（旧文，首发于hifi168，时间太久，链接已无时效性。）
不久前，我无意中发现了一个极为有趣、堪称神奇的英文古典音乐资源分享站点——operashare。这是一个yahoo的group，应该算是一个邮件列表。（与我们这里常见的论坛不同，老外喜欢邮件列表和新闻组。）
operashare神奇在何处？
我们这里的几乎所有古典音乐资源分享站点都是违法的盗版分享， 或曰版权不合理使用。我无意讨论这个问题。但不知各位有否想过，是否有不违法的资源分享？
operashare是我所知的第一个这样的站点，真是让我打开眼界，也不得不佩服老外古典音乐环境之好、有心人之多。
operashare 上的古典音乐资源，按来源可大致分成两部分：一大类是音乐会广播录音，因为这些是所谓public domain的内容，没有版权问题；另一大类是组里成员从lp（无对应cd版本在唱片公司目录中的）、磁带、开盘机、已绝版或者已过了版权保护年限的 cd，自己转录而来。（这至少也算合理使用，而且版权持有人要么不存在、要么没有利益似乎也无必要来主张权利。）当然由于来源的原因，这些资源大多质量无法达到cd水平，一般都是些mp3文件，偶然有些无损压缩格式的文件(flac)。这或许是operashare唯一的不足之处。不过好在出没于此的人似乎也都还有些基本概念，很多mp3码率都较高，质量也很过得去（事实上大多数我都很满意）。
我猜我这么介绍，大多数人仍然会不以为然，觉得不会有什么好东西——其实大谬。
首先我来介绍一下operashare上的音乐会广播录音，如果你已加入这个group，你可以去看看他们整理的一个资源列表（需要yahoo id）
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/OperaShare/files/
为了方便未加入的人作决定，我来简单介绍其中两个系列：
Bayreuth performances——这是一系列Bayreuth演出的广播录音，有很多，不来一一列举，以年代排序，下面是前五个和最后三个：
1928
Tristan und Isolde - excerpts (5855) Karl Elmendorff
http://rapidshare.de/files/23599527/Tristan1928.mp3
1931
August 18 Tristan und Isolde - Excerpts (10088)Wilhelm Furtwangler
http://rapidshare.de/files/30167612/Bayreuth_1931_Tristan_WF.mp3
1933
Parsifal - Excerpts (21803) Richard Strauss
http://rapidshare.com/files/11386767/Parsifal-1933Bayreuth.zip.html
1936
Lohengrin Excerpts (22011) Wilhelm Furtwaengler
http://rapidshare.com/files/11799136/loh-furt.zip.html
Lohengrin Excerpts (22011) Heinz Tietjen
http://rapidshare.com/files/11799758/loh-tietjens.zip.html
BAYREUTH 1936 - THE OFFICIAL RECORDINGS (27370)
http://rapidshare.com/files/22490650/bay36.zip.html
2006
July 31 - Dieotterdammerung (15866) Christian Thielemann
http://rapidshare.com/files/706086/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706158/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706072/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/706071/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706061/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706101/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706109/goetterdaemmerung_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.002
August 1- Tristan und Isolde (15864) Peter Schneider
http://rapidshare.com/files/706062/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706056/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706119/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706132/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706067/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706050/tristan_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.002
August 2- Parsifal (15859) Adam Fischer
http://rapidshare.com/files/706139/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706125/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706110/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act1.mp3.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/706124/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706113/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act2.mp3.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/706051/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/706129/parsifal_2006_bayreuth_act3.mp3.002
是不是很夸张，幸亏我现在对wagner不感冒，否则简直要幸福得崩溃了。这些东西就算你去Bt、emule也未见得找得到。
里面凡是http://rapidshare.com/files/这样的网址都是文件下载地址，这些文件都放在一个叫rapidshare的国外文件分享网站，这些似乎都是PREMIUM账号上传的，因而不会过期，下载也免费，但会有些限制。具体下载方法容我稍候再说。
