SZYMANOWSKI: the Complete Piano Music : SINAE …He learned piano at first from his father, a gifted amateur musician, before training with Gustav Neuhaus, a German émigré related

SZYMANOWSKI: the Complete Piano Music : SINAE LEE (piano)CD 1

01 Prelude in C sharp minor (1901) 3:13

Nine Preludes, Op, 102 Prelude, Op.1 no. 1 Andante ma non troppo 2:0103 Prelude, Op.1 no. 2 Andante con moto 2:1204 Prelude, Op.1 no. 3 Andantino 1:1805 Prelude, Op.1 no. 4 Andantino con moto 1:1306 Prelude, Op.1 no. 5 Allegro molto, impetuoso 1:0307 Prelude, Op.1 no. 6 Lento, mesto 2:3908 Prelude, Op.1 no. 7 Moderato 2:1809 Prelude, Op 1 no. 8 Andante ma non troppo 1:5010 Prelude, Op.1 no. 9 Lento, mesto 2:23

11 Variations in B flat minor , Op. 3 * 10:17

Four Studies, Op. 412 Study, Op. 4 no. 1 Allegro moderato 3:4513 Study, Op. 4 no. 2 Allegro molto 1:3914 Study, Op. 4 no. 3 Andante 4:3415 Study, Op. 4 no. 4 Allegro 3:13

Piano Sonata no. 1, Op. 8 [28:02]16 Allegro moderato – agitato 7:1817 Adagio, molto tranquillo e dolce – più mosso, agitato 6:1418 Tempo di minuetto, comodo 4:0019 Introduzione, adagio – quasi tempo di marcia – fuga – allegro energico 10:30

Total playing time (CD1): 71:46

* Theme: andantino tranquillo e semplice; 1: l’istesso tempo; 2: agitato; 3: andantino quasi tempo di mazurka; 4: con moto;5: lento dolce; 6: scherzando, molto vivace; 7: allegro agitato ed energico; 8:meno mosso, mesto;9: maggiore, tempo di valse, grazioso; 10: andantino dolce; 11: andantino dolce affettuoso; 12: allegro con fuoco

SZYMANOWSKI: the Complete Piano Music : SINAE LEE (piano)CD2

01 Variations on a Polish Theme, Op. 10 ** 18:59

02 Fantasy for Piano, Op 14 13:18Grave – non troppo allegro, ma molto passionate e affettuoso –lento, mesto – allegro, molto deciso, energico

03 Prelude and Fugue (Prelude: 1905; Fugue: 1909) 6:43

Piano Sonata no. 2, Op. 21 [26:23]04 Allegro assai – molto appassionato 8:3405 Theme and Variations *** 17:49


** Andante doloroso rubato – Theme: andantino semplice; 1: meno mosso; 2: agitato; 3: lento, mesto ma poco agitato;4:allegro molto agitato; 5: andantino; 6: andante dolcissimo’ 7: più mosso; 8: Marcia funebre; 9: più mosso (allegro);10: allegro vivo

*** Theme: allegretto tranquillo (grazioso) – poco più vivace – poco meno, andantino tranquillo – l’istesso tempo –dolcissimo e molto espressivo, poco misterioso – allegretto scherzando e capriccioso – tempo di sarabanda – grave conforza, molto espressivo – tempo di minuetto con moto, pomposo – allegro molto impetuoso, con gran forza, martellato –largo, molto espressivo – moderato sempre accelerando e crescendo – fuga (allegro moderato) – poco scherzando ecapriccioso


Metopes, Op. 2901 The Isle of Sirens (Lento, molto rubato e improvissando) 5:4502 Calypso (Lento, mesto) 5:2503 Nausicaa (Allegretto grazioso) 4:17

Twelve Studies, op. 3304 Study, Op. 33 no. 1 Presto 1:0005 Study, Op. 33 no. 2 Andantino soave 1:1306 Study, Op. 33 no. 3 Vivace assai, agitato 0:3307 Study, Op. 33 no. 4 Presto – delicatamente, sempre pp velocissimo 1:1708 Study, Op. 33 no. 5 Andante espressivo 0:5809 Study, Op. 33 no. 6 Vivace agitato e marcato, vigoroso 0:3310 Study, Op. 33 no. 7 Allegro molto con brio, burlesco 0:4411 Study, Op. 33 no. 8 Lento assai mesto espressivo 2:0312 Study, Op. 33 no. 9 Animato capriccioso e fantastico 0:5113 Study, Op. 33 no. 10 Presto molto agitato, tempestoso 1:0114 Study, Op. 33 no. 11 Andante soave rubato 1:2815 Study, Op. 33 no. 12 Presto energico 1:29

