For all readers interested
in Szymanowski, this astounding set
is as essential a purchase as the acclaimed
Simon Rattle/EMI recordings of the orchestral
works, and it is the most important
collection ever to have been released
of Szymanowski’s piano music.
These fine recordings
were brought to my attention before
the decision to license them for release
was taken by Divine Art. I have been
listening to them frequently during
the six months preceding their official
date of issue. In May I was sent copies
of the recordings by the company and
was asked to offer an opinion, though
I was not told who the performer was,
nor was I given any biographical information.
I wrote back with enthusiasm, speculating
that the intelligence and logic of the
playing indicated that the anonymous
artist was a scholar-pianist who probably
combined playing with Ph. D study –
and so it proves, as the booklet notes
tell us that the Korean pianist Sinae
Lee prepared her performances in conjunction
with a Ph. D on the composer’s piano
music. This is her debut commercial
recording.
Miss Lee’s achievement
can be best appreciated in the context
of the standard of previous recordings
of this repertoire. Amongst her piano
teachers is Philip Jenkins, whose own
thoughtful LP recording of Szymanowski’s
Third Sonata was issued in 1980 (Gaudeamus
KRS37); this masterpiece has also been
well served in a recent recording for
Virgin Classics by Piotr Anderszewski.
Unfortunately, with the honourable exception
of a handful of recordings such as these,
the discography of Szymanowski’s solo
piano music over the decades has been
undistinguished, and a major loss is
that there have been no recordings of
this repertoire by some of the great
pianists who have expressed enthusiasm
for it (such as Vladimir Horowitz, Vladimir
Ashkenazy, John Ogdon). The weakness
of the Szymanowski solo piano music
discography has not been apparent to
the general public as the true state
of affairs has been inadvertently covered
up by well-meaning reviewers who have
assessed recordings without the benefit
of a score to check whether the pianists
in question are observing professional
standards. Most recordings have either
been tentative and cautious due to the
pianists’ lack of assimilation of the
music’s complexities, or inaccurate
due to the omission (or blurring) of
many of the notes in order to keep up
the momentum. In some instances what
has been presented for public consumption
on CD has been little more than amateurish
bluffing. In Martin Jones’ 4 CD set
of the complete piano music for Nimbus
Records (inferior to his previous Argo
recordings on LP), it sounded as though
these recordings needed further preparation.
Despite some laudatory reviews in the
musical press by critics, these recordings
constitute a misrepresentation
of some of the most refined piano works
in the twentieth-century piano repertoire.
Karol Szymanowski himself
was evidently aware of the difficulties
involved in playing his music, as he
tolerated simplifications in performances
by Artur Rubinstein, an artist whose
advocacy he valued. The composer Andrzej
Panufnik knew Szymanowski personally,
and when I visited Sir Andrzej at his
home in 1989, he told me that in the
late 1920s or 1930s he had heard a performance
by Rubinstein of the Third Sonata -
though I suspect it was more likely
to have been a performance of the Second
- with, as Panufnik put it, ‘30% of
the notes missed out’. Apart from two
recordings of the Sinfonia Concertante
for piano and orchestra, the only
recordings extant of Rubinstein playing
Szymanowski are his 1946 and 1961 versions
of nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 from the Mazurkas
op. 50. These strongly characterised
performances are incomparable and the
only performances in Sinae Lee’s set
where I felt characterisation was lacking
were her accounts of these mazurkas.
Nevertheless, taking second place to
Rubinstein in Polish music is hardly
a fate to be ashamed of.
There are no simplifications
in Miss Lee’s recordings. A distinctive
feature of her set is that each composition
has been prepared with an attention
to detail which is often lacking in
‘complete’ editions of any composer’s
music. Sometimes when an artist is recording
a composer’s entire piano output an
element of production-line learning
can be perceived in the resulting interpretations,
with the works homogenised. In the Divine
Art set there is no suspicion of this,
as each work is presented as a individual
musical experience, and there is no
doubt that each piece has been as carefully
prepared as it would have been had Miss
Lee been recording that single work
alone. Given the complexity of much
of the music, the amount of preparation
time which this will have necessitated
is daunting. Sinae Lee deserves our
respect for having shown the integrity
to approach her Szymanowski project
with such painstaking observance of
detail.
Technically, Miss Lee
offers playing which is difficult to
fault even by the most uncompromising
technical standards. Readers who admire
the high-quality finish of such contemporary
master pianists as Stephen Hough, Marc-André
Hamelin and Leif Ove Andsnes will be
fully satisfied with the standards on
offer here, as there is a comparable
sense of the difficulties of the often
dense textures being mastered to such
an extent that the complexities are
no longer a barrier, so that the attention
of the performer can be focused entirely
on imaginative interpretation. The subsidiary
elements of the texture are controlled
as carefully as the more prominent aspects
of the keyboard writing. This is often
not the case with recordings of late-Romantic
repertoire, though it is a flaw rarely
remarked upon by critics, even by the
self-styled ‘piano specialists’ who
write with what they consider to be
authoritative judgement for the glossy
reviewing magazines.