另外一个系列是我很感兴趣的，重点介绍下。这是一个近年音乐会系列，目前至少有66+24=90个音乐会广播录音，前50个整理在一份名为Concert Archive.rtf的文档当中，可以在这里找到：
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/OperaShare/files/
后面几个还未归总起来，有16个Concert Archive和24个GERMAN CONCERT ARCHIVE。
这些都是近年一些名家的音乐会，随便摘几条：
Schubert Symphony No. 3 in D, D200 (1815)/Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D minor (1877) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam /Mariss Jansons, conductor
Frank Martin 6 Monologe aus Jedermann—contralto/baritone and orchestra (1943) /Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor (1904)/ Thomas Quasthoff, baritone/ Lucerne Festival Orchestra/ Claudio Abbado, conductor
Prokofiev Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in C, Op. 26 (1921)/Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43 (1936)/ Alexander Toradze, piano/ Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, St. Petersburg/ Valery Gergiev, conductor
Weber Der Freischütz—opera (1821): Overture/Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (1943)/Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 (1877)/ Berliner Philharmoniker/ Bernard Haitink, conductor
Gubaidulina Offertorium—concerto for violin and orchestra (1980)/ Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem—soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, Op. 45 (1868)/ Gidon Kremer, violin/ Dorothea Roschmann, soprano/ Thomas Quasthoff, bass baritone/ Rundfunkchor Berlin /Berliner Philharmoniker/ Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Varèse Intégrales—11 wind and 4 percussion instruments (1925)/ Boulez Le visage nuptial—soprano, contralto, chorus and orchestra (1946)/ Boulez Le Soleil des eaux—soprano, chorus and orchestra (1948)/ Stravinsky Petrushka—ballet (1911)/Francois Pollet, soprano/ Susan Parry, mezzo-soprano/ BBC Singers/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Pierre Boulez, conductor
怎么样，阵容也算得上是很好了吧。如果你对当代哪位指挥家有兴趣，又不想冒险买唱片，可以先来听听了解一下风格；如果你对某些冷门曲目有兴趣，但找不到唱片，或都是高价小厂牌，那你就或许可以找到机会先尝试一番。而且这些广播录音里的组合与曲目，很有些不见于唱片。恐怕也只有现场才敢冒险排这样的曲目，唱片公司未见得会去录。
有一些我觉得大家会感兴趣的，特别在此一提：
Boulez，Mahler, 8. Symphony
这是2007年4月9日的演出，阵容如下：
Twyla Robinson, Sopran
Soile Isokoski, Sopran
Adriane Queiroz, Sopran
Michelle DeYoung, Alt
Simone Schoder, Alt
Johann Botha,Tenor
Hanno Muller-Brachmann, Bariton
Robert Holl, Bass
Staatsopernchor Berlin
Philharmonischer Chor Prag
Aurelius Sangerknaben Calw
Staatskapelle Berlin
Leitung: Pierre Boulez
与DG即将发行的录音阵容几乎一样，可以在买cd前尝尝鲜。
Mahler 2 - Rattle, BPO
这是拉特尔在巴黎的一个录音，时间是2007年4月3日。阵容如下：
Live in Salle Pleyel, Paris
Dorothea Roschmann, Soprano
Bernarda Fink, Mezzo-soprano
Chef de choeur: Simon Halsey
Choeur de Radio France
Berliner Philharmoniker
Simon Rattle
与他emi的那个录音不同的是，这是带的柏林爱乐，我没听过伯明翰那一版，但听了这个感觉很不错，不知柏林爱乐与伯明翰两版差别多少，很有买那张emi的冲动。
还有一些Dudamel的录音，这位DG年轻新指挥家刚出版了贝多芬5、7；朗朗的贝多芬第四钢协，也有一个与Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen合作的版本，可以了解下朗朗怎么处理这部作品；朗朗的巴托克钢协，Dg恐怕还未排上出版计划，operashare上也有一个boulez 的版本可以尝鲜。
除了近年的广播录音之外,operashare上还有很多上世纪50年代以来的广播录音,我也很好奇他们如何收集到这些东西,例如有一个是普朗克荣耀经（几乎）世界首演的广播录音,是Munch指挥BSO于1961年1月21日的演出实况，这显然不是出自于唱片，也真不知他们怎么弄到的，这只能归之于有心了。这类资源很多，包括切利、克莱博等等的一些录音，但正所谓此之美酒，彼之毒药，要说哪些大家都有兴趣，我也不知道，只能自己去看了。
operashare上另外一大类的资源是自己转录的lp、cd、磁带等。这些资料胜在难得，大多是极难见到的冷门曲目与版本。这个就很难介绍了，大家自己心头好而已。提两个我近期下的：
http://rapidshare.com/files/28356214/Enesco.zip
Lipatti: Symphonie Concertante for 2 pianos and orch.
