Frank Peter Zimmermann Plays Bartok & Szymanowski [CD]

The three works on this recording bear witness to thechanges that took place at the dawn of musicalmodernism. The reappraisal and reinterpretation oftraditional musical genres and innovations led to newways of organising and addressing the harmonic,melodic, timbral and rhythmic elements of music.Polish composer Karol Szymanowski developed a highlypersonal musical language that prioritises tone colour,an approach that is perfectly suited to the triptychMythes, inspired by legends from ancient Greece. Herehe developed a new mode of expression, a fusion of theviolin and the piano into a single entity with the use ofextended violin techniques.The Hungarian Bela Bartok assimilated Szymanowski'scontribution and composed his two sonatas for violinand piano in quick succession at the beginning of the1920s. These two works, as daring as they aredemanding, skilfully blend the influence ofcontemporary composers such as Debussy andSchoenberg with elements of Central European folklore.Frank Peter Zimmermann, whose recent recordingdedicated to Bartok's two Rhapsodies and Stravinsky'sViolin Concerto (BIS-2657) has received internationalcritical acclaim, performs these landmark works withpianist Dmytro Choni, his regular partner since 2023.