Masques, Op. 3416 Scheherezade Lento assai, languido 9:1317 Tantris the Clown Vivace assai buffo e capriccioso 5:3918 Don Juan’s Serenade Vivace quasi improvvisando, fantastico 5:24

Piano Sonata no. 3, Op. 36 [18:02]19 Presto 6.5720 Adagio, mesto 4.2521 Assai vivace, scherzando 0.5022 Fuga: allegro moderato, scherzando e buffo 5.50



Twenty Mazurkas, Op. 5001 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 1 Sostenuto, molto rubato 1:5702 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 2 Allegramente, poco vivace (Rubasznie) 2:1303 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 3 Moderato 2:3004 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 4 Allegramente, risoluto 2:3005 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 5 Moderato 2:3306 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 6 Vivace (Junacko) 1:5607 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 7 Poco vivace (Tempo oberka) 1:4508 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 8 Moderato non troppo 2:5409 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 9 Tempo moderato 3:2410 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 10 Allegramente, vivace, con brio 2:4011 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 11 Allegretto 1:2812 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 12 Allegro moderato 3:2513 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 13 Moderato 3:2014 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 14 Animato 1:5415 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 15 Allegretto dolce 2:3916 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 16 Allegramente, vigoroso 3:3317 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 17 Moderato 2:2518 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 18 Vivace, agitato (Tempo Oberka) 2:4819 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 19 Poco vivace, animato e grazioso 1:1820 Mazurka, Op. 50 no. 20 Allegramente con brio (Rubasznie) 2:49

21 Romantic Waltz (1925) 4:03

Four Polish Dances (1926)22 Mazurek Tempo di Mazurka, animato 1:0423 Krakowiak Allegretto frazioso 1:2224 Oberek Vivace e agitato 3:2625 Polonaise Moderato, festivo, pomposo 3:08

Two Mazurkas, Op. 6226 Mazurka, Op. 62 no. 1 Allegretto grazioso 2:4727 Mazurka, Op. 62 no. 2 Moderato 3:12


SZYMANOWSKI:The complete piano music

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) is not onlythe most significant Polish composer of thefirst half of the twentieth century, but amajor figure in European music in general.His enduring achievement was the creationof a substantial body of work whichfascinates with the intensity and diversity ofits invention, itself a reflection of the uniquerapprochement of musical styles he effectedin his mature work.

Szymanowski was born on the family estateat Tymoszówka in an area of the Ukraine tothe south-east of Kiev, and was one of thelast generation of minor Polish nobilitydomiciled in this region since the 18th

century. He suffered a debilitating leg injurywhen young, and received his earliesteducation at home. He learned piano at firstfrom his father, a gifted amateur musician,before training with Gustav Neuhaus, aGerman émigré related to the Szymanowskifamily by marriage and the owner of a musicschool in Elizavetgrad where theSzymanowskis also owned property. In1901, he went to Warsaw, then the capital ofthe Russian occupied sector of Poland,studying composition and counterpointprivately with one of the leading Polishcomposers of the day, Zygmunt Noskowski(1846-1909) as well as harmony with MarekZawirski.

From his earliest years, the piano played ahuge role in Szymanowski’s creative life. Itwas the only instrument he played himself,and it figures in most of his works, not justthose for solo piano. He produced numerousworks whilst still in his teens, but the onlyones still extant are Nine Preludes, Op. 1,completed in 1900. It is likely that, of these,the seventh and eighth were completed asearly as 1896 when the composer was only14. As might be expected, Chopin’sinfluence can easily be detected, but theseworks are darker toned, and in the case of thesixth prelude, suffused with a restlessharmonic idiom derived from Wagner’sTristan und Isolde. The basic style of thePreludes is of a far advanced romanticism,underlined by the extravagant performancedirections (afflitto, sospirando) and drive tointense climax and succeeding dyingaftermath, a harbinger of the still moreexplicit sensuality of later works. Thisrecording opens with a tenth prelude,rediscovered only in 1996 amongst thepapers of Leon Chojecki, editor of theWarsaw musical monthly ‘Meloman’. Itformed part of an entry submitted in theKonstanty Lubomirski Composers’Competition held in 1902. Szymanowskireceived no more than an “honourablemention”, and never bothered to retrieve orpublish this prelude which, in scale and moreadvanced pianism, would perhaps haveseemed out of place amongst the rest of theset.

