Szymanowski, Karol

Szymanowski, Karol – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1, Op. 35

(b. 6 October 1882, Tymoszówka, Russia [near present-day Kyiv, Ukraine] – d. 29 March 1937, Lausanne, Switzerland)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1, Op. 35

Vivace assai p.3
Tempo comodo. Andantino. p.30
Vivace scherzando p.47
Tempo comodo. Allegretto p.72
Cadenza. Vivace – Allegro moderato p.93

Preface
The years of the First World War are regarded as Karol Szymanowski’s most productive creative period. He composed numerous songs and choral works with piano or orchestra, the cantatas Op. 37bis and 38 for solo voice, choir and orchestra, the Third Symphony ‘Song of the Night’ Op. 27, various piano works, as well as his three works for violin and piano: Nocturne and Tarantella, Op. 28, Mythes, Op. 30, and the three Caprices de Paganini, Op. 40. The wealth of the works for violin from this period is due to his friendship with Paweł Kochański, who became Szymanowski’s favourite violinist, either premiering his works or serving as their dedicatee – and often both. The Violin Concerto Op. 35 (the first of two) was composed in 1916. Due to its experimental harmony and orchestral soundscape, it is regarded as one of the very first modern violin concertos. During the war, Szymanowski stayed with his family in Tymoszówka and in Zarudzie near Kiev and established contacts with St Petersburg and Moscow. Kochański was born in Odessa in 1887 and became a pupil of Emil Młynarski and later, with Młynarski’s encouragement, of César Thomson in Brussels. Kochański was a regular chamber music partner of Artur Rubinstein. In the musical circles of Paul and Muriel Draper in London, Kochański was able, through Rubinstein’s introduction, to make the acquaintance of Szymanowski and Stravinsky in 1913–14, as well as Pablo Casals, Jacques Thibaud, Lionel Tertis, Pierre Monteux and many others. …

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