Szymanowski Harnasie; Mandragora
Wit shows his wisdom in powerful performances of Polish theatre music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Karol Szymanowski
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 6/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 570723
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Harnasie |
Karol Szymanowski, Composer
Antoni Wit, Conductor Karol Szymanowski, Composer Warsaw Philharmonic Choir Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra |
Mandragora |
Karol Szymanowski, Composer
Antoni Wit, Conductor Karol Szymanowski, Composer Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra |
Prince Potemkin (Kniaz Patiomkin) |
Karol Szymanowski, Composer
Antoni Wit, Conductor Karol Szymanowski, Composer Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra |
Author: Arnold Whittall
The other examples of Szymanowski’s theatre music are rarities, and neither quite convinces as a concert work. Mandragora was designed for a 1920 Warsaw production of Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme and depicts, all too episodically, the mugging and mayhem of various attempts to entertain the assembled company – a scenario best known from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. The incidental music Szymanowski provided in 1925 for the final act of Prince Potemkin, a Polish play about Russian history, was left in manuscript during the composer’s lifetime, and he might well have been surprised to learn of its revival apart from its original function. While not entirely lacking in character, it comes across as rather dull, even in a performance as accomplished, committed and decently recorded as this one.
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