Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

[Maciek]

I, too, have found ancient posts I made and winced at how awful my posts were. Welcome back, Maciek!

Glad to know I'm in good company. And thank you.

Amen!  Maciek is back!  And thanks for the recommendations!

And thank you. I've now listened to all the recordings I mentioned and will try to post something about them in a second.

[Maciek]

Oh, one correction:

Ewa Podleś (I have her singing some Szymanowski with her husband at the piano

A bit of a mix up there. I conflated 2 different recordings: Jerzy Marchwiński accompanies Teresa Żylis-Gara (on Polskie Nagrania), while Ewa Podleś is accompanied by Ewa Pobłocka (on CD Accord).

[Maciek]

OK, now, about those Kasprowicz settings...

TLDR: My current favorites are Malewicz-Madey and the Szostek-Radkowa with Maksymiuk.

I should start off by saying I don't think the Three Fragments op. 5 are essential Szymanowski. And judging by the scarcity of recordings, perhaps nobody does. Not to say that there's something wrong with the pieces, in fact, they have some rather striking features - it's just that they are very far down the line of Szymanowski must-haves, somewhere towards the very end, both in his oeuvre considered as a whole and within his song output. They are an early work. If you like early Szymanowski (pre-World War I), then you probably don't need a recommendation. If you don't, then there's no rush.

Then there's the fact that what I was listening to were the Grzegorz Fitelberg orchestrations of this cycle. To my ears, these aren't quite as successful as one could wish. Compared to Szymanowski's own writing for orchestra, they sound a bit generic. In some instances, they even sound wrong - at least to me. I mean, in particular, the "plant procession" section of "Jestem i płaczę", where the pizzicato strings sound almost silly - and how long they are kept around!

The four recordings that I listened to were:

• Anna Malewicz-Madey, Polish State PO, Katowice, Karol Stryja (Songs with Orchestra, Marco Polo, then Naxos)
• Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, O of the Polish National Opera, Robert Satanowski (Love Songs for Soprano & Orchestra, VMS)
• Ewa Podleś, Polish National RSO, Alexander Liebreich (coupled with Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra, Accentus)
• Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, same orchestra, Jerzy Maksymiuk (Polish Radio Szostek-Radkowa box set)

The first 3 I streamed, the last was a CD from the Szostek-Radkowa set mentioned earlier.
Side note no. 1: the streaming service had Malewicz-Madey spelled with a "j" (Madej), which is NOT how her name is usually spelled. Maybe she went through a phase when she experimented with a different spelling, or maybe someone made a mistake, I don't know. It is the spelling on the cover of the CD (both Marco Polo and Naxos), so at least it's not the streaming service's invention.

Side note no. 2: two of these recordings have the songs in a different order than they were in in their voice and piano incarnation. Malewicz-Madey and Szostek-Radkowa under Satanowski sing numbers 2 and 3 in reverse order. I am not sure if this is the performers' decision, or whether that's what Fitelberg did in his orchestration (in which case it would be the other way around: the other two recordings would be the ones that changed the order, bringing back the original one - ?). And lest you imagine you can emend that (if emending it be) by reordering them in the listening: that may prove difficult in the Szostek-Radkowa recording, where the tracks have been spliced mid-song. The track with "Błogosławiona niech będzie ta chwila" (in the piano version the third and final song, here - the second) ends after the words "I wypełnioną pokutą". The next track picks up where the previous left off, ie. starts with the words "Wstydu i hańby", finishes the 1 minute of the song that was left, and then moves on to "Jestem i płaczę" (originally the second song of the cycle, but here sung last), all within a single track. So you're stuck with the order offered. Unless this is just an issue of the streaming service I used, and the physical CD is done differently?
Moving on to the music: The Malewicz-Madey and Szostek-Radkowa with Maksymiuk turned out to be my favorites. The Maksymiuk recording has Szostek-Radkowa in better voice than the Robert Satanowski one. I imagine the Satanowski comes from a later moment in her career - perhaps someone who owns the physical CD could check the recording date? The Maksymiuk is from 1976. Also: while the interpretation is very similar, I feel the orchestral accompaniment in the Satanowski is not quite as congenial as in the Maksymiuk. Though I admit Maksymiuk may be rushing a tad in the Allegro agitato section of "Święty Boże", leaving Szostek-Radkowa a bit out of breath (Maksymiuk does have a reputation for brisk tempos - whether deserved, I am not sure). Still, most of the time there's a sympathy in his conducting that gives the singer some space, plus I think this is the recording that has the most successful realization of the fff fermata in the first song (orchestra stops, voice continues). Also, of all three soloists, it is Szostek-Radkowa, in both recordings, who seems most attuned to the dynamic markings (at least the ones in the piano score that I have access to): and her pianissimos are quite electrifying (at least to me).

