Bacewicz: Violin Concertos No 1, 3 And 7, Overture / Borowicz, Kurkowicz, Polish Radio SO

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BACEWICZ Violin Concertos: No. 7; No. 3; No. 1. Overture • Joanna Kurkowicz (vn); ?ukasz Borowicz, cond; Polish RSO • CHANDOS 10533 (63:47)


The recorded works of Gra?yna Bacewicz (1909–1969) consist almost entirely of compositions for violin in various combinations, with a few piano pieces thrown in for good measure. Violinist Joanna Kurkowicz has contributed to that catalog three of Bacewicz’s seven violin concertos, conductor ?ukasz Borowicz having suggested (according to Kurkowicz) the Overture as a companion piece. (Several years ago, Kurkowicz released a collection of Bacewicz’s violin sonatas—No. 4, No. 5, and No. 2—and short pieces—Oberek No. 1, Partita, Capriccio, and Polish Capriccio —with pianist Gloria Cheng on Chandos 10250.)


The program opens with the last of the three concertos, No. 7, from 1965. Despite its modernity, this Concerto has been tailor-made for the violin by its violinist-composer. So no matter how colorful or impressionistic its orchestration, the solo always maintains equality of interest. The entire work, divided into the traditional three movements, lasts just a bit less than 22 minutes, with the cadenza in the first—a movement almost eight-minutes in length—arriving it seems almost before the Concerto has gotten underway, so firmly does the interplay of capricious melody and texture hold the listener’s interest. The comparisons in the notes with Szymanowski’s First Concerto hardly seem out of place, although Bacewicz appears to have wandered farther along that path than did the earlier composer. Fairy-like sonorities and eerie timbres predominate in the second movement, with textures suddenly piling up and then as suddenly dispersing. The third movement begins with a commanding orchestral statement, but the violin launches into almost manic figuration. Joanna Kurkowicz seems particularly comfortable breathing these rarified atmospheres, and Borowicz brings a kind of preternatural clarity to the sprinkles of orchestral stardust. The engineers have captured both the detail and the lithe tone of Kurkowicz’s 1699 Pietro Giovanni Guarneri.


The Third Concerto, from 1948 (Kurkowicz and Borowicz play them in reverse order), remains closer to traditional tonality, though the violinistic figuration often suggests the kind of pulverization listeners will remember from the Seventh Concerto. Nevertheless, the orchestral parts have a cinematic sweep, with Romantic expressivity echoing through its basic modernity. (If the Seventh Concerto recalls Berg and Szymanowski, this one sounds in some ways closer to Korngold!) Once again, despite the difference in style, the cadenza arrives almost before it seems the movement has gotten fully underway. And the movement ends with a bang, not, as in the Seventh Concerto, with a whimper. Adrian Thomas’s notes trace the slow movement’s lyricism to what Bacewicz identified as a little-known song, sung at first simply before rising to heights of dramatic expression. The jaunty finale (the notes identify a dance-like Tatra Mountains motif), provides—as did the first movement—a harmonic and melodic background for the frequently frantic figuration, though nostalgia haunts the Meno that precedes the dance’s final appearance.


The 12-odd-minutes First Concerto, from 1937, combines motoric scramble with poignant reflection in its first movement, a lyricism that foreshadows the out-of-focus harmonic schemes of the Third Concerto in its second movement (which strays farther toward its end), and a sprightly finale. The tumultuous Overture, from 1943, rhythmic and complex (compare an exhilarating rhythmic fugue by Karl Amadeus Hartmann), provides an exhilarating conclusion to the collection. The orchestra plays it with a combination of exuberant abandon and disciplined clarity.


Kurkowicz’s suggestion in the booklet that these works deserve a wider reputation appears to be more than mere puffery. Imaginative texturally, harmonically, melodically—and not least, violinistically—they certainly deserve the kind of sympathetic performances that Kurkowicz and Borowicz give them. If Bacewicz seems in these riveting, strongly appealing works more a composer-violinist than a violinist-composer, many will doubtless consider that designation to redound to her credit. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham


Product Description:

  • Release Date: July 28, 2009


  • Catalog Number: CHAN 10533


  • UPC: 095115153321


  • Label: Chandos


  • Number of Discs: 1


  • Composer: Grazyna Bacewicz


  • Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz


  • Orchestra/Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra


  • Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz



Works:

  1. Overture

    Composer: Grazyna Bacewicz

    Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz


  2. Concerto for Violin no 7

    Composer: Grazyna Bacewicz

    Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra

    Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz (Violin)

    Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz


  3. Concerto for Violin no 3

    Composer: Grazyna Bacewicz

    Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra

    Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz (Violin)

    Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz


  4. Concerto for Violin no 1

    Composer: Grazyna Bacewicz

    Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra

    Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz (Violin)

    Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz