Szymanowski's travels through southern Europe and North Africa between 1908 and 1914 were sexually liberating for him and drastically influenced his prolific 'impressionistic' second period.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The 'Young Poland' movement, which Szymanowski was part of, believed that 'Art does not have a goal; it is a goal in itself... [It] becomes the highest religion, and the artist, its priest'.
Performer Biography
Patricia Arauzo, the pianist on this album, is a Professor of Piano at Seville Conservatory and has an outstanding international career as a soloist and chamber musician.
Composer Biography
Karol Szymanowski, born in 1882 in Tymoszówka near Kiev, belonged to a landowning family in what is now Ukraine, growing up in an intellectual and artistic environment.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Szymanowski's interest in ancient Greek, Roman, and Arab cultures, and the Mediterranean as a meeting point of peoples, is key to understanding many of his major works, including 'Masques'.
Composition History
Szymanowski, along with Grzegorz Fitelberg, Ludomir Różycki, and Apolinary Szeluto, formed the 'Young Poland' musical collective in Berlin in 1905, aiming to update Polish music.
Compositional Technique
Szymanowski's 'Masques' Op. 34, composed between 1915 and 1916, features exuberant piano writing with harmonic roughness and complex techniques, sometimes requiring three staves.
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