Edward Gardner, Lucy Crowe - Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, Harnasie (2013)

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Edward Gardner, Lucy Crowe - Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, Harnasie (2013)

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With this new release, Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra continue their series exploring Polish music for Chandos. This is the second volume in the survey of orchestral works by Karol Szymanowski. The first was well received by critics and the public alike. A review in BBC Music read: ‘Chandos’s [Polish series] reaches impressive heights… Gardner shows how he has become one of the finest non-Polish interpreters of Szymanowski.’

Vigorous and colourful, the ballet-pantomime Harnasie (1927 – 31) is typical of Szymanowski’s late style. It is ambitious, too, in its attempt at re-working folk music in symphonic form. Scored for a massive orchestra with tenor soloist and chorus, the work concerns the abduction of a peasant bride-to-be by the outlaw Harnas and his followers, the ‘Harnasie’, legendary robbers with more than just a hint of a Robin Hood reputation.

Szymanowski described his Stabat Mater as a ‘Peasant Requiem’. In fact, its pairing of Polish musical elements with liturgical text is entirely unique, and a clear reflection of the composer’s nationalistic convictions. Despite its modest size and its use of very modest orchestral forces, the work is considered one of Szymanowski’s most expressive and resonant, and it is one of the crowning glories of twentieth-century sacred music.

The internationally acclaimed soprano Lucy Crowe was recently described by The Sunday Times in the following glowing terms: ‘Lucy Crowe dazzles with her every appearance, a young singer blessed with look-at-me-and-listen charisma.’ She is joined by the mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen, baritone Gabor Bretz, and tenor Robert Murray, all of whom enjoy international reputations, performing with eminent orchestras and conductors around the world.

Composer: Karol Szymanowski
Performer: Lucy Crowe, Pamela Helen Stephen, Robert Murray, Gábor Bretz
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus

Reviews: I was previously familiar with some but certainly not all of Szymanowski’s music, yet I was immediately captivated by this Stabat Mater and, indeed, caught up in its remarkable musical environment from start to finish. It is, in fact, one of the most touching, intimate, and deeply affecting pieces of music I think I’ve ever heard in my life, and—not knowing it previously—I would still give immense credit to the highly sensitive, and sensitized, reading by soprano Lucy Crowe and conductor Gardner. Crowe’s voice is of the type one seldom hears anymore: a pure, almost Garcia-trained soprano on a par with such legendary names as Isobel Baillie. Gábor Bretz’s rich but somewhat harsh-sounding baritone is not on the same level vocally, but he interprets with great power and imagination. As for the music, it sounds remarkably like a Polish version of neo-Classical Stravinsky, yet with touches of Kódaly here and there. It is the kind of piece that—if you know what I mean—underwhelms you, but in such a way that it makes its impression more by its subtlety than by force. The music is sorrowful, but not in the least sentimental or maudlin. You feel, in a way, as if your energy is being sapped, as if Szymanowski’s lament is your own. The music enters your system through the ears, but is immediately rerouted to the heart.

The switch of mood and style from Stabat Mater to the “Góral Ballet in One Act,” Harnasie, is remarkable and shows an entirely different side of the composer. This music is not only livelier, which one would expect, but in an entirely different style, almost like the (later) music of Alan Rawsthorne or William Walton but with a Polish accent. Again, Szymanowski is primarily but not consistently tonal in approach, and his orchestration here is remarkably colorful, reminding one of some of Rimsky-Korsakov’s finer work. The notes indicate that the composer took eight years to complete it, a surprisingly long time. During its gestation, Szymanowski studied the culture of the Podhale region of the Tatra Mountains, living in Atma, its principal town, and soaking up the exuberance of the local Góral or highlander music. Here, I didn’t feel that Gardner’s conducting was quite raw or energetic enough—my mind’s ear kept hearing someone like Antoni Wit or Artur Rodzi?ski conducting it—but for a British conductor he does pretty well. Tenor Murray has a harsh and unsteady voice, but fortunately his participation is brief. There is tremendous vitality in this music—when the chorus enters, it almost sounds like an orgiastic ritual piece (think of Carmina Burana, but in a different style)—and here one must indeed give Gardner credit for “letting it all hang out.” Surprisingly, the music ends very, very quietly, after a sotto voce section by the tenor.

This surprising and fascinating music receives, as I indicate, excellent performances all round. I strongly suggest that you hear this one yourself.