Grażyna Bacewicz - Quartets & Quintets (Silesian Quartet)

Information

Composer: Grażyna Bacewicz

• (01-04) Piano Quintet No. 1
• (05-07) Piano Quintet No. 2
• (08-10) Quartet for Four Violins
• (11-12) Quartet for Four Cellos

Silesian Quartet
Szymon Krzeszowiec, violin (1-10)
Arkadiusz Kubica, violin (1-10)
Łukasz Syrnicki, viola (1-7)
Piotr Janosik, cello (1-7)

Wojciech Świtała, piano (1-7)
Krzysztof Laso, violin (8-10)
Małgorzata Wasiucionek, violin (8-10)

Polish Cello Quartet (11-12)
Tomasz Daroch, Wojciech Fudala, Krzysztof Karpeta & Adam Krzeszowiec

Date: 2018
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010976

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Review

One of the joys of reviewing is when a minor composer belatedly receives their due. This isn’t one of those cases, for the simple reason that Grażyna Bacewicz is emphatically not a minor composer. The Silesian Quartet’s Gramophone Award-winning Chandos cycle of her string quartets (8/16) made a powerful case for Bacewicz as a 20th-century master of the form on a par with Shostakovich and Tippett. This new disc reinforces that conclusion: this is the potent, instantly communicative music of a larger-than-life artistic personality.

For proof, start with the Violin Quartet (1949) and notice how, even in music intended for students, Bacewicz instantly establishes a sense of character and musical purpose. Much of that is down to her command of string textures, and time and again Bacewicz uses that command to shape the emotional direction of her larger-scale works. A cello wails like a siren over the oppressive opening of the 1963 Cello Quartet; sul ponticello shivers crackle in the Second Piano Quintet (1965), while quiet violin glissandos fall like meteors against a darkening sky. The piano chimes softly, a warning bell amid the sombre mists that open the Second Quintet’s Larghetto; and elsewhere swoops from the top to the bottom of its register in grand, dazzling runs.

Again, then: a huge personality. Bacewicz can generate irresistible symphonic momentum in the space of a four-minute movement and integrates eloquent bleakness with some of the sharpest, most light-footed musical wit since Haydn. If you’ve already got the Silesians’ Bacewicz quartet cycle, be assured that these performances share the same emotional commitment, attention to detail and electrifying verve. If you haven’t: well, this disc deserves to make a lot of converts.

-- Richard Bratby, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/May/Bacewicz_quintets_CHAN10976.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jul/Bacewicz_quintets_CHAN10976.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=15528
https://www.thestrad.com/reviews/grayna-bacewicz-piano-quintets-quartets-for-four-violins-and-four-cellos/7953.article
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/26/grazyna-bacewicz-chamber-music-review-eloquent-polish-composer-finally-gets-her-due
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/bacewicz-silesian-quartet-and-friends/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/grazyna-bacewicz-the-two-piano-quintets-quartet-for-four-violins-quartet-for-four-cellos-mw0003158618

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Grażyna Bacewicz (5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition after Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century. Bacewicz studied with teachers such as Nadia Boulanger and Carl Flesch, among others. After completing her studies, Bacewicz took part in numerous events as a soloist, composer, and jury member. Many of her compositions feature the violin. Among them are 7 violin concertos, 5 sonatas for violin with piano, 3 for violin solo and 4 numbered symphonies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gra%C5%BCyna_Bacewicz

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The Silesian String Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1978 by the graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. They participated in masterclasses with such artists as, among others, the musicians of the LaSalle Quartet, Amadeus, Juilliard, Smetana and Alban Berg string quartets. The Quartet has performed at numerous festivals and has given over 1000 concerts, attracting enthusiastic critical response. Its repertoire includes over 300 works, of which almost 200 were written by 20th-century composers. More than 100 works were premiered by the Silesian String Quartet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_String_Quartet
http://www.silesian-quartet.com

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