The next piano work in Szymanowski’scatalogue, Variations in B flat minor, Op. 3,was composed in the years 1901-03. Usingan original theme as the basis for a series of12 variations, the work is characterized by atendency towards increasing textural density,evident in the tri-planar textures of the firstvariation and the perpetuum mobile finale.This work also includes the earliest referenceto Polish folk music in Szymanowski’soutput, taking the form of a mazurka(Variation 3), with drone and chromaticcountermelody. The Variations wereeventually dedicated to Artur Rubinsteinwho was to become one of Szymanowski’smost enthusiastic supporters in the yearsleading up to the First World War.

Four Studies, Op. 4, started in 1900 andcompleted in 1902, reveal not just theinfluence of Chopin but also some trace ofthe impact of Skryabin’s music, most notablythe concordance between Skryabin’s Study,Op, 8, No. 11, dating from 1894, andSzymanowski’s Third Study. They share thesame key a similar sort of texture, thoughSzymanowski’s study is notably more lyricalin character. Indeed, it became one of themost celebrated of the composer’s earlyworks, and has frequently been transcribedfor other instruments. It also exists in aversion for symphony orchestra made bySzymanowski’s friend and nearcontemporary, the conductor and composerGrzegorz Fitelberg (1879-1953). All the

studies reveal a more adventurous approachin their handling of tonality, the fourth beingespecially notable for the skill with which aclear statement of the home key of C majoris delayed until after the work’s climax,significantly labelled ardente amoroso, therunning commentary provided by themusical directions in themselves hinting atthe existence of an amatory subtext.

The most substantial piano work ofSzymanowski’s “studentship” proved to bethe Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 8. The firstversion, completed in 1903, closed with arondo. This movement, no longer extant,was replaced by a fugue, composed in 1904during a visit to Zakopane, the capital of thePolish mountain region to the south ofKraków. The Sonata has four movementsand draws on classical models, the firstmovement being in sonata form withtraditional key-schemes, and the finale afugue for three voices on two main subjects,preceded by a slow introduction. In betweenare a ternary-form slow movement, withfaster central section, and a ratherromanticized minuet and trio.

One of the most striking effects of the entirework is to be found in the introduction to thefinale with its colouristic successions ofunresolved seventh chords. The fugue, withits use of diminution, augmentation,inversion and stretto, perhaps rather self-consciously parades the contrapuntal

technique which Szymanowski had absorbedin the course of his studies with Noskowski.It lacks that sense of irony and the grotesquewhich runs through his later fugues; clearlythe work was to be taken as a seriousdemonstration of competence in the handlingof the larger musical forms. Cyclic devicesare used to ensure a clearly audible unity,while a system of motivic links operatesthroughout the whole sonata at a much moresubtle level. The piano writing itself ismarked by its recourse to extremes,especially at the end of the finale where aquasi-orchestral tutti is created. In thisconnection, it is revealing that thecomposer’s cousin, the distinguished writerJarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894-1980)believed that for Szymanowski the piano wasreally “a surrogate for the orchestra”,providing him with the only alternative at hisdisposal for the creation of sonorities on agrand scale, evident here in the huge range ofdynamics required as well as the use oftremolandi and glissandi.

The Variations on a Polish Folk Theme in Bminor, Op. 10, were started as early as 1900but finished only in 1904. The folk-theme inquestion was taken from a nineteenth centurycollection of highland melodies edited by JanKleczyński in which essential characteristicswere filtered out. This sanitized version was,however, treated with undoubted panache,the flexibility of the variation techniqueperhaps pointing to the influence of Brahms,

one of Szymanowski’s favourite composers.Only in the first variation is the outline of theoriginal melody preserved intact, after whichthere is an increasing tendency to fragmentand remould constituent motives.

