I just have to share with the listers my wonderful journey of discovery concerning the music of Szymanowski. If you like the music of Strauss, and the Scriabin of "Poem of Ecstacy," you will find much to like in the music of Szy. My latest dicovery, after the Violin Concerti and the Stabat Mater is his Symphony #2 and #4. Symphony #2 is very lush and heady, but astringent enough to make this listener forget about it's indebtedness to late Germanic Romanticism. Symphony #4 includes a piano part and once again, the music is colorful, exotic, and most importantly, the musical ideas presented seem to be elaboratedly and the Symphony as a whole is stylistically unified. (As opposed to something like the "Hebridean Symphony" of Granville Bantok--the quiet opening is *so* atmospheric and inspired but then when the sun comes up it sounds like "Also Sprach Richard Strauss) A word of warning. I can be said that Szymanowsky's music all sounds the same. I wouldn't recommend listening to his different opus' back to back. His music has a lot going on, but some of lines are buried in some pretty thick textures--get a good recording and play back on gook equipment. Stabat Mater and Symphony #3--Rattle on EMI Violin Concerti--Dutoit on London (Rattle didn't seem as coherent to me) Symphony #2 and #4--Sinaisky on Chandos John Smyth