Grażyna Bacewicz - Piano Sonata No. 2

Polish Music Exposed: Through the Generations, The Royal Academy of Music Piano Festival

www.szaluckapiano.com

00:00-6:30 Maestoso-Agitato
6:30-13:54 Largo
13:54-17:20 Toccata.Vivo

In 1953 Bacewicz started working on the Second Piano Sonata and Poland enters The Khrushchev Thaw phase - a period after Stalin's death when censorship and repression of the Soviet Union (also towards music) relented, giving more freedom to the citizens of the Eastern Bloc. It is perhaps forgotten that Bacewicz, as well as being a violinist, was also a talented pianist and premiered most of her piano works herself, as was the case with the Second Sonata. It is worth mentioning that this is the only piano sonata she agreed to release; the First Piano Sonata was not published and several others have never seen the light of day. The piece is one of the finest of its kind in 20th centuray piano literature – great formal planning goes along with surprising and powerful changes of action. The first movement calls to mind Prokofiev's 'War Sonatas'; with a heavy, thick approach to the texture, fiery chords and lightning passages in the development section. In contrast, the following Largo introduces a peaceful choral section, which builds and finds its release in the polyphonic imitation of the voices. The final Toccata is based on a Polish folk dance, Oberek. A virtuosic and condensed movement reveals Bacewicz's mischievous character by giving several technical challenges to the pianist.