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsody No. 2
Bartok: Music for strings, percussion and celeste
Lipatti: Ivresse (from Tziganes)
Piano: Madeleine Lipatti, Bela Siki
Orchestre National de France
Georges Enesco
Fourth Besancon Festival
Sept. 6, 1951, Town Hall
这是李帕蒂(Dinu Lipatti)夫人Madeleine Lipatti演奏李帕蒂作品，够冷了吧，不过我觉得很有价值，看看作为作曲家的李帕蒂可以了解些他的音乐理念。
http://rapidshare.com/files/29172445/clara_schumann_pc.rar
Clara Schumann
Piano Concerto in A minor Op.7 (1836)
Lucy Parham (pf.)
BBC Concert Orch.
Barry Wordsworth
这是克拉拉舒曼的钢琴协奏曲，实际上旋律还是挺美的。
最后来个私房货：
http://rapidshare.com/files/25051653/Tiresias.zip
Poulenc: Les mamelles de Tiresias
Thetre National de l'Opera-Comique - November 1953 - Andre Cluytens
这是普朗克——我偏爱的法国作曲家的一部歌剧 Les mamelles de Tiresias的第一个录音，cd极难找到，除了一个brilliant的录音（可惜是改编本）外只怕都绝了。而operashare上还可以找到一个 2002年3月16日大都会歌剧院的广播录音：
http://rapidshare.com/files/25576246/Mamelles_Met_16_March_02.mp3
operashare的世界实在太过神奇，无论诸位是有心扩展曲目、了解当代音乐家还是对某些大师有疯狂的收集癖，都可以去看看，说不定会有意外收获。而这一切不需回帖、积分（那里不需要灌水），也不必没日没夜地挂bt、emule，只需你忍受点小小的麻烦。
为什么是小小的麻烦？因为rapidshare.com这个文件分享网站对免费下载有点小限制，虽然人人有份、永不轮空，只要上载者是PREMIUM账号, 也不会过期。但是当你每次打开上述链接时，首先需要选择是否为免费账户，然后要等待片刻。这个等待时间在第一次时很短，不到一分钟，但当你第二次下载时，就可能是两小时，取决于你上次以同一台机器或ip下载完成在多久之前。基本上它会保证你在第一次下载两三小时后才能开始第二次。这是需要你小小耐心的地方。等待结束后，会需要你输入一个图片内的字母与数字，正确后就可以开始下载。
有一点很重要，免费账户下载不能使用任何下载软件，只能用浏览器自带下载功能，如果网络不稳定的话可能会有些麻烦。
另外,很多下下来的文件经过拆分,这是有些文件以.001结尾的原因,需要全部下载、放在一个目录后再行合并，operashare推荐的是这个软件hjsplit：
http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/
然后使用里面的join功能即可。
Sunday, June 08, 2008
rapidshare的验证码
最好的rapidshare辅助工具 - RapidShare Happy Hours Detector | 软件生活
自从迷上operashare，我大概算是rapidshare老手了。尤其是经历其验证码系统多次升级，看惯了其小猫小狗，才能应付现在新的变态验证码。不过似乎还有很多用家无法适应。。。
rapidshare的新验证码的确挺变态，每个字母或数字上都有一个猫或者狗的图标，然后将其中四个猫图标的字母或数字输入文本框，才能验证通过。这里难就难在这个猫扭来扭去的，已经不易辨别，而且很多人可能以前没怎么用过rapidshare，对那个狗图标什么样没有概念，以至于选不出那四个字符。实际上猫狗图标的区别，关键在于尾巴，猫长点，狗短点，一个弯点，一个直点。看准猫尾巴，就足够了。
自从迷上operashare，我大概算是rapidshare老手了。尤其是经历其验证码系统多次升级，看惯了其小猫小狗，才能应付现在新的变态验证码。不过似乎还有很多用家无法适应。。。
rapidshare的新验证码的确挺变态，每个字母或数字上都有一个猫或者狗的图标，然后将其中四个猫图标的字母或数字输入文本框，才能验证通过。这里难就难在这个猫扭来扭去的，已经不易辨别，而且很多人可能以前没怎么用过rapidshare，对那个狗图标什么样没有概念，以至于选不出那四个字符。实际上猫狗图标的区别，关键在于尾巴，猫长点，狗短点，一个弯点，一个直点。看准猫尾巴，就足够了。
Monday, May 26, 2008
席曼诺夫斯基小提琴协奏曲
看了砍柴兄的帖子，提到了席曼诺夫斯基（Szymanowski）这位波兰作曲家，刚好这两天也对他颇为着迷，就来说两句。
前一段时间载了一个席曼诺夫斯基两部小协的广播录音，听后甚为惊艳，如此优美绮丽的作品，实在应该成为主流曲目。再回头听以前买的席曼诺夫斯基第三交响、Stabat Mater等作品，觉得颇有可回味之处。
我越来越觉得在无调性与德奥式晚期浪漫派之间实在还是大有余地可挖，新的有些不和谐式的音乐语言加上较传统的主题诉求，产生的独特效果实在不能用一句不够现代一笔勾销。
为此我还买了emi拉特尔与伯明翰两部小协加第四交响曲（实际上是部钢琴协奏曲）的录音。
第四交响曲也是部不错的作品。不过拉特尔与伯明翰的第二小协似乎不够理想，尤其是与Frank Peter Zimmermann与Sylvain Cambreling 指挥SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg的广播录音相比，正是就怕货比货啊。
