On July 1st Chandos Records in co- production with the Polish Radio released a new CD of Grazyna Bacewicz’s Violin Concertos No.1, 3 and 7with Joanna Kurkowicz as a soloist with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz.
The year 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Grazyna Bacewicz. She was regarded by Witold Lutoslawski as “a distinguished Polish composer of the twentieth century and one of the foremost women composers of all time.” She certainly deserves much wider recognition than she has received to date outside of her native country of Poland.
The recording was enthusiastically hailed in the GUARDIAN by Andrew Clements: “…superbly played selection… It is an interesting collection, and Joanna Kurkowicz is a keenly alert soloist in all three works… They are wonderfully idiomatic works, colourfully scored and always interesting.”
Norman Lebrecht of La Scena Musicale wrote:”…Bacewicz’ music speaks with unerring agreeable directness. Joanna Kurkowicz expounds some extraordinary solo monologues, opening up the composer’s inner world like August sunflower…”