There are only a handful
of minor criticisms which I would make
of the set. I was bothered by the occasional
use of the old-style ‘left hand before
right’ mannerism (especially in the
C sharp minor prelude of 1901, receiving
its world premiere recording here),
but this affects only a tiny proportion
of the total playing. Also noticeable
is that Miss Lee evidently has small
hands as she often has to arpeggiate
large left-hand chords in an upwards
direction, so sometimes the bass line
is lost as a result of the sustaining
pedal being changed at the end of the
upward arpeggiation, by which time the
bass note of a chord has already been
released in order for the left hand
to reach the top note. Occasionally
there are some insignificant wrong notes
or places where the articulation is
not quite precise (such as in the introduction
to the fugue of the Second Sonata, where
the right hand chords are reduced to
plain octaves in the passage immediately
preceding the silence at 13:28). There
are worse errors in all other commercial
recordings of Szymanowski’s piano music
that I have heard (including my own,
issued in 1999) and a direct A/B comparison
with other recordings is always to Sinae
Lee’s advantage. The sound quality is
vivid, and it is to the pianist’s credit
that even in such fearsomely intricate
pieces as the Op. 33 studies her playing
is precise enough to withstand the scrutiny
of the relatively close-up microphone
positioning. The sound is analytical
enough even to document her subtle pedalling
by faithfully reproducing the sound
of the felt of the dampers touching
the strings - by contrast, the excessively
resonant acoustics of the Nimbus recordings
help to blur and cover over some of
the worst aspects of the playing.
Readers unfamiliar
with Szymanowski’s idiom may wonder
whether the music will appeal to them
and will want to know what his music
‘sounds like’. Ultimately, Szymanowski’s
music is too individual to sound like
that of any other composer, so it is
facile to try to compare his style to
those of other composers. If one is
absolutely determined to search for
influences the most feasible are Chopin
(in the early works), Scriabin (in the
middle period pieces), with occasional
suggestions of the tough, abrasive folk-quality
of Bartók in the late mazurkas.
The nature of the virtuosity required
may remind one of the demands of some
of Ravel’s piano music (Gaspard de
la Nuit in particular), but these
vague comparisons are merely to give
readers a flavour of the music. One
must not press parallels too closely
as Szymanowski’s style is unique. To
generalise further, any listener who
reacts positively to late-Romantic piano
music or to French composers at the
start of the twentieth-century cannot
fail to enjoy this set. A great deal
of the piano music is accessible on
first hearing and newcomers to Szymanowski’s
music would do well to start with this
set, beginning by exploring the earliest
works on CD 1 and gradually progressing
to the later ones; they should also
hear at least some of the Simon Rattle
recordings on EMI with the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, priority perhaps
being given to the Third Symphony, the
Fourth Symphony (also known as the Sinfonia
Concertante) and the violin concerti,
recorded with Thomas Zehetmair as soloist.
I would urge readers
who are already familiar with recordings
of Szymanowski’s piano music to buy
this set, as many of the keyboard textures
are here rendered transparent in a manner
not achieved in other recordings, and
the performances maintain an ideal balance
between relaxed atmospheric playing
and the impulsive drive and energy which
is necessary if these elaborate works
are not to sound directionless. I have
not considered it necessary to discuss
individual performances in this review
because it is difficult to indicate
which are ‘highlights’ of this set when
all of the performances are of equal
quality.
If this 4 CD set had
been offered as four separate discs
at full price it would still have been
well worth the financial outlay, so
as a budget-price ‘four for the price
of two’ issue it becomes an amazing
bargain, comparable in price with the
cheap Naxos recordings, but superior
to them. Divine Art’s presentation is
first class, the four CDs being housed
within two slimline cases contained
within an outer cardboard slipcase.
The booklets feature extensive informative
notes (in English language only) by
Alistair Wightman, a leading Szymanowski
expert and the author of highly-regarded
books on the composer. This product
is fully comparable in quality with
the standards we are accustomed to from
larger companies such as Hyperion, Chandos
or the multinationals.
The supporting team
involved in making the recording is
a strong one. The pianist Philip Jenkins
(mentioned earlier) is the producer,
and it is an obvious advantage to have
a pianist with personal experience of
the challenges of playing Szymanowski
assisting the recording process. Mastering
and post-production has been taken care
of by Paul Baily, best known for his
work on EMI reissues and one of the
most exacting and precise sound technicians
I have had the good fortune to work
with. Good sound quality has been achieved
by the recording engineers, Graham Kennedy
and Kim Planert. Listeners may be interested
to learn that the concert hall in Glasgow
used for this recording is identical
in every detail to the West Road Concert
Hall in Cambridge which was designed
by the same architects and which has
been used for a number of piano recordings
by the large multi-national companies.
I suspect that many
professional pianists will be mightily
impressed by these recordings. Sinae
Lee’s release sets new standards for
the performance of Szymanowski’s piano
music, and her quest for accuracy has
not in any way inhibited her playing’s
wonderful sense of spontaneity. I am
confident that any listeners responsive
to late-Romantic music who buy this
superb set will share my enthusiasm
for it.