Speaking of late in one's career: if anyone reading this is, like many, a fervent admirer of Ewa Podleś: do yourself a favor and skip the recording with Liebreich! It is obvious that it was made very late. Online research points to 2014 (when she was over 60), and that seems very likely. I found it extremely difficult to listen all the way through. There is a raspy hoarseness in the higher register (D5 and anything beyond, but it's the F# that's really unpleasant). There's a wobbly vibrato. Intonation seems a bit problematic (though I'm not the best judge of that). There are, admittedly, some beautiful things in the lowest register, where the voice has kept most of its qualities - but there's precious little of that in this cycle. And even there, I'm not sure it's consistent. The whole recording also seems to have a somewhat narrow dynamic range: I have no access to the orchestral score, but the piano version of this cycle spans at least between ppp and fff. I don't hear much pianissimo here, most of it is plain forte (the sheer volume is one quality she seems to have retained). The only reason I can think of of why someone would try this recording would be to hear how Liebreich handles the mazurka elements in "Błogosławioną niech będzie ta chwila" - of these four, he's the conductor who tries hardest to make that mazurka accentuation audible.

The Malewicz-Madey is, at least to my ears, the best sounding of these recordings. Both in terms of sound quality and colorfulness of performance. I love the color of Madey's voice. I'm not sure if her performance is as interesting in terms of interpretation as Szostek's and yet I kept coming back to it because of the beauty of the voice. And it's not like there's nothing else to recommend this performance. I think she does some interesting things with the color here and there, for instance. The orchestra sounds very good too, with possibly the crispiest brass out of these four - and rather prominent at the very end (though it is so different in that respect to the other three that I'm not sure if there hasn't been some tweaking of the score?).

My two favorites, the Szostek/Maksymiuk and Malewicz/Stryja both have moments of great beauty and spine-tingling vocal coloring. And I find I am unable to choose one above the other. Though I would imagine the Maksymiuk is much more difficult to get a hold of, being oop. Both of these recordings do occasionally seem to have perhaps some minor issues (aspiration, breathing) - but, to be frank, these are things I notice on one hearing, then completely miss on another. In the end, I'm not completely sure they really are there. And if they are, I'm not sure they are issues, rather little glimpses of the humanity of the performers.

[Cato]

OK, now, about those Kasprowicz settings...

TLDR: My current favorites are Malewicz-Madey and the Szostek-Radkowa with Maksymiuk.

I should start off by saying I don't think the Three Fragments op. 5 are essential Szymanowski. And judging by the scarcity of recordings, perhaps nobody does. Not to say that there's something wrong with the pieces, in fact, they have some rather striking features - it's just that they are very far down the line of Szymanowski must-haves, somewhere towards the very end, both in his oeuvre considered as a whole and within his song output. They are an early work. If you like early Szymanowski (pre-World War I), then you probably don't need a recommendation. If you don't, then there's no rush.

Then there's the fact that what I was listening to were the Grzegorz Fitelberg orchestrations of this cycle. To my ears, these aren't quite as successful as one could wish. Compared to Szymanowski's own writing for orchestra, they sound a bit generic. In some instances, they even sound wrong - at least to me. I mean, in particular, the "plant procession" section of "Jestem i płaczę", where the pizzicato strings sound almost silly - and how long they are kept around!

The four recordings that I listened to were:

• Anna Malewicz-Madey, Polish State PO, Katowice, Karol Stryja (Songs with Orchestra, Marco Polo, then Naxos)
• Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, O of the Polish National Opera, Robert Satanowski (Love Songs for Soprano & Orchestra, VMS)
• Ewa Podleś, Polish National RSO, Alexander Liebreich (coupled with Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra, Accentus)
• Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, same orchestra, Jerzy Maksymiuk (Polish Radio Szostek-Radkowa box set)

The first 3 I streamed, the last was a CD from the Szostek-Radkowa set mentioned earlier.
Side note no. 1: the streaming service had Malewicz-Madey spelled with a "j" (Madej), which is NOT how her name is usually spelled. Maybe she went through a phase when she experimented with a different spelling, or maybe someone made a mistake, I don't know. It is the spelling on the cover of the CD (both Marco Polo and Naxos), so at least it's not the streaming service's invention.

