Mieczysław Karłowicz: Returning Waves

[Paul Barasi]

Surely, we should – if a little kid waves, then wave back. But think of a central European composer who is strongly influenced by a small diverse group of the greats and backlashed by musical politics, suffers from depression and feelings of unrequited love, dies young having written just one student symphony, leaves behind a small collection of works, and remains under-recognised, still to make his Proms debut. It's a profile fitting Hans Rott but it's one generation later and Polish, not Austrian. And though the wonderfully-gifted Karłowicz has been waving frantically down all the years, few have waved back.

Just as Rott's fav composers (Bruckner, Wagner, Brahms and Schumann) make guest appearances in his symphony, so do those of Karłowicz in Returning Waves (especially Tchaikovsky and Wagner). Both composers share an interest in structure which is infused with chaos. And just as the second half of Rott's symphony is beset with tell-tale signs of deteriorating mental health and life problems so too Karłowicz betrays his disturbed mindset, both in the thematic narratives he selects and in the music he writes. The Sorrowful Tale portrays suicide; My Soul is Sad – is the name of one of his songs (along with all his music: well worth hearing). Whilst love and death are certainly linked themes running through culture, in Karłowicz these tend towards overdrive. Typically, euphoria in Karłowicz follows heart-rending anguish, as in The Rebirth Symphony although there are exceptions, such as the poignant-free pretty little frolic through his Serenade for Strings.

That Returning Waves is a mood-swinger is established from the sombre melancholy opening that breaks into a sparkling and restlessly delightful melodic parade of fleeting scenes (never settling, like say in Debussy's Images) and proceeds towards the inevitable fatalistic close (Waving and Drowning?).These returning waves punctuate the episodic music which keeps coming back at you, though arguably the cyclic form is overdone to the point of being pre-film music. Returning Waves seems his most overtly bipolar work but shares with his others (especially his other tone poems) glorious orchestration of lovely tunes. Returning Waves may not be his best work (the Violin Concerto draws the most raves) but it holds the ear's attention and contains plenty of colour, turbulence and pathos. For me, it is an unsung masterwork.