Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 15 (1907) [18:40]
Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19 (1910) [34:38]
Ewa Marczyk (violin solo) (2)
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Antoni Wit
rec. 2-3 January 2008 (First Symphony), 16-19 April 2007 (Second Symphony) Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, Poland
24-bit, 88.2 kHz. 5.1 Surround - DTS-HD Master Audio; 2.0 Stereo - PCM
NAXOS BD-A NBD0021 [53:11]
Rather surprisingly, this disc isn’t a straightforward BD-A
reissue of an earlier CD. Instead, Naxos has re-coupled Wit’s
recordings of the symphonies. Symphony No. 1 originally appeared
in harness with the Fourth Symphony and, in its CD incarnation,
was warmly received by Dan Morgan (review).
He was also pretty enthusiastic about the CD coupling of the Second
Symphony with the Third (review)
which was also well received by Kevin Sutton (review).
For the BD-A version, however, the first two symphonies now appear
together while the Third and Fourth have been coupled together on
NBD0022, which I’ve not heard. In the process two shorter
works, the Concert Overture Op. 12 and an orchestration of the piano
Study in B flat minor, Op. 4/3 have been discarded. That’s
a pity for between them they account for some twenty minutes of
music and the playing time of both BD-A discs, containing just the
symphonies, is a little ungenerous.
The First Symphony was premièred in 1907 but the composer
was dissatisfied with it and subsequently withdrew it according
to Keith Anderson’s useful notes. In some ways I’m not
surprised for in this score Szymanowski seems to me to be struggling
to find a distinctive voice. He described the symphony as a ‘contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral
monster’. I think that’s somewhat hyperbolic but the
scoring is often busy and sometimes dense although there are many
imaginative touches in the orchestration. The use of colour, though
individual and attractive is, understandably, much less subtle than
the sort of effects he would achieve in later, more mature works.
It’s instructive to compare this score with the roughly contemporaneous
symphonic works of Mahler and Strauss. I don’t find Szymanowski’s
argument at all easy to follow, especially by comparison with the
works of those two masters, though I readily admit to less familiarity
with Szymanowski’s piece. There seems to be a sense of striving
in much of the symphony but I’m not convinced as to where
that striving leads us and I don’t get much of a sense of
structure. The fact that I find the work hard to come to terms with
is in no way a reflection on the committed advocacy of Wit and his
players.
With the Second Symphony, first performed in 1911, we are closer
to the mature Szymanowski. In terms of the orchestration this may
in part reflect the fact that the composer revised this aspect of
the score in 1934. Like its predecessor the Second is cast in two
movements but the structure is somewhat unusual in that the second
movement consists of a theme, six variations - all separately tracked
by Naxos - and a concluding fugue. The thematic material and scoring
of the first movement is ardent and at times sensuous; at other
times the music is downright opulent. I have the sense that in terms
of the character of the music Szymanowski is here more at ease and
more confident in handing his material and the orchestra than was
the case in the previous symphony. The theme and first two variations
in the second movement are marked Lento - or, more accurately
L’istesso tempo in the case of the variations. The
theme itself is gorgeous and here and in the initial variations
there are several very delicately scored - and played - passages
to enjoy. The tempo picks up for Scherzando Variation III, which
is marked Molto vivace; Wit and his orchestra bring out the
lightness in the music admirably. After a gavotte and a minuet variation
comes the final, quite extensive fugue. This is complex and vigorous
but also contains a languorous central section. Overall, I find
this a more convincing work that the First Symphony. Once again,
Wit and the Warsaw orchestra give it an excellent performance.
I’ve not heard the CDs on which these performances were originally
issued. I’d describe the BD-A sound as very good without being
revelatory. I suspect that a rival BD-A version of these scores
is unlikely to emerge any time soon and happily Wit’s fine
and committed performances serve Szymanowski very well.
John Quinn
Previous reviews (CD): Symphony 1 ~~ Symphony 2
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