A further structural advance on the Op. 3Variations is evident in the way thecomponent sections are made to accumulateso as to produce an entity which is so muchmore than the sum-total of its parts. There isa hazy foreshadowing of motives during theintroduction, and the use of linking figuresensures continuity. More than this, however,subsidiary material is sometimes carried overfrom one variation to the next, while thelong-range tonal scheme of Variations 6-9 (Bmajor – G minor – F# dominant preparation)could be seen as a vast augmentation of theopening three notes of the theme itself.Variation 10 – the finale – is alsosignificantly larger than any other part of thework, and like some of the variation worksof Beethoven and Brahms, includes a fugato,in itself further evidence of an increasingdesire to use contrapuntal devices. Like theSonata, there is also some quasi-orchestralwriting which even specifies particularinstruments, notably the bells accompanyingthe funeral march (Variation 8) and the brieftrumpet calls which break in at the close ofthe fugato.

Quasi-orchestral pianism is also conspicuousin the Fantasy for Piano, Op. 14, written in

August 1905, an intriguing work notable forthe virtuosity of its piano writing. Sodemanding is it that some years later thecomposer feared that its publication byPiwarski of Kraków would result in his beingdubbed “unspiel- und unsingbarerKomponist”. The Fantasy occupies a rathercurious position in Szymanowski’s output.As the title implies, it departs from theclassically derived formalism of the Sonataand Variations in favour of a much morerhapsodic style characterized by rapidalternations of moods, textures and speedswithin each of its three main sections. Yet inspite of this self-evident freedom, there areoccasions where the music consists ofundeveloped ideas placed side by side in asomewhat artificial manner. Furthermore,the overall thematic management of thework, and especially the seeminglyunjustified recurrences of first movementmaterial in the course of the second, seem tohint that Szymanowski was working to anundisclosed programme. The most strikingaspect of the work, however, is theexpansion of its harmonic and tonallanguage, incorporating now whole-toneelements and markedly more chromaticideas, and while its tonal home is C major,this key is only strongly affirmed at theclose, the first movement opening in F #major and the second in A flat.

The Fantasy marked the close of the firstphase of Szymanowski’s development,

coinciding in the main with his student yearsin Warsaw. Shortly after its composition, hisfather – his main source of artistic supportwithin the family – died, and thoughTymoszówka was to remain his safe havenuntil the outbreak of the BolshevikRevolution in 1917, he began to spend moreof his time abroad. In the short term, heallied himself with the Publishing Group ofYoung Polish Composers, sometimes knownas Young Poland in Music, and as aconsequence was frequently to be found inBerlin where the group’s business interestswere based. He also travelled increasingly inItaly, venturing as far as Sicily, but thoughhe became especially sympathetic to the artand culture of the Italian Renaissance, hewas to remain in thrall to German music, andespecially that of Wagner and Strauss. By1912, he was sufficiently well established inAustro-German circles to sign a ten yearcontract with the Viennese PublishingHouse, Universal Edition.

Two piano works date from this period. Thefirst was Prelude and Fugue in C# minor,which he entered in a competition organizedby the German musical periodical ‘Signalefür die Musikalische Welt’ in 1909.Szymanowski’s submission consisted of arather severe fugue, dating from 1905,which he coupled with a newly composedPrelude, in an expanded, chromaticallysaturated style, previously exploited in theexperimental German language songs of Op.

13 and Op. 17. Out of a field of 874 entries,the judges – Ferruccio Busoni, GustavHollaender and Filip Scharwenka –nominated ten winners, the first prize goingto Emile Blanchet. Szymanowski was one ofthe remaining winners, his work beingdescribed in a commentary by HugoLeichentritt as a “tough nut to crack”, itschromatic harmony standing somewhere“between Reger and Arnold Schoenberg”.

By the time of the composition of the SecondPiano Sonata, Op. 21, completed in 1911,Szymanowski had experienced what hedescribed to a friend, Stefan Spiess, as the“opening of new creative boxes” withinhimself. He had certainly learned to controlhis much enlarged musical style to goodeffect, as the Second Symphony, completedin 1910 shows. The Sonata, undoubtedly thecrowning achievement of the pre-war period,was at first regarded as no more than a mere‘nebensache’ [‘minor matter’] when hestarted work on it in April 1910. It rapidlybegan to assume greater significance,however, and endures today as one of thefinest examples of central European lateRomanticism.

