Search - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Elina Vahala, Johanna Winkel :: Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1; Zemlinsky: Lyric Symphony

Karol Szymanowskis Violin Concerto No. 1 and Alexander von Zemlinskys Lyric Symphony, composed only seven years apart, while differing widely differing in their choice of soloists, are united in their source of inspiration. The Lyric Symphony is Zemlinskys best known work and an homage to Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde. It sets poems by Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) to equally poetic music. Szymanowski likely received his inspiration for the violin concerto from Noc Majowa (May Night), a poem by the Polish poet Tadeusz Micinski. The work is recognized as the first modern violin concerto, as Szymanowski rejects the 19th-century tradition and the major-minor system, introducing a new music language full of ecstatic raptures and poetic tension.