Bacewicz: Piano Quintets Nos. 1 & 2, Quartet for 4 Violins a

Also available from the Silesian Quartet on Chandos: Bacewicz: Complete String Quartets

The 2017 Gramophone Award-winning Silesian Quartet here presents its second recording on Chandos, again devoted to the works of the Polish female composer Grazyna Bacewicz, in a rare programme full of contrast and individuality. The four works brought together here – two unusual quartet formations and two piano quintets – form an integral part of the central, chamber music strand in Bacewicz's output. While the Quartet for Four Violins and the First Piano Quintet have maintained a strong presence in both concerts and recordings, the intriguing Quartet for Four Cellos and Second Piano Quintet are lesser-known pieces. This is yet another must-have, preceding the fiftieth year of Bacewicz's death commemorations, a composer whose music is now considered by broadcasters, promoters, critics, and artists as an essential part of the Polish repertoire.

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REVIEW:

Bacewicz can generate momentum in the space of a four-minute movement and integrates eloquent bleakness with some of the sharpest, most light-footed musical wit since Haydn…This disc deserves to make a lot of converts.

– Gramophone