Tracklisting:

Pieśni księżniczki z baśni Op 31
Songs of a Fairy-Tale Princess (Iwona Sobotka)
For voice and orchestra
[1] Samotny księżyc/The Lonely Moon
[2] Słowik/The Nightingale
[3] Taniec/Dance

Harnasie Op 55
Ballet-pantomime in two tableaux
For tenor, chorus & orchestra (Timothy Robinson)
Obraz I: Na hali
Tableau I: In the mountain pasture
[4] No1 Redyk/Driving the sheep
[5] No2 Scena mimiczna (zaloty)/Mimed Scene (Courtship)
[6] No3 Marsz zbójnicki/The Tatra Robbers’ March
[7] No4 Scena mimiczna (Harnaś i Dziewczyna)/Mimed Scene (The Harnaś and the girl)
[8] No5 Taniec zbójnicki. Finał/The Tatra Robbers’ Dance. Finale
Obraz II: W karczmie
Tableau II: In the inn
[9] No6a Wesele/The Wedding
[10] No 6b Cepiny/Entry of the bride
[11] No 6c Pieśń siuhajów/Drinking Song
[12] No 7 Taniec góralski/The Tatra Highlanders’ Dance
[13] No 8 Napad harnasiów. Taniec/Raid of the Harnasie. Dance
[14] No9 Epilog/Epilogue

Pieśni miłosne Hafiza Op 26
Love Songs of Hafiz (Katarina Karnéus)
For high voice and orchestra
[15] Życzenia/Desires
[16] Zakochany wiatr/The infatuated East Wind
[17] Taniec/Dance
[18] Serca mego perły/Pearls of my soul
[19] Wieczna młodość/Eternal Youth
[20] Głos twój/Your Voice
[21] Pieśń pijacka/Drinking Song
[22] Grób Hafiza/Hafiz’ Grave

Recorded 23–25 October 2002 (Harnasie, Hafiz tracks 15-18), 30 June 2004 (Hafiz tracks 19-22), 20 March 2006 (Fairytale Princess) at Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Producer: Stephen Johns

This release sees a welcome return for Sir Simon Rattle to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra which was his musical home for nearly 20 years and with whom he has already recorded a huge catalogue of significant discs for EMI in his thirty years with the label. The music of Karol Szymanowski is a particular specialism for Simon Rattle and this release continues his exploration of the Polish composer’s vocal works which began in the late 1990s with a series of multi award-winning recordings.

The Times gave an ecstatic 5-star review for Rattle’s performances of Harnasie in 2002. It was subsequently recorded at Symphony Hall in Birmingham for this release:

“Simon Rattle’s return “home” for two concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra also means this time a hugely welcome return to the music of Karol Szymanowski ... Rattle delivered a performance of rapturous intensity that will not easily be forgotten … [He] excels in this kind of music, and here Szymanowski’s rich orchestral tapestry had everything from a sense of wild mystery to coruscating brilliance.”

On this release Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are joined by an international trio of soloists who each feature in one of the three works on the disc. Iwona Sobotka’s seductive high soprano voice is ideal for Szymanowski’s sumptuous writing in Songs of a Fairytale Princess, Cardiff Singer of the World winner and EMI Debut artist Katarina Karnéus sings the Love Songs of Hafiz, and Timothy Robinson who previously appeared on the EMI Classics release of Bernstein’s Wonderful Town under Simon Rattle.

Harnasie was written towards the end of Szymanowski’s life in a period when he was finding his inspiration closer to home than the exotic East which motivated the other works on this release. The music of Harnasie is directly inspired by the folkmusic of the Polish Tatra mountains where Szymanowski increasingly spent much of his time in his mature years.