Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, composed only seven years apart, while differing widely differing in their choice of soloists, are united in their source of inspiration. The Lyric Symphony is Zemlinsky’s best known work and an homage to Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde”. It sets poems by Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) to equally poetic music. Szymanowski likely received his inspiration for the violin concerto from “Noc Majowa” (May Night), a poem by the Polish poet Tadeusz Micinski. The work is recognized as the first “modern“ violin concerto, as Szymanowski rejects the 19th-century tradition and the major-minor system, introducing a new music language full of ecstatic raptures and poetic tension.

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REVIEW:

This performance of Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony can be considered at least the equal of Chailly's or Eschenbach's notable readings. Although the singers are forwardly balanced, the recording is of surpassing transparency and richness, allowing Zemlinsky’s iridescent score to be heard to ravishing effect, and Liebreich conveys the music’s mingled ardour, otherworldliness and heartbreak with tremendous conviction.

Vähälä’s plays the Szymanowski with litheness and spontaneity, alongside an impressive technical command and a sense of rapture at key moments. The contribution of the Polish orchestra under Alexander Liebreich is as refined and impassioned as any rival.

– Gramophone