Raymond Clarke
Detailed
Track Listing
CD1
01. Prelude in C sharp minor
(1901) 03:13
Nine Preludes, Op. 1 (1900) 17:00
02. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 1 – Andante ma
non troppo 02:01
03. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 2 – Andante con
moto 02:12
04. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 3 – Andantino
01:18
05. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 4 – Andantino
con moto 01:13
06. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 5 – Allegro molto,
impetuoso 01:03
07. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 6 – Lento, mesto
02:39
08. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 7 – Moderato
02:18
09. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 8 – Andante ma
non troppo 01:50
10. Prelude, Op. 1 No. 9 – Lento, mesto
02:23
11. Variations in B flat minor,
Op. 3 (1901–03) 10:17
Four Studies, Op. 4 (1900–02)
13:12
12. Study, Op. 4 No. 1 – Allegro moderato
03:45
13. Study, Op. 4 No. 2 – Allegro molto
01:39
14. Study, Op. 4 No. 3 – Andante 04:34
15. Study, Op. 4 No. 4 – Allegro 01:13
Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op.
8 (1903–04) 28:02
16. Allegro moderato – agitato 07:18
17. Adagio, molto tranquillo e dolce
– più mosso, agitato 06:14
18. Tempo di minuetto, comodo 04:00
19. Introduzione, adagio – quasi tempo
di marcia – fuga – allegro energico
10:30
CD2
01. Variations on a Polish Theme,
Op. 10 (1900–04) 18:59
02. Fantasy in F minor, Op. 14
(1905) 13:18
03. Prelude and Fugue in C sharp
minor (1905-09) 06:43
Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 21 (1910–11)
26:23
04. Allegro assai – molto appassionato
08:34
05. Theme and Variations 17:49
CD3
Métopes, Op. 29 (1915)
15:31
01. The Isle of Sirens 05:45
02. Calypso 05:25
03. Nausicaa 04:17
Twelve Studies, Op. 33 (1916)
13:16
04. Study, Op. 33 No. 1 – Presto 01:00
05. Study, Op. 33 No. 2 – Andantino
soave 01:13
06. Study, Op. 33 No. 3 – Vivace assai
00:33
07. Study, Op. 33 No. 4 – Presto 01:17
08. Study, Op. 33 No. 5 – Andante espressivo
00:58
09. Study, Op. 33 No. 6 – Vivace 00:33
10. Study, Op. 33 No. 7 – Allegro molto
00:44
11. Study, Op. 33 No. 8 – Lento assai
mesto 02:03
12. Study, Op. 33 No. 9 – Animato 00:51
13. Study, Op. 33 No. 10 – Presto 01:01
14. Study, Op. 33 No. 11 – Andante soave
01:28
15. Study, Op. 33 No. 12 – Presto 01:29
Masques, Op. 34 (1915–16) 20:21
16. Scheherazade 09:13
17. Tantris the Clown 05:39
18. Don Juan’s Serenade 05:24
Sonata No. 3, Op. 36 (1917) 18:02
19. Presto 06:57
20. Adagio, mesto 04:25
21. Assai vivace, scherzando 00:50
22. Fuga: allegro moderato, scherzando
e buffo 05:50
CD4
Twenty Mazurkas, Op. 50 (1924–25)
50:07
01. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 1 – Sostenuto,
molto rubato 01:57
02. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 2 – Allegramente,
poco vivace 02:13
03. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 3 – Moderato
02:30
04. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 4 – Allegramente,
risoluto 02:30
05. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 5 – Moderato
02:33
06. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 6 – Vivace 01:56
07. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 7 – Poco vivace
01:45
08. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 8 – Moderato
(non troppo) 02:54
09. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 9 – Tempo moderato
03:24
10. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 10 – Allegramente,
vivace, con brio 02:40
11. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 11 – Allegretto
01:28
12. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 12 – Allegro
moderato 03:25
13. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 13 – Moderato
03:20
14. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 14 – Animato
01:54
15. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 15 – Allegretto
dolce 02:39
16. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 16 – Allegramente,
vigoroso 03:33
17. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 17 – Moderato
02:25
18. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 18 – Vivace,
agitato 02:48
19. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 19 – Poco vivace
01:18
20. Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 20 – Allegramente,
con brio 02:49
21. Romantic Waltz (1925) 04:03
Four Polish Dances (1926) 09:00
22. Mazurek – Tempo di Mazurka, animato
01:04
23. Krakowiak – Allegretto grazioso
01:22
24. Oberek – Vivace e agitato 03:26
25. Polonaise – Moderato, festivo, pomposo
03:08
Two Mazurkas, Op. 62 (1934) 06:00
26. Mazurka, Op. 62 No. 1 – Allegretto
grazioso 2:47
27. Mazurka, Op. 62 No. 2 – Moderato
3:12
Recorded at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama, Glasgow between
September 2002 and February 2005
Producer: Philip Jenkins
Recording Engineers: Graham Kennedy
and Kim Planert
Mastering and post-production: Paul
Baily, Re-Sound (UK)
Booklet notes: Alistair Wightman
Sinae Lee (piano) 
