Szymanowski: Piano Music

Featuring

Radosław Sobczak
Karol Szymanowski

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Critical Reception

Arthur Rubinstein, a famous pianist, was so moved by Szymanowski's Preludes, Op. 1, in 1904 that he declared, "I have not experienced anything comparable since my discovery of Chopin."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Karol Szymanowski, though an active concert pianist, did not conceive his piano music purely in terms of piano technique, leading to complex textures.

Composer Biography

Karol Szymanowski is considered, alongside Fryderyk Chopin, one of Poland's most eminent composers of mazurkas.

Performer Biography

Radosław Sobczak, the pianist on this album, was recognized as 'The Best Pole of the Competition' at the 14th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2000.

Compositional Technique

Szymanowski's Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major features textural devices and elaborate chordal structures that are often considered challenging for pianists.

Compositional Technique

Szymanowski's Preludes, Op. 1, feature a technique called "polymelodicity," where the main melody is in the top voice, accompanied by independent melodic phenomena in other voices.