Bacewicz: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 BBC Symphony Orchestra & Sakari Oramo

• Grażyna Bacewicz (1909 - 1969): Symphony No. 3:
• 1 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 3: I. Drammatico – Molto allegro energico 08:23
• 2 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 3: II. Andante – Un poco più mosso – Tempo I 07:26
• 3 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 3: III. Vivace 03:53
• 4 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 3: IV. Finale 08:53
• Symphony No. 4:
• 5 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 4: I. Appassionato – Allegro inquieto 07:27
• 6 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 4: II. Adagio – Poco più mosso – Tempo I 06:31
• 7 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 4: III. Scherzo. Vivace 04:01
• 8 Bacewicz: Symphony No. 4: IV. Adagio mesto – Allegro furioso 07:30
• Overture:
• 9 Bacewicz: Overture 05:42
• Total Runtime 59:46

Info for Bacewicz: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

The three works on this album were all composed between 1943 and 1953. Despite the extreme experiences and difficulties she faced during this undoubtedly most tragic time in Poland’s history, Grażyna Bacewicz managed to compose outstanding works which constitute splendid testimony to the vibrant creative potency for which she was renowned. Until 1939 her career as a virtuoso violinist and an emerging composer evolved naturally. Trained by the best Polish pedagogues at the Warsaw Conservatory, she went on to acquire an international education thanks to an Ignacy Paderewski Scholarship, which allowed her to pursue her studies in Paris: composition with Nadia Boulanger, violin with André Touret (1932 – 33) and Carl Flesch (1934 – 35). In spite of her soloistic successes she decided to join the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra as its leader, in order that an improved knowledge and understanding of an orchestra should inform her composition. Poland then suffered terribly at the hands of Hitler and Stalin, before coming under the control of the Soviet Union. This album was recorded and released in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state cultural institution promoting Polish culture around the world and actively participating in international cultural exchange.

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

Sakari Oramo
is the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Principal Conductor of West Coast Kokkola Opera and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. After serving for a decade as Chief Conductor of the Finnish radio Symphony Orchestra, he is now their Honorary Conductor.

In the 2017-18 season Oramo is highlighting the 100th Anniversary of independence of Finland by giving a complete cycle of Jean Sibelius symphonies with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, alongside with music by other compatriots like Aarre Merikanto and Esa-Pekka Salonen. With the same orchestra, he is also undertaking an extensive tour of Japan in March 2018.

With the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, he is giving an all-Stravinsky festival in October 2017, as well as a Composer Festival in November, focusing on HK Gruber´s music. Later in the season, Oramo is championing Swedish composer Ludvig Norman (1831-1885) by giving a rare performance of his Third Symphony.

With West Coast Kokkola Opera and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, he is performing Giacomo Meyerbeer´s rare ”L´Etoile du Nord” in Helsinki on 11 November 2017, a production that received rave reviews already at its first outing in Kokkola in July.

Oramo has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra (All of which he will conduct again during 2018), Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin as well as the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.

Booklet for Bacewicz: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1