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The three works on this recording bear witness to the

changes that took place at the dawn of musical

modernism. The reappraisal and reinterpretation of

traditional musical genres and innovations led to new

ways of organising and addressing the harmonic,

melodic, timbral and rhythmic elements of music.

Polish composer Karol Szymanowski developed a highly

personal musical language that prioritises tone colour,

an approach that is perfectly suited to the triptych

Mythes, inspired by legends from ancient Greece. Here

he developed a new mode of expression, a fusion of the

violin and the piano into a single entity with the use of

extended violin techniques.

The Hungarian Bela Bartok assimilated Szymanowski's

contribution and composed his two sonatas for violin

and piano in quick succession at the beginning of the

1920s. These two works, as daring as they are

demanding, skilfully blend the influence of

contemporary composers such as Debussy and

Schoenberg with elements of Central European folklore.

Frank Peter Zimmermann, whose recent recording

dedicated to Bartok's two Rhapsodies and Stravinsky's

Violin Concerto (BIS-2657) has received international

critical acclaim, performs these landmark works with

pianist Dmytro Choni, his regular partner since 2023.