of Music, of which Szymanowska based on the Bacchae of Euripides, is Henryk Wojnarowski he was the first rector. On the same occasion he was scored for contralto soloist, female chorus and orchestra awarded a doctorate by the University of Kraków. and was written in 1917 during the period of war-time The choirmaster of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir since 1978, Henryk Wojnarowski was previously conductor and Wyspiański’s text is a paraphrase of the Latin sequence, seclusion at Tymoszówka. The work was re- choirmaster of the Warsaw Opera Choir where he prepared over eighty opera premières and several world premières. written in 1905 at a time when Poland was striving for orchestrated in 1924 and first performed in Warsaw in He had studied symphony and opera conducting under Stanisław Wisłocki at the Warsaw Conservatory. He has national independence. The music in consequence has 1931. It was the theme of the Bacchae, with its conflict appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir in numerous venues, presenting both a cappella works and oratorios, both a national and celebratory character, a mark of the between Eastern mysticism and the more pragmatic the latter with local symphony orchestras. His choir has participated in many renowned music festivals, including occasion of its composition. The Veni Creator is scored West, that was given later expression in the opera Kró1 Wratislavia Cantans in Wrocław, the Warsaw Autumn, Palermo and Ravenna Festivals, among others. Henryk for soprano solo, chorus, organ and orchestra. Roger. Wojnarowski has prepared the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir for many recordings for Polish radio and television, and The more meditative Litany to the Virgin Mary, Penthesilea, for soprano and orchestra, was written Polish and foreign record companies. He has made numerous international tours with the choir, and also serves as with words by Jerzy Liebert, was completed in 1933, in 1908 at Nervi on the Mediterranean to words taken professor of choral conducting at the Warsaw Academy of Music. when it was given its first Warsaw performance. It is from a scene of Wyspiański’s play Achilleis. It was first based on two verses of the original seven-verse poem. performed in Warsaw in 1910 under the direction of Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra: The National Philharmonic of Poland Szymanowski had originally intended to set the whole Fitelberg and with the composer’s sister as soloist. In poem, but later changed his mind. The first two 1912 Szymanowski re-orchestrated the work. The The first performance of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra took place on 5th November 1901 in the newly fragments of the Litany were performed with the choice of text, dealing with the confession of love for opened Philharmonic Hall under the artistic director and principal conductor, Emil Młynarski. The soloist was the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Grzegorz Achilles by the Queen of the Amazons, is characteristic world-renowned pianist, composer and future statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and the programme included Fitelberg on 13th October 1933 with the composer’s of the first period of the composer’s creative life. Paderewski’s Piano Concerto in A minor and works of other Polish composers, Chopin, Moniuszko, Noskowski, sister, Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, as soprano Stojowski and Zeleƒski. In the succeeding years the orchestra won a high reputation, collaborating with leading soloist. The first part of the work preserves the mournful Keith Anderson conductors and soloists, until the outbreak of war in 1939, the destruction of the Philharmonic Hall and the loss of 39 of its 71 players. Resuming activity after the war, the orchestra was conducted by Straszyƒski and Panufnik, and in January 1950 Witold Rowicki was appointed director and principal conductor, organizing a new ensemble under difficult conditions. In 1955 the rebuilt Philharmonic Hall was re-opened, with a large hall of over a thousand seats and a 433-seat hall for chamber music, recognised as the National Philharmonic of Poland. Subsequent conductors included Bohdan Wodiczko, Arnold Rezler and Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and in 1958 Witold Rowicki was again appointed artistic director and principal conductor, a post he held until 1977, when he was succeeded by Kazimierz Kord, who served until the end of the centenary celebrations in 2001. In 2002 Antoni Wit became general and artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic – The National Orchestra and Choir of Poland. The orchestra has toured widely abroad, in addition to its busy schedule at home in symphony concerts, chamber concerts, educational work and other activities. It now has a complement of 112 players.