Like the Second Symphony, it has a sonataform first movement followed by a set ofvariations which culminate in a fugue. Bothmovements are in A, the first movementbeing dominated by relentless triplets,common to both the tense first subject and

the more expansive, lyrical second. Whilethe seams showed in the First Sonata’ssonata form, the music here sweeps forward,one section merging with the next, the musiceffortlessly traversing a wide range of keys.The second movement incorporates elementsof the traditional slow movement as well as aseries of dances. In adopting forms and stylesof the Baroque, Szymanowski seemed toplace himself between the Reger of Suite inthe Old Style and the neo-classicism of the1920s. Following the disarmingly simplefour-bar phrase structures of the theme, twovariations follow, adhering closely to themodel, their mood, according to thecomposer in a commentary written for themusicologist Zdzisław Jachimecki, “veryserene, almost joyous”. The next twodevelop more freely, the first moving from Amajor to F, “as if overlaid with a mist ofmelancholy”, leading on to a scherzo-likesection in B flat.

The succeeding “Baroque” variations arelonger and freer, and in Szymanowski’swords the music begins to “intensify andbroaden out”. Both the sarabande – “veryserious (slightly archaic) in mood” – and theminuetto are in simple ternary form withclearly defined tonal schemes. In markedcontrast, the Allegro molto impetuoso, congran forza is akin to a toccata and is the mostcomplex of the variations in its derivationsand internal structuring: “the strangest[section] in the whole Sonata… a few

fragmentary ideas appear and immediatelydisappear without trace”. The final variation,Largo, was for Szymanowski himself “themost profound passage of the wholesonata… one wide melody, describing everwidening circles, one great crescendo leadingto a forte ma dolce”. The fugue subjectgradually emerges in the course of the nextphase of the movement, a linking passagebuilt on a dominant pedal. The fugue itself is“properly worked”, and with the introductionof additional material becomes a doublefugue: “after various combinations – canons,augmentations etc., etc. there follows abroad, almost orchestrally conceived coda”.Here the first subject of the first movement isreintroduced to bring the wheel full circle.

Nothing composed by Szymanowski in theyears leading up to the First World Warseemed to indicate an interest in any musicoutside the mainstream Austro-Germanictradition. He spent part of each year inVienna to facilitate dealings with hispublisher Universal Edition, sharing a flatwith his friend, Grzegorz Fitelberg. Asidefrom the Second Symphony and SecondPiano Sonata, those two great monuments tocentral European traditions (from the pen,ironically enough, of an ‘outsider’), heproduced German language songs (BunteLieder, Op. 22 and Des Hafis Liebeslieder,Op. 24) and was engaged on the compositionof Hagith, a one-act opera after the fashionof Strauss’s Salomé and Elektra. But even as

he was finishing this work, he was becomingincreasingly impatient with the Germanmusic and culture which had fascinated himfor so long. He responded enthusiastically tothe more colouristic approach of Schreker,and after attending a performance ofPetrouchka in Vienna in 1913, describedStravinsky as a genius, stating that he was“terribly taken with him” and began “to hatethe Germans”. In 1914, he again visitedSicily and went on to North Africa, inparticular Algiers, Constantine, Biskra andTunis, fuelling a sympathetic interest inIslamic culture.

On arriving back in the Ukraine in thesummer of 1914 by the last peace-time train,Szymanowski found himself confined toRussian territory for the duration of the FirstWorld War and the aftermath of theBolshevik Revolution. Excused militaryservice on health grounds, he devotedhimself to composition and produced moremusic during this phase of his career than atany other period of his life. Not only this, hismusic underwent a dramatic metamorphosis,taking the form of a synthesis, unique inEuropean music, of “Germanic” methods ofthematic development with an awareness ofthe ways in which colour and timbre couldbe used to articulate musical structures. Theresult could be likened to a form ofimpressionism, and these new possibilitiesfound expression in a series of masterpieces,including the Third Symphony, First Violin

Concerto, Songs of the Fairy Princess andMythes for violin and piano. Four majorpiano works date from this period: theevocative cycles Métopes and Masques,Twelve Studies and the Third Piano Sonata.

Whether or not as a result of the directinfluence of Debussy, Ravel and Skryabin itis difficult to say, but there is now a moresubtle use of the piano’s sonorities andpedalling techniques. His harmonic andtonal language was also expanded toincorporate various forms of parallelism, aswell as a characteristic form of keyboard-inspired bitonality – to be found also inworks by Ravel (Jeux d’eau), Debussy(Brouillards) and Stravinsky (Petrouchka). Itinvolves the playing off on separate planes ofthe white and black keys. The inevitableresult of such innovations was the gradualerosion of functional (major-minor) tonality,Szymanowski now tending increasingly tobase his works “on” rather than “in” specifickeys.

