Ondine Releases 5/2023: Bacewicz: Piano Concerto, a.o. - Jablonski & Brauss, FRSO, Collon ODE 1427-2

The music of Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) has been enjoying a revival during the past two decades. Bacewicz was an outstanding figure in 20th-century music, a major Polish composer and a versatile musician. This album by the award-winning pianist Peter Jablonski, pianist Elisabeth Brauß, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon includes some rarely recorded gems: the composer’s Piano Concerto together with the late Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in its first digital recording. Also included is the composer’s homage to Bartók, Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion, as well as the composer’s early exuberant Overture written during the German occupation of Poland.
Bacewicz herself was an accomplished pianist and often performed her own works for piano. Her formidable pianistic skills mean that her writing for piano in the concertos is idiomatic and written with excellent knowledge of the resources of the instrument. Bacewicz composed her Piano Concerto in 1949 for the Fryderyk Chopin Composition Competition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chopin’s death, winning the second prize. Piano Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1966) was premiered in Warsaw in 1968. Built on a variety of rhythmical figures and sounds, the concerto feels spontaneous and playful, which belies the difficulty the two performers face. It demands focus, technical prowess and stamina, and impeccable communication. The concerto most clearly shows Bacewicz’s respect for musical from: although there is hardly a single theme or a melody, and despite its complexity, it is clear and almost classical in construction.
This album was co-organised together with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence.
Peter Jablonski is an internationally acclaimed Swedish pianist. Discovered by Claudio Abbado and Vladimir Ashkenazy and signed by Decca at the age of 17, he went on to perform, collaborate, and record with over 150 of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Mariinsky, La Scala Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestre Nationale de France, NHK Tokyo, DSO Berlin, Warsaw Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev, Kurt Sanderling, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, and Myung-Whun Chung, to name a few. He has performed and recorded the complete piano concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Bartók, and all piano sonatas by Prokofiev. Peter Jablonski’s solo piano album of works by Grażyna Bacewicz won the French Academy’s Charles Cros Award and is nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Awards.
The pianist Elisabeth Brauß has been praised by Gramophone Magazine for “the maturity and sophistication of her thoughtful interpretations” which “would be the pride of any pianist twice her age”. As a member of the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme, Elisabeth had many solo, chamber and concerto engagements across the UK. In 2021 she made her debut at the BBC Proms, performing Mozart with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. This season, Elisabeth makes her debut with Hallé Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and Göttinger Symphonie Orchester.
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle), and its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture. The Radio Orchestra of ten players founded in 1927 grew to symphony orchestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, and as of autumn 2021 Nicholas Collon.
British conductor Nicholas Collon is recognized for his elegant conducting style, searching musical intellect and inspirational music-making. He began as Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony in August 2021 - the first non-Finnish conductor ever to hold this post. As part of the orchestra’s continuing commitment to the Ondine label, Nicholas Collon will record a number of albums in his first season. Collon continues as Principal Guest of the Guerzenich Orchester, and will also return to the Residentie Orkest, where he was Chief Conductor 2016-2021. The Aurora Orchestra, of which Collon is Founder and Principal Conductor, remains at the heart of his activities