Cover of second BBC album of orchestral works by Grażyna Bacewicz (from its Amazon.com Web page)
A month ago I wrote my latest article about the multi-album project by the German label cpo to record the complete orchestral works of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz. This included the first of her four symphonies and her “Concerto for Orchestra.” I concluded that article by citing a similar project launched by the BBC. The second volume in that project will be released one week today, and I shall now discuss both its and its predecessor.
Taken together these account for three of her four symphonies. The first volume accounts for the last two, and the volume about to be released begins with the second symphony. This is followed by two concertos, the first, from 1949, for piano and orchestra, and the second, completed in 1962, for large orchestra. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Sakari Oramo with Yuri Yuzefovich as concertmaster. The concerto soloist in the latest release is pianist Peter Donohoe.
As I had written about the cpo releases, what stands out most is “the composer’s bold approach to instrumentation.” Given that two European ensembles have committed themselves to documenting that approach, it is probably worth nothing that attention to Bacewicz has been more than a little modest here in San Francisco. Nevertheless, San Francisco Symphony began one of its programs in May of last year with her “Overture,” conducted by Gemma New; and, at the very end of the year, Jory Fankuchen led the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in a performance of her “Concerto for String Orchestra.”
While my interest in Bacewicz’ music has been reinforced primarily by the recordings I have encountered, I am hoping that both Davies Symphony Hall and the Veterans Building will afford further opportunities to listen to her music in the foreseeable future.
No comments:
Post a Comment