#piano suite

Szymanowski–Métopes, trois poèmes pour piano(1915)

A challenge in describing music by composers like Szymanowski is that the works are usually about the atmosphere and the sound more than anything. Strange harmonies, chromatic shifts, decorations on the piano…a lot of attention to details like these instead of clear melody or strong rhythm. The music ends up sounding hypnotic at points, and that may be what Szymanowski was going for. He wrote this suite, Metopes, after a tour of southern Europe which included a visit to Greece. Szymanowski took this trip in 1914, just as Europe was on the brink of War. His interest in Mediterranean and Eastern cultures helped define his new style. What interests me most, or at least what I can relate to today, is this interest in escaping to an other-worldly soundscape while the world is on the brink of extreme conflict. Today, we have non-stop portable access to news stories, videos, and photos of war, terror, and pain. It’s too much for our brains to handle. How do we deal with it? We also escape into art that puts us into a new ‘world’. Szymanowski’s world is decadent, nocturnal, and alluring. The word “metopes” means the space at the top of Greek columns that can have elaborate decorations and scenes carved onto them. So each piece could be thought of as trying to depict a Greek stone-carving of the mythic subjects. Here, Szymanowski chose to focus on scenes from Homer’s Odyssey. The first piece, L’isle des sirènes, imitates the ethereal and deadly siren songs. There is also a lot of tone painting for the ocean waves, and we grow in anxiety, thinking back to the story where Odysseus is enchanted by their songs and has to be tied against a mast post to keep from driving the ship into the rocks. The next poem, Calypso, opens with and uses a lot of glittering tremolos, making me think of the Romani cimbalom’s sound evoked in 19th century music. In the story, Odysseus has washed up on Calypso’s island. She enchants him in staying for seven years. Likewise, musically, a perception of time is distorted by these floating harmonies and unpredictable resolutions, constant chromatic notes keeping us from thinking of a clear “direction” that is ingrained in traditional tonality. Calypso tries to get Odysseus to stay with her forever, promising him immortality. He remembers his wife, Penelope, and insists on being let go to continue with his journey. The third scene isn’t supernatural, and the music is more down-to-earth. Odysseus has shipwrecked on the island of Phaeacia, where the King’s daughter Nausicaa takes him in as a guest. With the hospitality, Odysseus is entertained by dancers. The music is a fun, and at times frantic, dance full of percussive dashes. It ends with a slower, reflective section, that kind of dies off into silence; Odysseus leaves the fun and games to continue his journey back to Ithaca. In his program on the work, Grant Hiroshima comments that we don’t follow Odysseus to the end of his journey, maybe to reflect the uncertainty of the future; will the next adventure be dangerous? Will he ever return home? And perhaps this shows Szymanowski’s own anxieties at the state of the world. While art can be an ‘escape’, it is still reflecting our culture and ourselves.

Movements:

• L’îsle des sirènes
• Calypso
• Nausicaa