8.570724 85 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 6

Iwona Hossa Jarosław Bręk

Polish soprano Iwona Hossa graduated in 1998 at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Born in 1977 in Poznaƒ, between 1984 and 1996 Jarosław Br∏k sang in the Boys’ and Men’s Music in Poznań as a pupil of Ewa Wdowicka. She has won many prizes, including the Choir of the Poznaƒ Philharmonic. He was a pupil of Jerzy Artysz at the Warsaw Academy Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Maria Callas International Singing Competition in Athens of Music, and on graduation was awarded the Magna Cum Laude medal as the most and the Mozart Special Prize at the Ada Sari International Vocal Competition in Nowy Sàcz. outstanding graduate. He is a winner of many prizes at vocal contests in Duszniki-Zdrój She was also a finalist of the Francisco Viñas International Vocal Competition in Barcelona, (1998), Barcelona (1999), Vercelli (1999) and Lisbon (2000). In 1999 and 2000 he was the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, and the Orfeo 2000 International Vocal nominated by the influential Polish magazine Polithics for the award for best musicians in Competition in Hanover. She has taken part in many vocal master-classes, including those Poland. Recent achievements include participation in Górecki’s Second Symphony, by Helena Lazarska, Leopold Spitzer, Ewa Podles, Sylwia Geszty and Ryszard celebrating the six hundredth anniversary of the Kraków Academy, in Handel’s Messiah Karczykowski. In 1996 she made her début as Violetta in La traviata at the State Opera in with the New College Choir, Oxford under Edward Higginbottom, participation in Poznań, and since 2000 has been a soloist at the National Opera in Warsaw. Her repertoire Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater in concerts given in Oviedo, Gijon, Düsseldorf, and at Notre there includes leading rôles in Moniuszko’s operas, recorded also for EMI, Rosina in Il Dame in Paris (at the opening ceremony of the Polish Season in France), repeated barbiere di Siviglia, Philippe in Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun, Norina in Don performances at the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, participation in the Opera Pasquale, Violetta, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the title rôle in Gala in the L’viv Opera House, in the Polish première of the Passion by Jommelli during the Seventh Ludwig van Aida, and Roxana in King Roger. She has taken part in several opera festivals, including Carcassone, Wexford and Beethoven Easter Festival in Kraków, participation in Requiem for Street Urchins in Berlin, in Mahler’s Des Pesaro, and has an extensive repertoire in oratorio and chamber music. In 2004 she eceived the Andrzej Hiolski Knaben Wunderhorn performed for the first time at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, in Beethoven’s Ninth Award for the best female rôle at the National Opera in Warsaw. Iwona Hossa has worked with conductors Symphony at the Main Market Place in Kraków on the occasion of Poland’s accession to the European Union, a including Krzysztof Penderecki, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Maksymiuk, performance with Teresa Z˙ylis-Gara in a concert for the Red Cross in Monte Carlo, a performance of Bach’s St John Antoni Wit, Gabriel Chmura, Maurizio Benini, David Jones, and David Agler. Passion in Amsterdam conducted by Tomasz Bugaj, and collaboration in a performance of Fauré’s Requiem, performed on Kraków Common, conducted by Thomas Sanderling. Jarosław Br∏k has performed in most of Poland’s concert halls, and has appeared in opera houses and concert halls in Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Ewa Marciniec Romania, the Canary Islands, Japan, Lebanon, Ukraine, Russia, France and Monaco. He is a soloist of the Warsaw Chamber Opera, works with the National Opera in Warsaw, and has also appeared in Poznaƒ, Łódz´ and Kraków. He Ewa Marciniec graduated with distinction in Composition and Musical Theory and in has also sung in such halls as the Palau de la Música de Valencia, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Kyoto Concert Hall, and Vocal–Acting in Poland, going on, with a DAAD scholarship to study in Stuttgart. She has the Muzeul National George Enescu in Bucharest. He is often invited to take part in first performances of participated in important international master-classes and has been a prize-winner in contemporary compositions. competitions in Poland and a finalist at s-Hertogenbosch and ARD Munich. She has a repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary and has appeared with leading orchestras in Poland, and abroad in Berlin, Saarbrücken, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir Denmark, The Netherlands, France, and Israel. She has appeared in opera with the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi di The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1952 by Zbigniew Soja Trieste, Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine), and in Germany with Oper Frankfurt, Hessisches and gave its first concert in May 1953 under the then artistic director of Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Staatstheater Oldenburg, and in Austria at the Landestheater Linz. the Warsaw Philharmonic, Witold Rowicki. The present choirmaster She has been a guest at a number of major international festivals and collaborated with Henryk Wojnarowski has held this position since 1978. In its wide conductors including Marc Albrecht, Tomasz Bugaj, Frans Brüggen, Myung-Whun Chung, repertoire the choir has more than 150 oratorios and choral works, Daniele Gatti, Toshiyuki Kamioka, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jerzy Katlewicz, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Wojciech ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary music. Each year the Michniewski, Gabor Ötvös, Marek Pijarowski, Stefan Anton Reck, Jerzy Salwarowski, Jerzy Semków, Stanisław choir collaborates in some ten symphony and oratorio concerts with the Skrowaczewski, Tadeusz Strugała, Antoni Wit, and Tadeusz Wojciechowski. Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. These concerts constitute the most important part of its artistic activity. The choir also performs regularly at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and in Wrocław at the Wratislavia Cantans Festival. Polish music, in particular works of Krzysztof Penderecki, Photo: Warsaw Philharmonic

