Karol Szymanowski - Piano Works (Krystian Zimerman)

Information

Composer: Karol Szymanowski

• 9 Preludes, Op. 1
• Masques, Op. 34
• 20 Mazurkas, Op. 50: Nos. 13–16
• Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10

Krystian Zimerman, piano

Date: 2022

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Review

very new release from Krystian Zimerman is a special event, but this one is more so than most. After a recent series of concerto recordings, this is Zimerman’s first solo disc for five years, which, following previous discs of Bacewicz and Lutosławski, continues his exploration of music from his native Poland. Though this selection of Karol Szymanowski’s piano works omits one of the best known, the three “poems” of Métopes, as well as all three of his piano sonatas, it does include representative pieces from all phases of his development. The performance of Szymanowski’s other set of character pieces, Masques, dates back to 1994, but wasn’t released at the time; Zimerman recorded the rest of this disc in June this year, in Fukuyama, Japan.

He begins with four of the 1900 preludes (Nos 1, 2, 7 and 8) that make up Szymanowski’s Op 1, transforming each into a glowing jewel. The stylistic shift between their Chopinesque world and the Masques, composed 15 years later, is stark; those three pieces were written when Szymanowski’s modernism, a mix of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Debussy, was at its most intense, and Zimerman brings to them the wit and bewitching command of keyboard texture and colour that makes his Debussy playing so peerless. A selection of the set of mazurkas Op 50, representing the final phase of Szymanowski’s development, offers a further contrast again, their delicately traced lyricism alternating with the rustic robustness stemming from his explorations of the folk music of the Tatra mountains.

Zimerman ends the disc with the Variations on a Polish Folk Theme Op 10, from 1904, which includes a funeral march (Chopin again) and a bravura fugal finale that demonstrates yet another facet of his supreme pianism, for his command of virtuoso brilliance is just as extraordinary as his control of the most subtle nuances of phrasing and pacing. This is a marvellous disc from an utterly exceptional artist.

— Andrew Clements

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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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Krystian Zimerman (born 5 December 1956) is a Polish concert pianist and conductor. Born in Zabrze, Southern Poland, he studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. His international career was launched when he won the 1975 Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition. He then toured widely and made a number of recordings. Since 1996, he has taught piano at the Music Academy in Basel, Switzerland. Zimerman is best known for his interpretations of Romantic music, but has performed a wide variety of classical pieces and is a supporter of contemporary music.

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