Szymanowski: Harnasie Op. 55/Love Songs of Hafiz Op. 26/Songs of a Fairy-tale Princess Op. 31
Despite being influenced by the likes of Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, and his countryman, Chopin, Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) composed music of great beauty and an exoticism unique to himself. The two song cycles recorded here are more than tinged with orientalisms. The first, "Songs of a Fairy-Tale Princess," consists of just three songs and spans only nine minutes. Each is a coloratura gem that sometimes lapses into sheer vocalise, with the texts left behind. The East is filtered through French pastels. The lushness and decadence of a song like "Pearls of My Soul" from the "Love Songs of Hafiz" occasionally call to mind Zemlinsky and his like. That cycle is based on Persian poetry; their late-Romantic textures, the use of percussion and their expressive honesty are warm and tempting. The middle work is a ballet called "Harnasie," peculiarly scored for tenor, chorus, and orchestra. It was inspired by the folk sounds of the Tatra Mountains; this is forwardly propulsive, rhythmically jerky, occasionally Stravinsky-like music that perfectly suits the subject of a bride being willingly abducted on her wedding night by bandits in the Carpathian Mountains. This gripping, thrilling music is filled with harmonic and orchestral surprises and Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus obviously feel passionately about it. The performances are exemplary. Try this out-of-the-ordinary program; it's vastly entertaining, very rewarding, and comfortably other-worldly.--Robert Levine