Szymanowski

The Szymanowski was the highlight of a program that also offered Mr. Dutoit and the Philadelphians in technically brilliant but curiously detached performances of "La Mer," by Debussy, and "The Rite of Spring," by Stravinsky.

NYT > Home Page By ANTHONY TOMMASINI 2010

The Szymanowski was the highlight of a program that also offered Mr. Dutoit and the Philadelphians in technically brilliant but curiously detached performances of "La Mer," by Debussy, and "The Rite of Spring," by Stravinsky.

NYT > Home Page By ANTHONY TOMMASINI 2010

The Polish theme Szymanowski uses is a brooding, b-minor Andantino, and the variations maintain that dark cast, albeit sometimes with great force:

Archive 2009-04-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009

The Polish theme Szymanowski uses is a brooding, b-minor Andantino, and the variations maintain that dark cast, albeit sometimes with great force:

I would've made you leave your key Matthew Guerrieri 2009

When Szymanowski shifts into the parallel major, the mood is Chopin-esque and bittersweet:

Archive 2009-04-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009

When Szymanowski shifts into the parallel major, the mood is Chopin-esque and bittersweet:

I would've made you leave your key Matthew Guerrieri 2009

Staging in the final act takes some bizarre turns, but anything less would hardly flatter Szymanowski's legacy.

Passion and Pyrotechnics Fit for a King Jonathan Blitzer 2011

But until about 1960 his impact on the general public was roughly the equivalent of, say, Szymanowski today.

Mahler’s mass following 2010

Yet however much one likes the idea of these works, with their debts to Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, one feels underwhelmed, as if Szymanowski lacked the courage of his convictions, and never comfortably inhabited the musical world he had fashioned for himself.

Szymanowski Focus 2010

Szymanowski might be unfamiliar to many listeners, but he isn't exactly "new music"; this piece was written in 1916.

NSO and Valcuha come through loud and soft an clear 2010