The two previous volumes involved orchestral music, in one case with a solo instrument. Here the human voice is centre-stage.

Marek may be unknown to you. If you enjoy Szymanowski’s shimmering impressionism you will warm instantly to Marek (a fellow Pole) and his music.

Sandwiched between four choral pieces are two song cycles with orchestra. The first Rural Scenes opens playfully à la Canteloube - in fact the Frenchman’s Chansons come to mind quite often. The second evokes the dreamy high pastures and features a dreamy flute. The third returns to playfulness with something of the innocent joy of Rachmaninov’s Wedding Bells (The Bells). A floating cloud settles trance-like over the fourth song. The fifth song is a pizzicato celebration and the final song has great dash and rustic charm.

The Village Songs are more complex than the Rural Scenes. An occasional unknowing parallel is struck with Samuel Barber’s Knoxville (and what a gem of a scena that is!). The final song brings the cycle to an explosive close.

The a cappella choral pieces are a varied bunch. The simple and affecting Polish Hymn has the warm and rounded contours of singing emerging from the Welsh valleys. Similar qualities appear in the Death Melody but this has a passionate climactic episode. Last piece, The Alps-A Look Backwards, is a six-minute work from 1911 - amongst the earliest of the compositions to be approved by Marek. The style is similar to the other choral pieces. The lines and the singing are smoothly undulating and there is a similar spirit to the choral music of Delius (Mass of Life), Richard Strauss (Deutsche Motette) and Othmar Schoeck (Postillon).

Texts of the songs and choral pieces are presented in German. Marek set these in the original Polish (and they are sung in that language) but, inexplicably, the Polish is not printed at all. The ‘translations’ of the German are, in most cases summaries. Perhaps there were copyright problems. In any event this is a regrettable blemish.

The complementary notes by Malcolm Macdonald are good and are in English, French and German.

I wonder how many more Marek volumes there are. Anyway this one is very highly commended and the strongest and most enjoyable of the trio. A must-buy for anyone who is in the thrall of the Canteloube Songs of the Auvergne or the orchestral songs or Harnasie of Szymanowski.

Reviewer

Rob Barnett

Reviewer

Rob Barnett