Karłowicz was born
in the Polish province of Vilna. His father, Jan was a historian, ethnologist
and musician. At Warsaw he studied with Noskowski and in Berlin with
Urban. From 1906 to 1907 he was one of Nikisch's conducting pupils.
His interests included skiing, mountaineering and photography. He died
in a skiing accident in the Polish highlands (the same high pastures
that inspired Szymanowski in his masterful ballet music Harnasie).
For instant reference purposes Karłowicz
can best be thought of as a contemplative Polish Tchaikovsky. He is
no barnstormer - at least not in these three works which gaze into eternity
and the far horizons rather than revelling in crashingly passionate
storms. Karłowicz is no mere Tchaikovsky facsimile: his
music is mixed with brooding elements from Rachmaninov and early Miaskovsky.
Crude though this approximation may be it gives you some insight into
what you will hear if you buy this superbly interpreted, recorded and
annotated disc.
The titles of the three movements of his Eternal
Songs (which Rozhdestvensky gave in concert with the Chicago
Symphony about twenty years ago - broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 22 November
1981) are: Song of Everlasting Yearning; Song of Love and
Death; Song of Eternal Being. These titles referring to the
great episodes in life can also be found in the early works of Bax and
Delius. The first song does not yearn in despair nor is it belligerent
with loss. This is the exhausted yearning of old age for youth rather
like a self-composed reflective Don Juan. The Song of Life and Death
trembles with expectation carrying over the placid and philosophical
mind from the first Song. It fades into sunset radiance. After two movement
of exaltation and contemplation we come to the regal Song of Eternal
Being which brings reminders of Zarathustra and Mahler.
The Eternal Songs triptych was premiered under
Fitelberg with Berlin Philharmonic on 21 March 1907. It was Grzegorz
Fitelberg who completed Episode during a Masquerade from Karłowicz's
sketches.
The story of forbidden love between brother and sister
inspired the composer to one his most intense expressions. The Oswieczim
poem was brought about by seeing
a portrait by Stanisław Bergmann (1862-1930) which shows Stanisław
grieving over the funeral bier of his sister. While there are
Elgarian shudders of Froissart and griping early Bax in this
music Tortelier again brings out the radiance and glow. In this he is
aided by one of the UK's most splendidly luxuriant orchestras. The lush
harp-decorated side can be sampled in the sinking back into repletion
of 10.20. A spiritual sister to this work is Tchaikovsky's Romeo
and Juliet although the Karłowicz
is overhung with darker cloud and bleaker premonitions.
The Lithuanian Rhapsody has
a strong Slav accent and is unusual in Karłowicz’s output in being
based on folk song. In it the composer aimed to encapsulate the total
grief, sadness and eternal servitude of native Lithuanians. It
is the most Russian nationalist of his works with linkages with Tchaikovsky,
Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov.
You should be able to
track down more Karłowicz if this disc catches your interest. There
are some songs on Thorofon and Pavane CDs. The simply glorious
violin concerto (played by Konstanty Kulka) is on a deleted Olympia
coupled with the Renaissance Symphony.
Olympia did Karłowicz proud in the 1980s with Stanislaw Wislocki
and the Warsaw PO. Polskie Nagrania recorded them in Eternal
Songs, Stanisław and Anna and
Masquerade Episode in Warsaw in 1965. Olympia issued these on
OCD 307 back in 1988.
There is, of course, room for volumes 2 and 3. Chandos
always do such a splendid job and to have the Recurring Waves,
Episode and Sorrowful Tale in
this form would be welcome indeed. Also perhaps the next virtuoso who
wants to display the Tchaikovsky or Sibelius violin concertos would
consider coupling the Karłowicz. Neither soloist nor listener would
be disappointed.
Tortelier reminds me of another Chandos artist, Valery
Polyansky. Both are meticulous on balance, sensitivity, poetry and finely
calculated sound. Neither strike me as having the fiery insolence of
a Mravinsky or a Rozhdestvensky. This serves the character of these
pieces well. It would be interesting to know what Vassily Sinaisky or
Rozhdestvensky would make of the other three symphonic poems.
Three poetic late-romantic tone poems beautifully shaped
by Tortelier and superbly played by the BBC Phil - an orchestra
that has outshone its London, Cardiff and Glasgow brethren since its
move to Studio 7 during the 1980s.
Rob Barnett
FURTHER LISTENING
Miecslaw KARLOWICZ: complete
symphonic poems: Returning Waves (1904) [25.15]; Eternal
Songs (1907) [25.44]; A Sorrowful Tale - Preludes to Eternity
(1908) [10.57]; Lithuanian Rhapsody (1906) [20.17]; Stanislaw
and Anna Oswieczin (1912) [22.33]; Episode during a Masquerade
(1908-9) [25.37]. Silesian State PO/Jerzi Salwarowski rec Katowice,
8 Dec 1981, 11-13 June 1983. DUX 0132-0133 [61.57+68.29] Reviewed
elsewhere on this site. Originally on Wifon then briefly licensed
to Harmonia Mundi. Dux set from Dux Recording Producers, Morskie Oko
2, 02-511 Warsaw, POLAND. Email: dux@pol.pl
See also review
by John Quinn
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Yan
Pascal Tortelier