CD:
Szymanowski/Zemlinsky – NOSPR, Liebreich

After an award-winning 3-disc collection, Accentus releases a new CD production with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Liebreich.

Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, composed only seven years apart, while differing widely in their choice of soloists, are united in their source of inspiration.

The Lyric Symphony is Zemlinsky’s best-known work and an homage to Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde”. It sets poems by Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) to equally poetic music. Szymanowski likely received his inspiration for the violin concerto from “Noc Majowa” (May Night), a poem by the Polish poet Tadeusz Miciński. The work is recognized as the first "modern" violin concerto, as Szymanowski rejects the 19th-century tradition and the major-minor system, introducing a new music language full of ecstatic raptures and poetic tension.

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35
Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942)
Lyric Symphony, Op. 18

Elina Vähälä, violin
Johanna Winkel, soprano
Michael Nagy, baritone
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Liebreich, conductor

Recorded at NOSPR Concert Hall Katowice, Poland
2017

Total Time: 66:45
ACC30470 (CD)
EAN: 4260234831818

Orchestra / Band Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Alexander Liebreich
Soloist Elina Vähäla, Johanna Winkel, Michael Nagy
Composer Karol Szymanowski, Alexander von Zemlinsky