ADVERTORIAL
The name of Karol Szymanowski is most often associated with King Roger, frequently regarded in recent years as an almost flagship ‘gay opera’, and also with Mythes – a fixture in the violin repertoire for almost a hundred years. Yet an important place in his oeuvre is also held by music for piano, an instrument he played himself. Szymanowski apparently wrote the earliest of his published Preludes (Op 1 Nos 7 and 8) at the age of 14. Also for piano are his last works, two Mazurkas composed four decades later. Particularly striking on that long and fascinatingly tortuous creative road are four cycles. They stand out for their varied expression, ranging from ecstasy to lyricism, and also their broad palette of tone colours and – less typically for music of those times – sound effects.
Szymanowski was