8.570724 67 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 6

Iwona Hossa Jarosław Bręk

8.570724 67 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 8

8.570724 85 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 4

8.570724 49 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 10

8.570724 10 3 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 2

8.570724 2 11 8.570724 570724 bk Szymanowski US 15/7/08 19:29 Page 12

8.570724 12 NAXOS NAXOS Karol Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, set to a Polish translation of the medieval poem, makes extensive use of traditional Polish musical ideas. His setting of the Veni Creator was composed for the opening of the Warsaw Academy of Music, of which he was the first rector. The Litany for the Virgin Mary is a more meditative work, yet rises at times to a level of rhapsodic intensity. All the choral works on this recording are as firmly embedded in Christian musical tradition as 8.570724 SZYMANOWSKI: SZYMANOWSKI: they are recognisably of their period. DDD Karol Playing Time SZYMANOWSKI 59:26 (1882-1937) Stabat Mater 1-6 Stabat Mater, Op. 53 (1924-26) 1 24:59 7 2 Stabat Mater Veni Creator, Op. 57 (1930) 10:22 Stabat Mater 8-9 Litania do Marii Panny (Litany to the Virgin Mary), Op. 59 (1933) 3 9:11 0 Demeter, Op. 37b (1917) 4 7:58 ! Penthesilea, Op. 18 (1908) 5 Naxos Rights International Ltd. 6:56 www.naxos.com Disc made in Canada. Printed and assembled USA. Booklet notes in English

Iwona Hossa, Soprano 1-3, 5 • Ewa Marciniec, Mezzo-soprano 1, 4 • Jarosław Bręk, Baritone 1 & 1-5 1-4 Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir 2008 (Chorus-master: Henryk Wojnarowski) Antoni Wit This recording was supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Warsaw, Poland • Notice en français Available sung texts and translations can be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/570724.htm A full track list can be found on page 2 of the booklet Recorded in the Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, Poland, on 27th and 28th August, 2007 (tracks 1-6), on 14th June, 2007 (tracks 7-9), and on 20th May, 2007 (tracks 10 and 11) 8.570724 Produced, engineered and edited by Andrzej Sasin and Aleksandra Nagórko 8.570724 Publishers: Universal Edition, Vienna (tracks 1-6); Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne SA, Kraków (tracks 7-11) • Booklet notes: Keith Anderson and Alain Cochard Cover photograph by Juan Hitters (www.juanhitters.com)