Gra?yna Bacewicz is a Polish twentieth-century composer of the first magnitude, but she escaped lasting fame. Her String Quartets and Violin Concertos are the go-to...

Gra?yna Bacewicz is a Polish twentieth-century composer of the first magnitude, but she escaped lasting fame. Her String Quartets and Violin Concertos are the go-to works; the Cello Concertos are “Bacewicz 201.” The lyrical themes and melodies, rhythmic propulsion and memorable phrases of the neo-romantic 1951 concerto give the Shostakovich concertos a run for their money. The second work (1961) is starker, sparser, with pointillist touches of orchestral color to the cello part, driven by an unrelenting inner pulse. It’s a kind of orchestral cello sonata, discordant and angular, but winning, given time and willingness. The 1943 Overture, with fading hints of Parisian neoclassicism, makes a perfect curtain-raiser.

– Jens F. Laurson, Listen