The first of the war-time piano works,Métopes, Op. 29, a cycle of three miniaturetone-poems, seems to have been composedin response to Nietzsche’s requirement thatmusic be “mediterraneanised”. They werecomposed during spring and summer 1915,and were inspired by memories of the bas-reliefs at Selinus which, according toJarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Szymanowski’scousin and his co-librettist for the opera King

Roger, are “golden sandstone poems aboutwomen… that speak simultaneously of thesufferings, triumphs and poverty of mankindand of his love”. These three poems featurefemale characters encountered by Odysseuson his homeward voyage. The first, Isle ofSirens, tells of the divinities whose islandwas strewn with the bones of sailors who hadbeen drawn by their deadly song. They wereusually depicted as half-woman, half-bird,and were traditionally shown with double-flute or lyre which perhaps accounts for thestylized birdcalls and harp-like arpeggiatedfigures which occur throughout the work.Cast in ternary form, the movement is in thenature of a lullaby which grows evermorethreatening before fading away after onemajor bitonal disturbance.

The second poem, Calypso, evokes thenymph who detained Odysseus on the Isle ofOrtygia for seven years. This melancholypiece bears some structural resemblance to arondeau, a short, poignant descendingrefrain appearing six times in all. Thisrefrain also appears at the close of the finalpoem, Nausicaa, a depiction of the daughterof Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians, a racerenowned for their prowess at the dance,which fact provided Szymanowski with theopportunity for a freely evolving,increasingly hedonistic number which takesthe form of an extended acceleration,culminating in another bitonal climax, beforecollapsing into a mood of yearning nostalgia.

Szymanowski’s next piano work, TwelveStudies, Op. 33, was composed in May orJune, 1916, though the fifth study probablydates from as early as 1905. Dedicated toAlfred Cortot, the studies were described bythe composer in a letter to Emil Hertzka,director of Universal Edition, as “12 littlepieces, creating a singly entity, technicallyinteresting, difficult”. They provide anexcellent compendium of Szymanowski’sexpanded compositional language, and ifperformed as the composer wished, in theirentirety and without break, they dazzle withtheir rapid alternations of mood, colour andpace. All are relatively brief, and in the mainare in either binary or ternary form, the fewthrough-composed numbers being unified byrecurring textures and figurations.

Masques, Op. 34, started in the summer of1915 but only completed in July 1916, wasone of the composer’s own favourites, inspite of what he described as their“parodistic style”. It is another cycle of threepieces, the first of which, Sheherazade, is anevocation of the narrator of The Thousandand One Nights. In actual fact, it was the lastto be completed, and of all these pieces is themost sensuous, lacking totally the sardonicirony that runs through both Tantris the Fooland Serenade of Don Juan. It takes the formof an arch, amatory music of exquisiteluxuriance providing a still point at its centre.Tantris the Fool (Tantris der Naar), basedon Ernst Hardt’s dramatic parody of the

Celtic tale used by Wagner, contains just onepassing reference to Tristan und Isolde (themelody to the line “Der ‘Tantris’ mitsorgenden List sich nannte” [‘Tantris’ withstudied guile he called himself] from Act 1,Scene 3. Otherwise the music proceedswithout obvious programmatic reference, itsthree main themes being subjected toincreasingly wild metamorphoses until themusic collapses in exhausted, unresolvedbitonal conflict. Serenade of Don Juan is amasterly evocation of an egocentric, would-be lover. It opens with a page-long,unmeasured cadenza before giving way tothe main theme of what proves to be a rondo.Its circular structure and the themes’oscillations around fixed points areappropriately obsessive. Pomposity givesway to frenzy, then despair (afflitto), before afinal, apparently unproductive discharge ofenergy.

The Third Sonata, completed in July 1917,consists of four sections played without abreak. They correspond to the fourmovements of the classical sonata: first anabridged sonata form, built on two subjectgroups; a ternary form Adagio; a briefscherzando serving as a transitional link; andthe finale, another of Szymanowski’s denselypacked fugues. The intricacies of thethematic process lead to some of the mostconcentrated pages in his output, eachsucceeding movement drawing on materialfrom preceding sections. The Sonata also

impresses with the manner in which receivedforms and techniques were rethought toaccommodate themselves to the composer’sbroader idiom, the triad and key-definingfunctional, major-minor harmony nowreplaced by alternative gravitational forces –such as the whole-tone chord which recurs inthe 2nd section – or the “pseudo-tonic” of E,on which the Sonata closes. No less strikingis the élan with which fugal procedures areremodelled to include a countersubject not ofa single melodic line but an exuberant four-note clang and a stream of parallel seconds.

