Search - Zarebski, Esztenyi, Popowa-Zydron :: Piano Quintet in G / Les Roses

A coherent, all-Zarebski program including the masterful Pia

Discophage | France | 06/25/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Though it is hardly known outside of Poland, even by the connoisseurs, I consider Juliusz Zarebski's Piano Quintet op. 34 to be one of the great masterpieces written for that instrumental combination in the 19th Century, on a par with those of Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Franck and Fauré (to which I would add the lesser-know pieces by a handful of French composers such as Saint-Saens, D'Indy, Vierne, Pierné and Le Flem, and a few Russians, among which Taneyev).



Zarebski was born in 1854, studied in Vienna and St Petersburg, became a pupil of Liszt, was appointed Professor of piano at the Brussels Conservatory - and died of tuberculosis in September 1885, at the age of 31 years old, which places him, along with Schubert, in the category of those composers having suffered tragically early deaths. The Piano Quintet was his last work, completed in March of 1885. It is a composition of great romantic sweep and passion, owing as much to the models of Franck (integral with the recapitulation in the Finale of themes from the three first movements), Dvorak (the sunny lyricism) and Saint-Saens as to that of Brahms (the piano writing in the first movement strikes me as very Brahmsian), and at times foreboding a "fin de siècle", impressionistic languor characteristic of the Franckian school.



The Quintet has had a handful of prior recordings. The oldest one is a radio recording from 1963 (given as a premiere recording) by no other than Wladylsaw Szpilman, "The Pianist" of Roman Polanski fame, playing in an ensemble known as the Warsaw Piano Quintet. It is now available in a fascinating three CD box devoted to the pianist and published by Sony in 2005, but inexplicably (copyright reasons?) distributed only in Europe. Independent of any interpretive considerations (it has its weaknesses), its harsh sound rules it out. The modern recordings include an Olympia CD featuring Jerzy Witkowski as pianist (with compositions by Tansman and Twardowski), recorded in May 1992 (Polish Chamber Music), excessively languid and lingering. There is also a recording by Waldemar Malicki and the Varsovia Quartet, made in 1989 and paired with two quartets by the Polish contemporary female composer Johanna Bruzdowicz, a Pavane CD which I have reviewed (Bruzdowicz: String Quartets No. 1 "La Vita" & No. 2 "Cantus Aeternus" / Zarebski: Piano Quintet), and a recent one, on the Polish label Dux, by pianist Krzyzstof Jablonski leading a (new) Warsaw Quintet which shares with Szpilman's same-name Ensemble only violist Stefan Kamasa (see my review of Juliusz Zarebski & Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano Quintets). It is paired with the First Piano Quintet of Grazina Bacewicz, an important Polish female composer one generation older than Varsovia Quartet's Bruzdowicz. Both recordings are excellent, with a preference for the recent one, with a more natural sonic perspective and an unrelenting forward momentum.



This one by Zabolcs Esztenyi and the Wilanow String Quartet was recorded in 1990 for the French label Accord and has the merit of offering a coherent, all-Zarebski program with the piano cycle "Les Roses et les épines" op. 13 (The Roses and the Thorns) from 1883, performed by pianist Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, as a complement. The moods range from the subtle and refined aquatic to the fiery virtuosic, all in a post-lisztian idiom of no particular distinction, and in itself not a sufficient reason to favor this recording of the Quintet over its competitors.



The reading of the Quintet is passable but not as good as the two mentioned above. The strings' tonal blend isn't as accomplished as with the (new) Warsaw Quintet, and the piano isn't as clearly recorded as Jablonski's or Malicki's. Interpretively, Esztenyi and the Wilanow Quartet tend to exaggerate the contrasts of tempo (unlike most Romantic composers, Zarebski writes these various tempo changes very carefully), and the approach is something of a mixed blessing: it allows for a fine build-up of tension leading to an exhilarating sense of urgency in passages such as the Animato section in the opening movement between 4:02 and 5:49, but it also stifles the forward-momentum and lends a swooning languidness to the more relaxed and lyrical moments. Likewise in the Adagio 2nd movement the tempo relationships are well-observed, but the movement is taken at an initial pace which again makes the music sound excessively languid and swooning (compare the Wilanow's 12:44 to the Warsaw's 9:57 and the VArsovia's 10:30). The third movement is an exhilarating tarantella of great kinetic energy, but again it is here taken at a tempo that, in comparison with the considerably more lithe and dynamic Warsaw Quintet , sounds pedestrian and heavy-footed. The Warsaw Quintet is also tonally smoother and with more presence to the piano. Only in the Finale do Esztenyi and the Wilanow Quartet exude and invigorating sense of joy, (thanks to a tempo that is closer to an Allegro than the prescribed Allegretto) - but then Malicki and the Varsovia Quartet are even more boisterous here. So ultimately this is only for the completists and those who would like an all-Zarebski program rather than contemporary music for a pairing.

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