Side note no. 2: two of these recordings have the songs in a different order than they were in in their voice and piano incarnation. Malewicz-Madey and Szostek-Radkowa under Satanowski sing numbers 2 and 3 in reverse order. I am not sure if this is the performers' decision, or whether that's what Fitelberg did in his orchestration (in which case it would be the other way around: the other two recordings would be the ones that changed the order, bringing back the original one - ?). And lest you imagine you can emend that (if emending it be) by reordering them in the listening: that may prove difficult in the Szostek-Radkowa recording, where the tracks have been spliced mid-song. The track with "Błogosławiona niech będzie ta chwila" (in the piano version the third and final song, here - the second) ends after the words "I wypełnioną pokutą". The next track picks up where the previous left off, ie. starts with the words "Wstydu i hańby", finishes the 1 minute of the song that was left, and then moves on to "Jestem i płaczę" (originally the second song of the cycle, but here sung last), all within a single track. So you're stuck with the order offered. Unless this is just an issue of the streaming service I used, and the physical CD is done differently?
Moving on to the music: The Malewicz-Madey and Szostek-Radkowa with Maksymiuk turned out to be my favorites. The Maksymiuk recording has Szostek-Radkowa in better voice than the Robert Satanowski one. I imagine the Satanowski comes from a later moment in her career - perhaps someone who owns the physical CD could check the recording date? The Maksymiuk is from 1976. Also: while the interpretation is very similar, I feel the orchestral accompaniment in the Satanowski is not quite as congenial as in the Maksymiuk. Though I admit Maksymiuk may be rushing a tad in the Allegro agitato section of "Święty Boże", leaving Szostek-Radkowa a bit out of breath (Maksymiuk does have a reputation for brisk tempos - whether deserved, I am not sure). Still, most of the time there's a sympathy in his conducting that gives the singer some space, plus I think this is the recording that has the most successful realization of the fff fermata in the first song (orchestra stops, voice continues). Also, of all three soloists, it is Szostek-Radkowa, in both recordings, who seems most attuned to the dynamic markings (at least the ones in the piano score that I have access to): and her pianissimos are quite electrifying (at least to me).

Speaking of late in one's career: if anyone reading this is, like many, a fervent admirer of Ewa Podleś: do yourself a favor and skip the recording with Liebreich! It is obvious that it was made very late. Online research points to 2014 (when she was over 60), and that seems very likely. I found it extremely difficult to listen all the way through. There is a raspy hoarseness in the higher register (D5 and anything beyond, but it's the F# that's really unpleasant). There's a wobbly vibrato. Intonation seems a bit problematic (though I'm not the best judge of that). There are, admittedly, some beautiful things in the lowest register, where the voice has kept most of its qualities - but there's precious little of that in this cycle. And even there, I'm not sure it's consistent. The whole recording also seems to have a somewhat narrow dynamic range: I have no access to the orchestral score, but the piano version of this cycle spans at least between ppp and fff. I don't hear much pianissimo here, most of it is plain forte (the sheer volume is one quality she seems to have retained). The only reason I can think of of why someone would try this recording would be to hear how Liebreich handles the mazurka elements in "Błogosławioną niech będzie ta chwila" - of these four, he's the conductor who tries hardest to make that mazurka accentuation audible.

The Malewicz-Madey is, at least to my ears, the best sounding of these recordings. Both in terms of sound quality and colorfulness of performance. I love the color of Madey's voice. I'm not sure if her performance is as interesting in terms of interpretation as Szostek's and yet I kept coming back to it because of the beauty of the voice. And it's not like there's nothing else to recommend this performance. I think she does some interesting things with the color here and there, for instance. The orchestra sounds very good too, with possibly the crispiest brass out of these four - and rather prominent at the very end (though it is so different in that respect to the other three that I'm not sure if there hasn't been some tweaking of the score?).

My two favorites, the Szostek/Maksymiuk and Malewicz/Stryja both have moments of great beauty and spine-tingling vocal coloring. And I find I am unable to choose one above the other. Though I would imagine the Maksymiuk is much more difficult to get a hold of, being oop. Both of these recordings do occasionally seem to have perhaps some minor issues (aspiration, breathing) - but, to be frank, these are things I notice on one hearing, then completely miss on another. In the end, I'm not completely sure they really are there. And if they are, I'm not sure they are issues, rather little glimpses of the humanity of the performers.

Wow, Bob, WOW!       Such an excellent review!  Many thanks!

e.g.