Bacewicz Piano Concerto; Concerto for Two Pianos*; Overture; Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion Peter Jablonski, *Elisabeth Brauss (piano); Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Collon Ondine ODE 1427-2 62:27 mins
The bustling orchestral Overture whips up excitement for what’s to come. Why isn’t this natty five-minute number played in far more concerts? Full marks, too, for the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s energy, with the build-ups of tension expertly handled by conductor Nicholas Collon.
The bulk of this brilliantly played album is given over to two concertos by the Polish composer. The Piano Concerto (1949) might well appeal to those who enjoy Prokofiev and Bartók, though its sweep, energy and internal logic are entirely Bacewicz’s own. Peter Jablonski, whose recording of the composer’s solo piano works was shortlisted for a BBC Music Magazine Award, is the excellent soloist.
Elisabeth Brauss joins him for the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, which dates from the 1960s and shows just how distilled Bacewicz’s style had become. Its first movement is bracing and percussive, the central Larghetto muted and fragmented, while the finale needs much nimble agility. The two pianos sometimes act as one, at other times are in opposition, and Brauss and Jablonski are fine equal partners here.
The Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion (1953) pays homage to Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Like everything here, it’s a piece that bursts with vitality and life. The FRSO responds with aplomb, and the Ondine sound engineers have caught the orchestral detail in wonderful clarity.
Rebecca Franks