主要问题在于拉特尔这个组合的小提琴家技术上似乎不如Zimmermann，一些段落就不如Zimmermann挥
洒自如、畅快淋漓，而偏偏这两部小协对演奏家技术要求甚高。第一小协从头至尾就是一个梦，但又不是像德彪西那种朦胧慵懒的梦幻气质，也非拉威尔那种光亮的
似乎有棱角但有些冰冷的异想世界，而是带着些甜蜜的透明的浪漫主义式的梦幻迷离；第二小协和第四交响曲里面有些民歌元素，与巴托克类似，都是消解了的民
歌，但不像巴托克那么音响凌厉。在Zimmermann、Cambreling 的合作下那种梦幻的气质就更完整，拉特尔那个组合在第二小协个别段落听来有些吃力，影响了效果，当然也不明显，只有和Zimmermann这样的演奏相较之下，才能体会这梦幻可以到达什么样的境地。
不过可惜，Zimmermann、Cambreling 的合作似乎没有录音，但我怀疑真录音室录音了可能也没了这种现场的热力，似乎 Zimmermann与拉特尔、BPO的一个合作也缺了点什么，当然这也可能是我先入为主了。
Zimmermann与拉特尔、BPO的第一小协，外加布鲁克纳第7：
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/OperaShare/message/28661
这个下载文件里还包括一份programme note，对理解作品很有帮助，转帖如下：
Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 (1916)
Szymanowski wrote the first of his two violin concertos in 1916, during what is usually described as his ‘Impressionist’ period – the time when he really found himself as a composer. Whether or not the label ‘Impressionist’ is appropriate, the sound Szymanowski draws from the orchestra is unique, instantly recognisable. By the standards of the early 20th century, the number of instruments is not remarkable, though they include two harps as well as a piano and several percussion instruments. Yet the effect of spaciousness, rather than weight or loudness, is extraordinary. Szymanowski’s melody and harmony are typical of ‘advanced’ composers of the time in their empirical mix of pentatonic, chromatic, whole-tone and bi-tonal elements (the very opening may owe something to the black-against-white note clashes of Stravinsky’s Petrushka); in fact, Szymanowski seems to be able to do anything he likes while consistently achieving an effect of transparency.
As for the solo part, Szymanowski himself claimed that the style of writing that he developed with the help of his friend, the violinist Pawel Kochanski, created a new mode of expression for the instrument, which can be summarised as ‘ecstatic’. Pitched mostly (though not invariably) very high, it was intended only for the most accomplished players, preferably with a very sweet tone. All its technical devices are collected in the cadenza which Kochanski wrote near the end of the work.
Kochanski was to have given the first performance, with Alexander Siloti conducting, in St Petersburg at the beginning of February 1917: political unrest put paid to th at. In the event, the leader of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Józef Oziminski, played it, with Emil Mlynarski conducting, in the capital of the new Polish Republic on 1 November 1922. Kochanski introduced it to America, with Leopold Stokowski, in New York and Philadelphia, in 1924.
