Bacewicz Cello Concerto No. 1
Grażyna Bacewicz Cello Concerto No. 1 Program Notes
Bacewicz Cello Concerto No. 1 (1951) Born in 1906 in Łódź, Poland’s third-largest city, to a musical family, the young Grażyna showed early promise, with violin and composition studies taking her to Warsaw and then Paris. Her teachers included Nadia Boulanger (teacher of Aaron Copland, Astor Piazzola, Philip Glass) for composition, and Carl Flesch, a central figure in 20 th violin pedagogy. After concertizing as a soloist across Europe, she returned to Poland in 1936, taking up the role of concertmaster of the Polish Radio Orchestra and marrying that year, also increasing the pace of her composing. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, she performed her works in concerts sympathetic to Polish resistance. Following the war’s end, she became a professor at the state conservatory back in Łódź, which, from 1999 was named in honor of her and her older brother, pianist and composer Kiejstut Bacewicz. The post-war period in Polish music was a fascinating one: the state supported festivals of new Polish music, and composers like Bacewicz, Witold Lutosławski, and a younger generation including Krzysztof Penderecki, used traditional classical music forms with, initially, a folk-like idiom, informed by music from the 1930s and ‘40s. Yet, under the watchful eye of the USSR, they were slower to adopt some of the latest American or Western European musical fashions. This First Cello was written for the Czech cellist Miloš Sádlo (1912-2008), known for his collaborations with Bohuslav Martinů, David Oistrakh, and for studying in Spain to study with Pablo Casals (before eventually teaching at the University of San Diego). The concerto is a tour-de-force of solo cello writing, and is also an ambitious work for an orchestra. The first movement alternates between richly legato tuttis and humorous scherzo- like writing. Listeners may recognize the musical language of Hindemith, or of Shostakovich (three years Bacewicz’s senior). The form – moving between these materials – is generally traditional, and includes a fantastically virtuosic cadenza. The second movement is Andante tranquillo, with the cello singing over simpler accompaniment. Bacewicz introduces some agitato before returning to the calm, and a perdendosi (dying away) end. The opening of the third movement is a bold symphonic romp for the orchestra, introducing the humor of syncopated passages of hemiolas (in this case, a three feel over a two-beat pulse). This is all an introduction to the cello, and after it’s had its turn with this music, the mood shifts towards a nostalgic section with an inventive ostinato in the violins, playing sul ponticello (a glassy effect, with their bows nearer their bridges); it’s perhaps an eerie effect under the rich singing cello melody. With Bacewicz seeing a recent international resurgence, it’s likely that more teachers will assign this concerto alongside the roster of more frequently-performed concertos: decades to come will include more performances of this marvelous work, one of her impressive oeuvre! Born: 5 February 1909, Łódź, Poland Died: 17 January 1969 (aged 59), Warsaw, PolandThe Cello Concerto No. 1 is a substantial work for cello and orchestra by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, one of the most significant European composers of the twentieth century. The concerto is rhythmically vital and emotionally direct.
Bacewicz composed the concerto in 1951, and it was premiered the same year to considerable acclaim in Poland.
A typical performance lasts approximately 22 to 26 minutes.
Listen for the assertive, driving energy of the outer movements and the deeply lyrical slow movement, where the cello sings with great warmth and expressivity. Bacewicz writes idiomatically for the cello, making the most of its rich lower register.
Bacewicz was not only a gifted composer but also a virtuoso violinist who performed her own works internationally. She is increasingly recognized as one of the most important Polish composers of any era, male or female.
