Chandos release of G. Bacewicz’ violin concertos vol. 2 July 2011

In July 2011 Chandos Records in co- production with the Polish Radio released a new CD of Grazyna Bacewicz Violin Concertos No.2, 4 and 5 with Joanna Kurkowicz as a soloist with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz.
The recording was  Chandos Records  CD OF THE MONTH in July 2011.

In Joanna’s words: “I hope that violinists around the world will take up these concertos and that listeners will enjoy them. They are like rare stones. You have to find them, but once found they prove to shine brilliantly.”

“This is superb follow-up to Joanna Kurkowicz’ first disc of the Violin Concertos by Grazyna Bacewicz… played with fire and passion… ”
—BBC MUSIC: ***** Performance ***** Sound

“Joanna Kurkowicz proves the ideal exponent of these impassioned scores. She propels the music’s many passages of vivacious brilliance with virtuoso elan, retaining absolute tonal focus and immaculate coordination in even the most challenging of sequences.”
—STRAD MAGAZINE, Julian Haylock

Robert Johnson of Radio New Zealand wrote: “Kurkowicz is a highly accomplished soloist with an expressive style of playing and virtuosity to burn when it’s required. … It’s difficult to imagine a more persuasive argument being made for the music of Bacewicz.”

Kurkowicz Wins Diapason d’Or March, 2010

Polish violinist Joanna Kurkowicz’s recording of Bacewicz Concertos with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Warsaw under conductor Lukasz Borowicz has been awarded the “Diapason d’Or”, or “Golden Tuning Fork,” for March 2010 from the French music journal, Diapason. The Diapason d’Or is a monthly recommendation given to outstanding classical music recordings by reviewers of the Diapason. This award is broadly equivalent to the Editor’s Choice award given by Gramophone.

Bacewicz recording 2009 and 2010 nominations

Chandos recoding of G. Bacewicz Violin Concertos was nominated for the 2010 “Fryderyk Award”, Poland’s most prestigious music recording award.

In October 2009 The CD was also nominated for the “Preis der Deutchen Schallplaten Kritik” 2009 (The German Record Critics’ Award) which has been in existence since 1963. It was inaugurated to set the “most rigorous standards for supreme achievement” in the field of recording.

Chandos Records (CHAN 10533) of Grazyna Bacewicz Concertos for violin and orchestra has been placed #6 on Amazon.com’s list of top 25“Best Classical Albums of 2009”.

Chandos release of G. Bacewicz’ violin concertos July 2009

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…”