Grażyna Bacewicz - Piano Works (Ewa Kupiec)

Information

Composer: Grażyna Bacewicz

• Piano Sonata No. 2
• Scherzo. Vivace
• Rondino
• Piano Sonatina
• Children's Suite
• 3 Burlesken
• 2 Etüden
• Kleines Triptychon
• 10 Etüden

Ewa Kupiec, piano

Date: 2000

Label: Hänssler

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Review

Although Grove lists several other pieces‚ the booklet claims that this disc includes all Grazyna Bacewicz’s music for solo piano‚ adding that ‘her sister has not authorised publication of the remaining piano works’. What we have here suggests that Bacewicz concentrated what one might call her neo­Classical ‘toccata style’ into her keyboard works. She was a fine pianist‚ playing not only her own music in public‚ but she was better known as an exceptional solo violinist; indeed she was so busy with her (dual) solo career that she did not devote herself to full­time composition until her mid­forties. Real lyricism‚ what one might call her ‘violin manner’‚ is in rather short supply here: the fine singing melody of the Sonata’s slow movement‚ the very simple‚ almost child­like ‘Mélodie’ of the Sonatina and no more than a couple of the Etudes. Her ‘toccata manner’ often has real character‚ mark you: the Sonata’s first movement shows that lyricism and elegance can exist within it‚ and although some of the Etudes sound as though they were designed to develop steely‚ agile fingers and strong wrists‚ their textures are inventive enough for most of them to stand up as concert pieces. The early Children’s Suite‚ eight slight but fresh and tuneful miniatures‚ has much charm. The average length of the pieces on this disc‚ including the Sonata and Sonatina movements‚ is not much over two minutes and they are best not listened to at a sitting. Best of all would be to alternate them with the longer spans and more lyrical expression of Bacewicz’s later chamber music‚ of which a fair amount is now available on disc. Ewa Kupiec plays admirably‚ searching out the essence of these pithy but not often emotionally expansive pieces‚ and she is cleanly recorded.

— Gramophone

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Grażyna Bacewicz (5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist of Lithuanian origin. Educated in Łódź, Warsaw and Paris, she studied composition with Kazimierz Sikorski and Nadia Boulanger and violin with prominent teachers including Carl Flesch. She achieved early recognition as a performer and later devoted herself primarily to composition and teaching. Bacewicz produced a substantial body of neoclassical music, with particular emphasis on violin and string repertoire, including seven violin concertos and seven string quartets. Her works received numerous international and national awards.

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Ewa Kupiec (born 2 November 1964) is a Polish pianist and Professor at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. She studied in Katowice, Warsaw and London, and gained international recognition after winning the 1992 ARD International Music Competition. Her career has included performances at major festivals and collaborations with distinguished conductors. Kupiec's discography includes 38 CDs featuring works by composers such as Chopin, Schubert, Dvořak, Enescu, Szymanowski and Lutosławski. Her recordings have received major awards from the ICMA, Fryderyk and Echo Klassik.

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