However dazzling the writing for the violin, the Concerto is not a vehicle for bravura display: the orchestra is used with restraint, and there is no dramatic confrontation or argument; instead, the relationship between soloist and orchestra recalls Chausson’s Poème, written 20 years earlier, though that has a very different expressive character.
Szymanowski took his inspiration for this Concerto from the poem May Night by Tadeusz Micinski:
Asses in crowns settle majestically on the grass –
fireflies are kissing the wild rose –
and Death shimmers on the pond
and plays a frivolous song.
Ephemerids
fly into dance –
oh, flowers of the lakes, Nereids!
Pan plays his pipes in the oak grove.
Ephemerids
fly into dance,
fly into dance –
plaited in amorous embrace
eternally young and holy –
stabbed with a lethal dart.
In the twinkling blue water
golden crucians and roach,
and patient kingfishers
gaze with their eyes of steel –
and on the trees the hammering of the
little blacksmiths,
amid the sorb, red crooked-beaks
and kestrels with eyes like tinder –
merrily whistling and chanting
I fly: here over the water – there under
the trees …
In the woods are glades as if appointed
for these nocturnal revels.
All the birds pay tribute to me,
for today I wed a Goddess …
And now we stand by the lake,
in crimson blossoms,
in flowing tears of joy, with rapture and fear,
burning in amorous conflagrations:
the fire seizes these aged trees
and they shed tears of pitch,
and the familiar gull from the Polar seas
describes a halo over us.
(Translation by Sylvia and Benjamin Shoshan, taken from the BBC Music Guide to Szymanowski by Christopher Palmer, 1983)
The Concerto is in a single movement, though constantly fluctuating – floating, transfixed in reverie, dancing, driven – but never moving towards a goal, for it is all a dream, from the first excited fluttering in the orchestra to the soloist’s final disappearance into the stratosphere. Szymanowski summed up the whole as ‘awfully fantastic and unexpected’. It takes some time for two themes, or rather motifs, to emerge – a swooning sixnote descending phrase, and a grimly emphatic motif of four notes (two descending semitones followed by a rising minor third); these provide a kind of structural scaffolding. Midway occurs a still, sublime moment in which the violin at last reveals its heart then, coming to its senses, gets busy; it’s recalled later, shortly before the cadenza. Surely, Szymanowski intended it all to remain a beautiful mystery.
前一段时间载了一个席曼诺夫斯基两部小协的广播录音，听后甚为惊艳，如此优美绮丽的作品，实在应该成为主流曲目。再回头听以前买的席曼诺夫斯基第三交响、Stabat Mater等作品，觉得颇有可回味之处。
我越来越觉得在无调性与德奥式晚期浪漫派之间实在还是大有余地可挖，新的有些不和谐式的音乐语言加上较传统的主题诉求，产生的独特效果实在不能用一句不够现代一笔勾销。
为此我还买了emi拉特尔与伯明翰两部小协加第四交响曲（实际上是部钢琴协奏曲）的录音。
第四交响曲也是部不错的作品。不过拉特尔与伯明翰的第二小协似乎不够理想，尤其是与Frank Peter Zimmermann与Sylvain Cambreling 指挥SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg的广播录音相比，正是就怕货比货啊。
主要问题在于拉特尔这个组合的小提琴家技术上似乎不如Zimmermann，一些段落就不如Zimmermann挥
洒自如、畅快淋漓，而偏偏这两部小协对演奏家技术要求甚高。第一小协从头至尾就是一个梦，但又不是像德彪西那种朦胧慵懒的梦幻气质，也非拉威尔那种光亮的
似乎有棱角但有些冰冷的异想世界，而是带着些甜蜜的透明的浪漫主义式的梦幻迷离；第二小协和第四交响曲里面有些民歌元素，与巴托克类似，都是消解了的民
歌，但不像巴托克那么音响凌厉。在Zimmermann、Cambreling 的合作下那种梦幻的气质就更完整，拉特尔那个组合在第二小协个别段落听来有些吃力，影响了效果，当然也不明显，只有和Zimmermann这样的演奏相较之下，才能体会这梦幻可以到达什么样的境地。
不过可惜，Zimmermann、Cambreling 的合作似乎没有录音，但我怀疑真录音室录音了可能也没了这种现场的热力，似乎 Zimmermann与拉特尔、BPO的一个合作也缺了点什么，当然这也可能是我先入为主了。
Zimmermann与拉特尔、BPO的第一小协，外加布鲁克纳第7：
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/OperaShare/message/28661
这个下载文件里还包括一份programme note，对理解作品很有帮助，转帖如下：
Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 (1916)
Szymanowski wrote the first of his two violin concertos in 1916, during what is usually described as his ‘Impressionist’ period – the time when he really found himself as a composer. Whether or not the label ‘Impressionist’ is appropriate, the sound Szymanowski draws from the orchestra is unique, instantly recognisable. By the standards of the early 20th century, the number of instruments is not remarkable, though they include two harps as well as a piano and several percussion instruments. Yet the effect of spaciousness, rather than weight or loudness, is extraordinary. Szymanowski’s melody and harmony are typical of ‘advanced’ composers of the time in their empirical mix of pentatonic, chromatic, whole-tone and bi-tonal elements (the very opening may owe something to the black-against-white note clashes of Stravinsky’s Petrushka); in fact, Szymanowski seems to be able to do anything he likes while consistently achieving an effect of transparency.