Szymanowski eventually escaped from theUkraine to the newly reconstituted state ofPoland at the close of 1919, and the pianomusic of the 1920s and 30s consists mainlyof shorter works which reflect a newfoundinterest in the folk-music of the Tatramountain region in particular, itself asymptom of his anxiety to contribute to thecultural life of the nation, an urge which wasalso to take him in the direction ofeducational work at the WarsawConservatory. He was introduced to Tatramusic by Professor Adolf Chybiński in 1920,and almost immediately started toincorporate it in some of his own works.Iwaszkiewicz recalled that Szymanowski’senthusiasm for this music was total: “hecould not keep quite from rapture. Thesemelodies and harmonies penetrated to thedepths of his being and from then until theend of his life, he was unable to withstand

them”. Indeed, he began to spend more ofhis time in Zakopane, the centre of theregion, and eventually made his home there.

The folk music of this part of the country ismore akin to that of other Carpathian folkcultures than that of the rest of Poland. It drawson a distinctive band of two fiddles, bass and,occasionally, bagpipes, and vocal timbres arenotable for their harshness. Other features aredriving duple rhythms and a scale incorporatingraised fourth and flattened seventh. The firstwork to reveal the impact of this music was thesong-cycle Słopiewnie, composed in 1921, but itwas not until 1924-25 that Szymanowwkireturned to solo piano music with TwentyMazurkas, Op. 50. In combining the tonalproperties of mountain music with the alientriple time of the lowland mazurka,Szymanowski created what Chybiński describedas an “all-Polish synthesis”. Although hedeparted significantly from traditional mazurkarhythmic schemes and, in many instances, theirsymmetrical phrase structures, various otherfolk-derived devices appear. One is thestructuring of melodies from successions of one-bar cells (No. 8). Another is the frequent use ofdrones in imitation of bagpipes, as in the firstmazurka, which also, at the start, draws on acelebrated highland melody, the Sabała, withcharacteristic raised fourth and flattened seventh,a theme which the composer also used inSłopiewnie and his thrilling ballet based onhighland legend, Harnasie.

Key-based tonality is more perceptible inthese works, in spite of the continuing use ofwhole-tone harmony (No. 9), bitonality (Nos3 and 20), and the independentharmonization of two separate parallel-moving strands (No 12). In fact, the onlymazurka in which key is difficult to sense isthe 19th, with its chromatic alterations,“wandering” drone and whole-tone elements.

In overall structure, Szymanowski’smazurkas, like Chopin’s before him, are along way removed from the repeated six oreight bar strains of the folk model. In mostcases, Szymanowski resorted to simpleternary form. Rondo is also used (e.g. in Nos2, 7, 9, 12), while the 11th is a brief variationchain. Though some numbers retain therough-hewn bluster of the folk model (withsome Bartók-like martellato), the process ofstylization often involves the very unfolk-like rapid alternation of contrasting moodsand tempi within the bounds of a singlepiece. The mazurkas are much simplerpianistically than the war-time works, andprovide an approachable introduction toSzymanowski’s mature style for performerand listener alike.

Valse romantique, composed in autumn1925, was an occasional piece written inresponse to an invitation from Dr AlfredKalmus for a greeting addressed to EmilHertzka on the occasion of the silver jubileeof the founding of Universal Edition in

January 1926. Its mood is far removed fromthe romantic, an undeniable irony evident inits stringent harmony, avoidance ofsymmetrical structure and occasionalundermining of the traditional waltz rhythm.

Four Polish Dances, completed early in 1926and published in a volume entitled FolkDances of the World by Oxford UniversityPress, consist of a mazurka, krakowiak(moderately paced duple time dance), oberekand polonaise. The first two comparativelybrief numbers were given the sub-title“Childrens’ Pieces”, but the oberek (a type offast mazurka) and polonaise are on a granderscale, the polonaise being of special interestas it is the only example of this dance inSzymanowski’s output.

