Polish Violin Concertos Piotr Plawner

• 1 I. Allegro 04:18
• 2 II. Andante (molto espressivo) 04:42
• 3 III. Vivace 03:41
• 4 No. 1. Toccata 03:07
• 5 No. 2. Chanson et Boite à Musique 02:18
• 6 No. 3. Mouvement perpétuel 01:50
• 7 No. 4. Aria 03:05
• 8 No. 5. Basso ostinato 01:52
• 9 Andante 04:28
• 10 Allegro 04:43
• 11 I. Rubato 07:33
• 12 II. Adagio 08:43
• 13 III. Vivace 05:40
• Total Runtime 56:00

Info for Polish Violin Concertos

The works on this recording were written by four roughly contemporary Polish composers who settled and pursued their careers in different parts of the world. Grażyna Bacewicz’s First Violin Concerto displays her own glittering virtuosity as a performer, while Alexandre Tansman wrote his Baroque-infused Five Pieces for the great Josef Szigeti. Michał Spisak considered his neo-classical Andante and Allegro to be ‘a little story for violin and orchestra’, while Andrzej Panufnik’s wide-ranging Violin Concerto became a ‘pilgrimage into my past’ and is richly suffused with Polish atmosphere.

„Under the strange generic title of ‘Polish Violin Concertos’, we have a superbly performed and very desirable collection of works for violin and chamber orchestra. Only one of the four composers, Grażyna Bacewicz, remained in their native Poland, and it was during her years as leader of the Polish Radio Orchestra that she gave the 1937 premiere of the First Violin Concerto. It is quite short—a little less than thirteen minutes—the spiky and vivacious outer movements surrounding a rather bitter-sweet central Andante. The disc’s only other concerto comes from Andrzej Panufnik, a composer who spent his mature life in England, and it was there in 1971 that Yehudi Menuhin commissioned Panufnik’s only concerto for the instrument. Here, we move into the mainstream sound-colours of the second half of the Twentieth century, its conventional three movement framework exploring ‘Yehudi’s rare powers of spirituality’. At times the work moves into a world of inner contemplation, seldom making demands on the performer’s technical skills. Only in the final Vivace—that follows an Adagio where time stands still—does the score give evidence of happiness. Alexandre Tansman was to spend most of his eighty-nine years in France where he wrote in a style appropriate to Parisian audiences, with all the ‘naughty’ twists and turns expected in scores of the 1930’s. Each of his Five Pieces are quite short and frequently require solo agility, particularly so in the central ‘Mouvement perpetuel’, which is a short burst of finger-knotting virtuosity. France also became home to Michał Spisak, where he was one of Nadia Boulanger’s many pupils, his affection for the neoclassical style, that had been developed by Stravinsky, shown in two pieces that are highly contrasted in feel and tempo. Throughout the playing of the Polish violinist, Piotr Plawner, and the Kammersymphonie Berlin with Jürgen Bruns conducting, are worthy champions of seldom performed works. The recording from German Radio is of exemplary quality.“ (David’s Review Corner)

Piotr Plawner, violin
Kammersymphonie Berlin
Jürgen Bruns, conductor

Piotr Plawner
gehört zu den kreativsten und begabtesten Geigern der jüngeren Generation. Er hat bei bedeutenden Wettbewerben den ersten Preis errungen: u. a. beim Internationalen Wieniawski Wettbewerb sowie beim Internationalen Musikwettbewerb der ARD in München. Er tritt solistisch in vielen wichtigen Musikzentren, u.a. in Tivoli, Châtelet, Schauspielhaus (Berlin), Herkules Saal (München), Liederhalle (Stuttgart), Palau de la Música Catalana, Teatro Monumental und Concertgebouw. Seit 2005 arbeitet er zusammen mit K.Zimerman. Plawner hat für den BR, WDR, SDR, SWR, ORF, DRS, TVE und das holländische Fernsehen eingespielt. Er hat vom CD-Magazin eine besondere Auszeichnung „CD des Jahres 1998“ (Kammerwerke von Szymanowski) erhalten. Seine neuesten CDs enthalten das Konzert für Violine, Klavier und Streichquartett von Chausson („Frédéric-Preis 2005“ für die beste Kammermusik-CD), die Violinkonzerten von Szymanowski und Karlowicz sowie Gesamtaufnahme der Werke für Violine und Klavier von Bacewicz. Professur an der Musikhochschule in Katowice.

Booklet for Polish Violin Concertos