Szymanowski - Complete Music for Violin and Piano | Brilliant Classics 94979

Szymanowski - Complete Music for Violin and Piano

Label: Brilliant Classics

Cat No: 94979

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 20th April 2015

Contents

About

Karol Szymanowski (1882‐1937) was one of Poland’s most important and original composers. His style is eclectic - standing in the long romantic tradition, he imbued his works with exoticisms, impressionistic flourishes and a general sense of freedom and imagination.

The works for violin and piano were created for the famous Polish violinist Paul Kochanski. The most important works are the substantial Second Violin Sonata and the cycle Myths, both appearing regularly on concert programmes nowadays.

These are beautiful performances, with a keen sense for colour and atmosphere, by Bruno Monteiro, one of Portugal’s foremost violinists, and pianist João Paulo Santos.

“In the gorgeous Mythes, Three Poems – a de facto impressionist violin sonata with here breathy and elsewhere robust hints of Debussy – both musical teams shine with their relative merits: indulgent and clad in colorful mist on Brilliant. Monteiro sways casually like a Venetian gondola.”  Forbes Magazine (Classical CD of the Week)

Reviews

All these pieces are given very good performances by the excellent duo of Portuguese violinist Bruno Monteiro, and pianist João Paulo Santos. They enjoy the exotic colours and indulge the luscious harmonies in both the three Mythes and the Sonata. … the skills of Monteiro are well attuned to the needs of the idiom. He always sounds engaged and passionately committed, with plenty of colour and spirit in his playing.  Roy Westbrook
MusicWeb International
Here is an extremely valuable and most welcome set of records, bringing together on two CDs the complete music for violin and piano by the greatest Polish composer since Chopin. Those who know his two magnificent Violin Concertos will need no second bidding to listen to and hopefully acquire this beautifully performed and excellently recorded set, for such works as the D minor Sonata and the Mythes are well worth anyone's attention, and the shorter pieces, which embrace several quite well-known works more often encountered as encores, are equally deserving of the intelligent music-lover's attention. Bruno Monitero is a gifted violinist, of that one can have no doubt, and he is admirably partnered by João Paulo Santos, the result being an eminently recommendable issue which in our opinion has no equal. A very strongly recommended issue.  James Palmer
Musical Opinion
Portuguese virtuosos Monteiro and Santos, captured in opulent sound, hurl themselves into the virtuoso fray where appropriate, steering the music’s sometimes meandering course with a firm rudder.  Julian Haylock
BBC Music Magazine
This new Monteiro/Santos set is the only one, in my knowledge of Szymanowski recordings, to offer both the composer’s six original works and Kochanski’s five contributions. “Ecstatic raptures,” whether quasi-oriental or otherwise, is a good description of these radiant and inspiring performances by Bruno Monteiro and João Santos. For comparison I have only the Ibragimova/Tiberghien Hyperion CD, which does not contain the Kochanski extras. I’d have thought, though, that the Russian-born Ibragimova would have a closer connection to the Russian-born (now Ukraine) Polish Szymanowski than would the Portuguese Bruno Monteiro, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Technically, the two violinists are a match for each other, but in getting at the essence of Szymanowski’s elusive music, Monteiro has the definite edge. The nuanced phrasing and tonal refinement he brings to these pieces in sympathetic partnership with João Santos illuminate the music from within in a way that, for this listener, has made a deep and lasting impression. Very strongly recommended.  Jerry Dubins
Fanfare
I am surprised that no-one has ever thought of this before - the fully complete, music for violin and piano by this great Polish master. Apart from the masterly large-scale Sonata and other shorter well-known pieces, this collection includes all of the known transcriptions either made or sanctioned by the composer, whose association with the great Paul Kochanski produced this splendid set of works. The performances are uniformly excellent, as is the recording. Here is a very highly desirable and recommended issue, one of the most significant to have been released in recent years with regard towards a completion of this wonderful composer's music being made available on compact disc. It is, therefore, strongly recommended.  Robert Matthew-Walker
Musical Opinion

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