denny Ethnic & National book

Karol Maciej Szymanowski (Tymoszówka, Ukraine, 3 October 1882 - 28 March 1937) Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 61 (1932-33) Konstanty Kulka, violin and the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish RTV conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk Sketched over August 1932 at the insistence of his friend, violinist Pawel Kochanski -- who provided (as he had for the Violin Concerto No. 1) the cadenza -- Szymanowski could not begin the orchestration until March, completing the full score on September 6, 1933. Weak from tuberculosis, Szymanowski was easily exhausted, and this was his last large-scale work. No less cunning than the Violin Concerto No. 1 in terms of motivic unity and continuous development, the work opens with a berceuse-like exposition of several melodic oddments evoking a sort of primal ethnic nostalgia, gyrating slowly, hypnotically within the interval of a third and alternating beguilingly between major and minor. A second, more animated thematic group enacts a plein air dance and march leading to an extensive cadenza ranging histrionically but brilliantly over both moods while marking the work's mid-point. The opening themes, combined with more adventurous melodic material traversing a tenth, amplify the play of dreaming wakened by raucous celebration, becoming grander and more eldritch by turns, led by bursts of something like dissonantly rustic fiddling to a high-kicking apotheosis. Read more: www.answers.com Photo of Villa Atma in Zakopane. Szymanowski's house and museum ...