The final piano works, and indeed his lastextant compositions, were Two Mazurkas,Op. 62, completed in 1934. Here the onlyremnants of folk influence are the ghostlyreferences to mazurka rhythms and thecharacteristic sharpened fourths and flattenedsevenths, clearly audible in the opening barsof the first number. Of these works, heremarked that he found it strange that hewrote increasingly serene music in his oldage, and truly there is little inSzymanowski’s earlier piano music tocorrespond with their remote, exaltedatmosphere.

Notes © 2006 Alistair Wightman

Sinae Lee, Pianist

“... Frankly, I was flabbergasted at her performance … Whether in the music’s majestic pages, itsmost poetic intimacies, or its turbulent dramas, this amazing girl had everything under control, and,just as importantly, in balance ...”

- Michael Tumelty, The Herald (Glasgow)

South Korean-born Sinae Lee leads a busy life as a soloist, chamber musician and lecturerbased in Glasgow, UK. Since her UK début with Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO),playing Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, she has also played with Korean Symphony Orchestra,St. James Orchestra, Glasgow Orchestral Society as well as the Royal Conservatoire ofScotland (RCS) Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. She has frequently appeared in concerts inNew York, St. Petersburg, Riga, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as cities in hernative Korea such as Seoul, Suwon and Busan.

In Korea, she studied piano at Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School. While studying inSeoul, she won many prestigious prizes, such as the Chung-Ang Daily Newspapercompetition, and the Korean Music Association for Overseas competitors. After graduatingSeoul National University with Distinction, Sinae was offered a place to study at RCS with afull scholarship awarded by the Inches Carr Trust, obtaining her MMus with Distinction oneyear later. Her prizewinning career continued in UK where she won the LondonIntercollegiate Beethoven competition as well as numerous RCS Prizes including A.Ramsay-Calder Debussy Prize, Bach Prize, Governors' Recital Prize, Concerto Competition Prize, IanD.Watt Award and the Dunbar-Geber Prize. Sinae studied piano with Hwa-Young Yi,Hyoung-Joon Chang in Korea, and Philip Jenkins in the UK.

In 2006, Sinae recorded this set of Karol Szymanowski's complete piano works on four CDs,which marked the first truly complete CD set, including the posthumously published Preludein C sharp minor. This was her début recording and received highly acclaimed reviews fromGramophone (Recommended Recording), BBC Music Magazine (Benchmark Recording),MusicWeb International (Recording of the Month, November 2006), Pianist Magazine(Recommended Recording), All Music Guide (Classical Editors' Best of the Year2007) and

Res Musica. Some of the pieces from her Szymanowski CDs have been broadcast on BBCRadio 3, Radio New Zealand and Busan KBS TV. In 2011, Sinae performed the completeAnnées de Pèlerinage by Liszt in the UK and Korea, celebrating the composer's 200thanniversary. A studio recording was released by Nimbus Alliance in July 2012 and receivedrave reviews from The Classical Reviewer (Best of 2012) and MusicWeb International(Recording of the Month, April 2014).

As a keen collaborator, she enjoys performing chamber music with fellow pianists, AaronShorr, Fali Pavri and Jonathan Plowright as well as violinists such as Ilya Gringolts andAndrea Gajic. Sinae has also been in demand for giving world premieres for solo piano andensemble works by composers including Marek Pasieczny, Gordon McPherson, Rory Boyle,Vera Stanojevic, Alasdair Spratt, Jay Capperauld and James Wilson. Recently, she wasinvited to join Glasgow New Music Expedition (GNME), a contemporary ensemble grouplead by Jessica Cottis.

Sinae’s past prize adjudications include Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe PianoScholarships at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), A Ramsay-Calder DebussyPrize, Walcer Prize, Peter Lindsay Miller Prize for Piano Duo at the RCS and BeethovenPrize for Junior Conservatoire at the RCS. Since 2001, Sinae has been teaching piano as aLecturer in the department of Keyboard and Collaborative Piano at the RCS.

Recorded at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow betweenSeptember 2002 and February 2005. © 2006 Divine Art Ltd 2006 Sinae LeeProducer: Philip JenkinsRecording Engineers: Graham Kennedy and Kim PlanertMastering and post-production: Paul Baily, Re-Sound (UK)All photos of Sinae Lee courtesy of the artist.Design: Stephen Sutton, Divine ArtWith thanks to Alistair Wightman for providing programme notes.

Sinae Lee

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SZYMANOWSKI: the Complete Piano Music : SINAE …He learned piano at first from his father, a gifted amateur musician, before training with Gustav Neuhaus, a German émigré related

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