Karol Szymanowski; Ludomir Różycki - String Quartets (Royal String Quartet)

Information

Composer: Karol Szymanowski; Ludomir Różycki

• Szymanowski - String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Op. 37
• Różycki - String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 49
• Szymanowski - String Quartet No. 2, Op. 56

Royal String Quartet

    Izabella Szałaj-Zimak, violin

    Elwira Przybyłowska, violin

    Marek Czech, viola

    Michał Pepol, cello

Date: 2009

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Szymanowski spent much of the early 1900s studying the folk music of his native Tatra mountains, enthusing that ‘each man must go to the earth from which he derives’. As time went by his style gradually became more complex, absorbing influences as varied as Scriabin’s sensuous mysticism and Ravel’s pointillistic grace and precision. Schoenberg’s turn-of-the-century tonal plasticity exerted a profound influence on his First Quartet (1917), while the Second (1927) sees Szymanowski (particularly in the central Vivace scherzando) responding to Bartók’s folksong-saturated modernity. Neither work makes for particularly easy listening, yet the Royal Quartet bestride the music’s tonal precipices and restless introspective probing with compelling authority.

Struggling to come to terms with an unfamiliar language often causes quartets to toughen their sound as an unintended sonic metaphor. Yet the Royal Quartet’s members respond with a velvety tonal seduction that ideally matches the music’s languorous sensuality. Furthermore, they trace the elusively exultant quality of Szymanowski’s melodic writing with such beguiling intuitiveness that his occasionally prolix structures emerge as supremely inevitable.   

As the ideal coupling, the Royal Quartet plays Ludomir Rózycki’s three-movement D minor Quartet of 1916–17, a radiantly expressive work whose central Andante takes up where the slow movement of Debussy’s G minor Quartet leaves off. The ‘finale problem’ experienced by so many composers of the period makes itself felt in the occasionally hard-driven last movement, yet the musicians dispel any potential discomfort with playing of heart-warming allure complemented by state-of-the-art sound from producer Andrew Keener and engineer Simon Eadon. Highly recommended.    

— Julian Haylock

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Karol Szymanowski (3 October 1882 – 29 March 1937) was a Polish composer. Born in present-day Ukraine, he studied music in Warsaw and developed his career through four main periods, producing influential compositions while travelling throughout Europe and the United States. In 1927, he became director of the Warsaw Conservatory, where he sought to reform music education and encourage a new generation of Polish composers. Despite suffering from tuberculosis and significant health challenges, Szymanowski achieved international recognition with major works such as Stabat Mater, King Roger and Harnasie.

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Ludomir Różycki (18 September 1883 – 1 January 1953) was a Polish composer, conductor and educator. A graduate of the Warsaw Institute of Music, he continued his composition studies in Berlin under Engelbert Humperdinck. Różycki composed symphonic works, operas, ballets and piano music, achieving recognition for works such as King Kofetua, Apollo and the Maiden, and Eros and Psyche. He taught and conducted in Lviv, Warsaw and Katowice. Despite losing many manuscripts during World War II, he reconstructed his works after the war and received numerous national and international honors.

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The Royal String Quartet, founded in Warsaw in 1998, is an ensemble known for combining classical masterpieces with contemporary and lesser-known Polish music. The Quartet gained international recognition through BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. It has performed at leading concert halls and festivals worldwide, including Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, BBC Proms and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Collaborating with distinguished musicians across genres, the ensemble also organizes Warsaw's Kwartesencja festival and has held prestigious residencies.

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