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Friday, July 3, 2020

Alexandre Tansman; Grażyna Bacewicz - Piano Concertos (Julia Kociuban)


Information

Composer: Alexandre Tansman; Grażyna Bacewicz
  • (01) Tansman - Piano Concerto No. 1
  • (05) Bacewicz - Piano Concerto

Julia Kociuban, piano
Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra
Paweł Przytocki, conductor

Date: 2020
Label: DUX
http://en.dux.pl/tansman-bacewicz-piano-concertos-kociuban-artur-rubinstein-philharmonic-orchestra.html

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Review

These two Polish piano concertos, written a quarter-century apart, make for diverting listening but LP playing time. Given the rarity of the concertos on disc, however, that might not prove an insuperable obstacle.

Tansman’s 1925 Concerto embraces impressionism in its opening paragraphs, quite vivid elements too, made the more so by virtue of Dux’s very forward sound perspective. Fortunately the piano is not spotlit, Mercury long player-style, so that orchestral detail is in no way suppressed and whilst the soloist is no primus inter pares - this is a real concerto not a concerto grosso piece – she has been sensibly balanced. Amidst the dramatic flourishes one can certainly detect Ravel’s influence but the powerhouse chording, the exuberance and rhythmic pattering are all Tansman’s. Folk inflection has to wait for the slow movement, a study in sophisticated songfulness, and slightly jazzy, before a scintillating scherzino – blink and it’s gone – leads on to a somewhat neo-classically enriched finale. Here one can feel Tansman’s exuberance, his confidence in the medium, and his brilliantly communicative joyfulness.

Grażyna Bacewicz wrote her concerto in 1948 for a competition organised by the Polish Composers’ Union to mark the centenary of Chopin’s death. No first prize was awarded but at least she won second prize. Of her concertos it’s those for her own instrument, the violin, that are the most popular; this piano concerto has been largely overlooked. Possibly its ‘occasional’ nature has told against it. Nevertheless, it’s valuable to have it recorded in tandem with the Tansman, dissimilar though they are, and in so spirited and forthright a performance as this. Stormy and neo-classical it is also, for Bacewicz, quite a flashy work not representative especially of her more ambiguous and tensile chamber pieces. Even in the calm opening of the central slow movement one soon finds things ratcheting up several notches, but the most personal music is also to be found here, a limpid piano soliloquy reminiscent of a nocturnal amidst a series of taut variations. One can certainly discern the outline of an Oberek amidst the toccata-like brilliance of the finale. It’s a work of virtuoso - externalised qualities, in other words, with shafts of intimacy.

Both concertos have been finely served by the young Julia Kociuban and by the gutsy performances of the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra under their conductor Paweł Przytocki. Still, another concerto wouldn’t have gone amiss.

-- Jonathan WoolfMusicWeb International

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Alexandre Tansman (12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of Jewish origin. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life, being granted French citizenship in 1938. His music is often said to be primarily neoclassical, drawing on his Polish Jewish heritage as well as his French musical influences. Tansman wrote more than 300 works, including 7 operas, 11 ballets, 6 oratorios, 80 orchestral pages (with 9 symphonies), and numerous works of chamber and piano music. Almost all his works have been now recorded on CDs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Tansman

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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.

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Julia Kociuban (born January 18, 1992 in Kraków, Poland) graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University in Warsaw and the Salzburg Mozarteum. The young artist has been invited to perform in renowned European concert halls, as well as international music festivals in America and Asia. Kociuban performs solo recitals, in chamber music and as soloist with renowned orchestras and conductors. She has recorded for many European radio and TV stations, and international labels such as Sony Classical, Gramola and DUX. Alongside her solo career, Kociuban teaches at the Bacewicz Academy in Łódź.
http://juliakociuban.com/

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6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Thank you so much. Is there any chance to share Bacewicz's cello concertos from the same record label? Thanks in advance.

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  4. Buona sera, Ronald - volevo segnalarti che il file non è più funzionante.
    Se puoi, quando vuoi, potresti per favore ricaricarlo ?
    Grazie in anticipo.
    S.

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  5. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://fumacrom.com/3rQ5j
    or
    https://uii.io/Xr0v
    or
    https://exe.io/STkhVqxI

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