In a continent rife with cultural subsidies and nationalistic PR in the performing arts, Eastern Europe seems to be getting drubbed by the West, and in particular by Scandinavia. This is a pity, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the case of Poland, which has some of the most distinctive talent around in all departments: orchestras, soloists (both vocal and instrumental), and conductors. All three come together on this lovely disc of choral music by Szymanowski, whose only drawback is that it lasts a scant 43 minutes.
The Stabat Mater and Litany to the Virgin Mary form a natural coupling, being written around the same time. Both are gorgeous. Szymanowski is one of the few composers who could create really memorable textures and melodies from a highly chromatic style, and he had an unlimited supply of simple accompanimental figurations that wonderfully support the supple writing for the chorus and soloists (witness the second movement, “Eia Mater”). The scoring is for a smallish orchestra, with reduced string section (8,8,6,6,4), pairs of woodwinds with a few doublings, four horns and two trumpets, no heavy brass at all, but also harp, organ, timpani, and a carefully chosen percussion section. The result is certainly one of the great settings of this text, and the performance is beautiful.
Antoni Wit remains one of the best-kept secrets among conductors today, as many of his Naxos recordings (Mahler 8, Messiaen) attest. He has three excellent soloists in Jadwiga Gadulanka, Jadwiga Rappé, and Andrzej Hiolski, and a chorus that seems to know this music as English choirs do Handel’s Messiah. The orchestra plays very well, while the engineering is perhaps slightly confined, but otherwise warm and vivid. As noted, the Litany comes from the same basic world as the Stabat Mater. Demeter, to a poem by the composer’s sister, is an earlier piece (1917) dating from the same time as the First Violin Concerto, and it reveals the composer at his impressionistic best. Texts and English translations are included, so don’t worry, and don’t hesitate. [10/29/2007]
