Originally
issued in 1994, this is one recording which could never really
be said to have much connection with the nice shiny LP on
the cover of EMI Classics’ ‘Great Recordings of the Century’ series.
A magnificent recording it undoubtedly is however, and with
a Gramophone Award in 1995 and reviewers heaping praise left,
right and centre it has rightful status in these annals of
the great and greater.
Szymanowski’s Stabat
Mater is one of those works which, once heard, sticks
in the mind forever. It possesses an often breathtaking
simplicity of line, but has that magical mix of perfect
scoring and voicing, a passionate empathy for the subject
of human suffering - and working from a Polish language
text. I have a soft spot for it as a piece, remembering
my father’s thickly packaged old Polish records conducted
by Witold Rowicki, and having sung in the choir many years
ago – an experience never forgotten. Szymanowski’s intention
was to create a kind of “Peasants’ Requiem … a sort of
prayer for souls.” The work became a commemoration for
the recently deceased wife of the Warsaw industrialist
Dr. Bronislav Krystall, but must also have been coloured
by the tragic loss of Szymanowski’s young niece Agnes Bartoszewicz,
which occurred while he was working on the project.
All
of the soloists make a powerful contribution in the Stabat
Mater, but it is Elzbieta Szmytka’s liquid tones which
resonate most in the memory. Like a good poem, you can take
any line or moment in this piece and become instantly involved,
but if you want your tear ducts to go on instant alert then
try the opening of the sixth movement, Chrystus niech
mi bedzie grodem.
Litany
to the Virgin Mary, one of
Szymanowski’s last works, nonetheless harks back to the
atmosphere and sense of timeless antiquity in his Stabat
Mater. He wrote of this piece that it was “perhaps
my most profound and concentrated work”. Elzbieta Szmytka
once again crowns the glorious choral and orchestral sound
which Rattle generates from his Birmingham forces, and
the spine once again tingles responsively to that new/old
mixture of relatively simple progressions and polyphony,
ornamented with a passionate and innate romanticism.
Symphony
No.3 belongs to Szymanowski’s
so-called ‘impressionistic’ period. Exempt from being conscripted
into the Czarist army through disability, he avoided war
and entered some of the most artistically fruitful years
of his life from 1914 to 1920. The subtitle of the work, Le
chant de la nuit, refers to the text of a mystical
Iranian poet, which had been translated into Polish. Kaikhosru
Sorabji summed the piece up as “giving us in musical terms … the
essence of Persian art ... that wonderful blend of ecstasy
and languor of which only the great Iranian poets have
the secret.” The score is indeed filled with exotic colour
and elusive, translucent imagery, while at the same time
having a firmly grounded structure and technique. It certainly
creates a strong contrast with the other two works on this
disc, but once understood and appreciated properly insinuates
itself into the soul in a comparable fashion. You can also
test your hi-fi on the climax at 6:33 into the final movement,
when heaven’s bells and hell’s organ breaks loose in your
living room.
Talking of sound quality,
there is little to choose between the original 1994 CD and
this re-mastered and noise-shaped reissue. There may be a
little more gloss to the strings, a tad more definition in
the subterranean organ pedal notes, a smidge of extra clarity
in the mid-range, or it might be my mind playing tricks.
In any case, the original recording was so good that the
engineers must have had an easy time – I for one am glad
that any tweaking has been kept to a minimum. It’s a shame
we lose Robin Golding’s more analytical booklet notes from
the original issue, but Jim Samson’s commentary provides
a good deal of background information.
I
can waffle on for hours about this music, but the bottom
line is this question: can you hear the last movement of
this recording of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater – now
at mid price - and leave the shop without it? If so, either
your heart, or your wallet must be empty, for either of which
affliction you have my sympathy.
Dominy Clements
BUY NOW
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For reviews of other releases in EMI's Great
Recordings of the Century series, see the themed
release page
Elzbieta
Szmytka (soprano)* 