As for the solo part, Szymanowski himself claimed that the style of writing that he developed with the help of his friend, the violinist Pawel Kochanski, created a new mode of expression for the instrument, which can be summarised as ‘ecstatic’. Pitched mostly (though not invariably) very high, it was intended only for the most accomplished players, preferably with a very sweet tone. All its technical devices are collected in the cadenza which Kochanski wrote near the end of the work.
Kochanski was to have given the first performance, with Alexander Siloti conducting, in St Petersburg at the beginning of February 1917: political unrest put paid to th at. In the event, the leader of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Józef Oziminski, played it, with Emil Mlynarski conducting, in the capital of the new Polish Republic on 1 November 1922. Kochanski introduced it to America, with Leopold Stokowski, in New York and Philadelphia, in 1924.
However dazzling the writing for the violin, the Concerto is not a vehicle for bravura display: the orchestra is used with restraint, and there is no dramatic confrontation or argument; instead, the relationship between soloist and orchestra recalls Chausson’s Poème, written 20 years earlier, though that has a very different expressive character.
Szymanowski took his inspiration for this Concerto from the poem May Night by Tadeusz Micinski:
Asses in crowns settle majestically on the grass –
fireflies are kissing the wild rose –
and Death shimmers on the pond
and plays a frivolous song.
Ephemerids
fly into dance –
oh, flowers of the lakes, Nereids!
Pan plays his pipes in the oak grove.
Ephemerids
fly into dance,
fly into dance –
plaited in amorous embrace
eternally young and holy –
stabbed with a lethal dart.
In the twinkling blue water
golden crucians and roach,
and patient kingfishers
gaze with their eyes of steel –
and on the trees the hammering of the
little blacksmiths,
amid the sorb, red crooked-beaks
and kestrels with eyes like tinder –
merrily whistling and chanting
I fly: here over the water – there under
the trees …
In the woods are glades as if appointed
for these nocturnal revels.
All the birds pay tribute to me,
for today I wed a Goddess …
And now we stand by the lake,
in crimson blossoms,
in flowing tears of joy, with rapture and fear,
burning in amorous conflagrations:
the fire seizes these aged trees
and they shed tears of pitch,
and the familiar gull from the Polar seas
describes a halo over us.
(Translation by Sylvia and Benjamin Shoshan, taken from the BBC Music Guide to Szymanowski by Christopher Palmer, 1983)
The Concerto is in a single movement, though constantly fluctuating – floating, transfixed in reverie, dancing, driven – but never moving towards a goal, for it is all a dream, from the first excited fluttering in the orchestra to the soloist’s final disappearance into the stratosphere. Szymanowski summed up the whole as ‘awfully fantastic and unexpected’. It takes some time for two themes, or rather motifs, to emerge – a swooning sixnote descending phrase, and a grimly emphatic motif of four notes (two descending semitones followed by a rising minor third); these provide a kind of structural scaffolding. Midway occurs a still, sublime moment in which the violin at last reveals its heart then, coming to its senses, gets busy; it’s recalled later, shortly before the cadenza. Surely, Szymanowski intended it all to remain a beautiful mystery.
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