Silesian Quartet - Bacewicz: Complete String Quartets (2017)

For their very first recording on Chandos, the multi-award winning Silesian Quartet presents the complete string quartets by Grayna Bacewicz. These lesser-known chamber music treasures by the Polish composer are neatly packaged in a slimline jewel case: two discs here offered for the price of one.

The life of Bacewicz, like that of better-known colleagues such as Witold Lutosawski and Andrzej Panufnik, was conditioned by the political and military events of her time. Her works reflected not only these traumas but also the shifting stylistic currents of twentieth-century music.

Her seven string quartets, written between 1938 and 1965, are a telling barometer of these changes. They also stand as a timeline of her resolute compositional outlook and as a testament to her profound understanding of string instruments. String Quartet No. 1 comes after her studies in Paris in 1932 35 with Nadia Boulanger (composition), André Touret, and Carl Flesch (both violin), No. 2 was written in Warsaw during World War II, Nos 3, 4, and 5 date from the post-war decade, a time of socialist-realist cultural upheavals, while Nos 6 and 7 were composed during the avant-garde musical explosion that thrust Polish music onto the world stage in the late 1950s.

Composer's seven string quartets tell a story parallel to Shostakovich's quartets.Ft, 16/7/16 /// The Silesian handle these works with precision and elan:a tremendous achievement. Performance ***** Recording ***** BBC Music Magazine,Sept'16 /// This is now the favoured option in this repertoire. Excellent performances, sound and booklet notes make this a real winner. A clear first choice for the string quartets of Gra yna Bacewicz. RECORDING OF THE MONTH –MusicWeb,Oct'16

This remarkable canon of works here receives advocacy of the highest order. **** Classical Music,Aug'16 /// The assurance, insight and finish to this set of Bacewicz's seven string quartets make it feel like a landmark. GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH Gramophone, Aug'16 /// The playing is rhythmically impressive and tonally beautiful, and the four men often put terrific intensity into the music it is clear that they know it well and love it. The recordings are splendid and if you are interested in exploring Bacewicz the Quartet composer, this is the way to go. –Classical Source, Oct'16

Less than a year after the Lutoslawski Quartet released its recording of Grazyna Bacewicz's seven quartets on Naxos, here is a rival from the Silesian Quartet at a similar price. Which to choose? The most striking difference is speed: the Silesians knock minutes off the run times of each quartet compared to the Lutoslawskis, and their default playing style is springy and fleet-footed, bringing out the idiomatic nature of Bacewicz's string writing. Unlike the Lutoslawskis, they stick to chronological order, which makes for a first disc that is perhaps too genial and dance-like, albeit with some darker moments; the second, which includes the substantial fifth and the lean, sometimes eerie Nos 6 and 7 from the 1960s, is more varied. In the end the Lutoslawskis weightier reading is perhaps the more satisfying, but the Silesians version is highly persuasive too, and it is good to hear these works interpreted differently. **** –Guardian,21/7/16

TRACKLIST

CD1
01. String Quartet No. 1: I. Moderato-Più mosso
02. String Quartet No. 1: II. Tema con variazioni
03. String Quartet No. 1: III. Vivo
04. String Quartet No. 2: I. Allegro ma non troppo
05. String Quartet No. 2: II. Andante
06. String Quartet No. 2: III. Allegro
07. String Quartet No. 3: I. Allegro ma non troppo
08. String Quartet No. 3: II. Andante
09. String Quartet No. 3: III. Vivo
10. String Quartet No. 4: I. Andante-Allegro
11. String Quartet No. 4: II. Andante
12. String Quartet No. 4: III. Allegro giocoso

CD2
01. String Quartet No. 5: I. Moderato
02. String Quartet No. 5: II. Scherzo (Fuga): Giocoso
03. String Quartet No. 5: III. Corale: Largo
04. String Quartet No. 5: IV. Variazioni: Allegro
05. String Quartet No. 6: I. Andante-Allegro-Andante
06. String Quartet No. 6: II. Vivace
07. String Quartet No. 6: III. Grave
08. String Quartet No. 6: IV. Allegro
09. String Quartet No. 7: I. Allegro
10. String Quartet No. 7 : II. Grave
11. String Quartet No. 7: III. Con vivezza