Szymanowski's piano music has languished in relative obscurity for all the wrong reasons. The three works represented on this disc - all unjustly neglected - are admittedly less accessible than the Ravelian impressionism they draw widely upon, and they are also less immmediately alluring than the melodic mystique of Debussy, but this does not mean they are academic or willfully abstruse. Instead, they require, and richly reward, repeated listening. For there is much beauty in this music: Métopes has all the voluptuous sensuality of Scriabin's early sonatas, and Masques is harmonically varied and colourful in its vibrant tonality, whilst the more traditional third piano sonata is muscular in its percussiveness without missing out on lilting lyricism.
Anderszewski's advocacy makes the best possible case for this challenging but beautiful music. His steely precision might occasionally lack the warmth of Jones's recording on Nimbus, but this is a small loss, as he more than makes up for this with his articulate delivery of every complex melodic thread, rapid-fire filigree and tumbling chordal cascade. Though his tone is full-bodied and sonorous, his interpretations do not lack any requisite spontaneity or fire. Importantly, he focuses Szymanowski's musical architecture of contrasts and oppositions with unprecedented clarity. His scintillating pianism doesn't skimp the music's hypnotic mystery either; his palette is fully attuned to the music's dreamy waves of post-impressionistic enchantment. In short, his playing is sensitive to the composer's nuances, intensely exciting and eerily reflective in equal measure. He vividly brings these pieces to life, alternately painting mirages of sound that shimmer in the air and blasting out dazzling supernovae of musical energy. There is no better introduction to Szymanowski's unique sound world.