GRAZYNA BACEWICZ: Violin Concertos 1, 3, and 7 – Joanna Kurkowicz, violin/Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Lukasz Borowicz – Chandos CHAN 10533, 63:47 ***** [Distr. by Naxos]:
It opens with a percussive snap, then legato probings on the violin. Expressively played by Joanna Kurkowicz, Grażyna Bacewicz’s Violin Concerto No. 7 (1965) reminds me of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Symphony No. 4, Arabescata (1962) not for its structure and themes, but for its place in the composer’s repertoire. Both works are black sheep, prickly modernistic explorations into atonality; both are brashly experimental. Bacewicz’s concerto features cadenzas that are as full-bodied and tasty as ripe mangoes. Kurkowicz’s largo phrasings are unabashedly sensuous. Like Alban Berg’s violin concerto, this work teeters on the edge of the darkness, but never surrenders to outright despair. How would Kurkowicz play other violin works of her countrymen: Krzysztof Penderecki’s two violin concertos (and the Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra), as well as Witold Lutosławski’s ornery Partita for Violin and Orchestra?
Bacewicz’s earlier violin concertos, #3 (1948) and #1 (1937), at first seem to be written by a different person. With their initial sweetness tone and expressive phrasing, they hearken back the virtuosity of Fritz Kreisler. Suddenly they erupt with the dramatic aftershocks of Dimitry Shostakovich. Her interplay between orchestra and soloist can be a bit conservative, but in an early 20th century sense.
Both opening movements feature energetic allegros and pyrotechnical cadenzas, expertly handled by Ms. Kurkowicz. Bacewitz’s use of a xylophone in No. 1, however, is downright quaint. But in both concertos, the composer’s developing musical imagination surpasses the limitations of her tonal styles. In the case of No. 3, she was probably trying to cope with the prevalent socialist realist style of postwar Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, it’s far better than the two violin concertos Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov passed off for the functionaries. In No. 1, she was exploring new territory and may have encountered Bartok’s first Violin Concerto and his rhapsodies for violin and orchestra in her youth. The adagio, while lyrical, has truly eerie moments. The third movement, is upbeat without any dips into sentimentality. Her moods are sudden and surprising, with bursts in alternate directions like a tiger swallowtail. An odd choice for inclusion on this CD is the Overture from 1943. At almost six minutes long and does tip the CD over the one-hour mark. However, it’s neither notable nor rich in musical ideas. Couldn’t the producers have given us one more violin concerto instead, say the fifth? I’m burning to know what that one sounds like. Responsible for an earlier disc of Bacewicz’s violin sonatas, Kurkowicz may be the one who introduce a new generation of Americans to this composer’s beguiling creations.
— Peter Bates
