Two years ago i wrote that a composer i’d been “trying to get the measure of” was Grażyna Bacewicz. Since then, CPO have helped that process with a series of albums exploring her orchestral music, the latest of which, Complete Orchestral Works Vol. 3, has recently been released. It’s clear that, from the label’s perspective, their job is now done; the press release trumpets the fact that, “[w]ith this third release, the recording of all orchestral works by … Grażyna Bacewicz, composed during her relatively short life, is completed.” That statement is so completely wrong as to be laughable; ignoring pieces for chamber and string orchestra there are still at least 11 orchestral works* missing from CPO’s not even remotely trying to be complete series.
Not that it matters, as Vol. 3 simply consolidates further the same pattern established in the previous two volumes. Namely, that Bacewicz was a composer with essentially just two settings: a lyrical mode, only occasionally utilised, and invariably undermined by her primary preoccupation with light, boisterous, bombastic music, all froth and pace, japes and jollity. However, what the previous volumes also indicated was that Bacewicz, perhaps growing tired of sticking so slavishly to her own formula for so long, became marginally more interesting later in her life, and that’s again proven true on Vol. 3.
The early Symphony No. 1 is extremely weak, and for the same reasons as other works previously discussed on Vols. 1 and 2. Propulsion and cavorting in the first movement – violin attempts at melody, and a behaviour shift to strange little swells amount to nothing – yield to something akin to a noodling, light music underscore in the second. The distinct impression here is that Bacewicz either wasn’t interested in or capable of having a long-term idea of scale, treating her ideas with what feels like impatience. Not that it’s always clear what counts as an idea, and in fact the second movement sounds more like a sketch than something fully worked through. From here the symphony continues via another bit of proto-John Williams-esque whimsy, like an accompaniment to something missing, with nothing below its bright surface. The finale is unsurprisingly more about action than substance, the kind of superficial, crowd-pleasing derring-do designed to satisfy only the most staunchly undemanding of listeners, who believe if they hear enough loud poundings that something exciting must be happening (it’s surely only a matter of time before she becomes standard Proms prolefeed).
The Polish Overture fares little better, determined to entertain rather than actually say or do something meaningful. It has a nice dreamy, muted episode, a lightly impressionistic reverie that comes as a relief from the mindless merriment, and later there’s an unexpected sideways shift into an irregular, askew dance. But as usual these promising episodes are diminished by the bland trivialities surrounding them, made even more irritating here due to the work’s relentlessly slack, chugging tempo.
The later Partita for Orchestra is more engaging, attaining a genuine lyrical high point in the Preludium, and a more variegated, Walton-esque swooping and scurrying Toccata. But it’s at its best in the slow, thoughtful soundworld of the Intermezzo, for once a place of genuine repose that undergoes an interesting central swell, one that feels like it comes from within rather than due to anything external. If only Bacewicz had wanted to write more music like this, yet we get barely three minutes before she’s back to her tried and tested unfocused scampering in a Rondo where nothing at all matters.
Best of all – surely among the best music Bacewicz ever wrote – are the two late works, the Concerto for Large Symphony Orchestra and In una parte, dating from 1962 and 1967 respectively. The former has a superb second movement (Largo) that’s mysterious and disorienting; ending up in tiny, chamber-like music, vague and uncertain with Shostakovich like metallic percussion and odd sighs at its end, it’s wonderfully cryptic and a far cry from Bacewicz’s usual stuff. And the following movement suggests in its tempo indication – Vivo (giocoso) – that we’re in for more of that usual stuff, yet for once Bacewicz makes the momentum and the music itself nicely ambiguous, shape-shifting in a way that suggests anything might happen. Against this is a forceful response from the horns, who seem to be railing against the uncertainty. In una parte takes this further, a slow, mysterious opening suddenly hurling us into a romp … which immediately burns out. It’s reduced to faint sounds, mere vestiges of ideas, continuing as a seriously unstable soundworld that contains real fire and punch at its strongest, yet its tendency to keep burning out again leaves us wondering what on earth is going to happen next. Composed just a couple of year before she died, this is undoubtedly Grażyna Bacewicz at her absolute best.
Released late last year by CPO, Complete Orchestral Works Vol. 3 is available on CD and download.
*Suite for Orchestra (1931), Sinfonietta (1932), Three caricatures (1932), Convoi de joie (1932), Introduction and Capriccio (1947), Waltz (1948), Grotesque (1949), Serenade (1950), Mazur (1951), Joking oberek (1956) and New Year’s Eve Oberek (1959)
