Chopin, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky & Musorgsky Songs: Szymanowski: Masques

Featuring

Ewa Podleś
Garrick Ohlsson
Frédéric Chopin
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Karol Szymanowski

Modest Mussorgsky

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Composer Biography

Rachmaninov wrote over eighty songs in the 25 years before leaving Russia in 1917, but none in the 26 years after his departure, suggesting a connection between his native country and his poetry.

Composition History

The Twelve Romances Op. 14 were the last songs Rachmaninov wrote before the traumatic failure of his First Symphony in 1897, and before the success of his Second Piano Concerto restored his self-confidence in 1901.

Performer Biography

Garrick Ohlsson, the pianist on this recording, won the Gold Medal at the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, bringing him worldwide recognition.

Composer Biography

Chopin, despite writing songs over sixteen years, attached little value to them and made no attempt to publish them.

Composition History

Chopin's songs were not published until 1857, eight years after his death, appearing as his Op. 74.

Cultural Impact

For decades after their publication, Chopin's songs were more commonly heard in Liszt's Chants polonais, a popular set of solo-piano transcriptions, than in their original vocal form.

Composition History

Szymanowski's two most popular piano works, Métopes and Masques, were written during World War I at his home in Tymoszówka, Ukraine, but were inspired by a trip to Sicily and North Africa in 1914.