Customer Reviews

Romatic Concerto for Piano & Orchestra

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Tadeusz Baird (1922-1981) wanted to have his 1949 Piano Concerto forgotten as quickly as he wrote it (about three months). Turns out that under the much more able hands of Adam Wodnicki and the direction of Jerzy Swoboda ( National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice), the work is no less lovely and enchanting than those of his colleagues Kazimierz Serocki (1922-1982) and Jan Krenz (*1926) on the same disc. Which is to say: very much so, even if it doesn't call attention to itself in the same way the jaggedly bombastic first movement of the Serocki concerto or the characteristically percussive last movement of Krenz'.

Baird's composition is a chromatic and polytonal work with an emphasis on bold and ever changing rhythms and a demanding solo part. No stylistic surprises to anyone familiar with the musical world of Stravinsky, but it will still surprise for the many fine ideas, the homogeneity, and the enthusiasm it contains.

Jan Krenz composed his "Concertino" for piano and small orchestra in 1952 and it is nearly as inviting a work for the clarinet as it is for the piano. Bright-eyed and with immense charm in the solo piano part, it contains moments of baffling beauty. Kazimierz Serocki's aptly titled "Romantic Concerto" closes with a flamboyantly grand finale that would do any late 19th century concerto proud. Why this 1951 neoclassical work, which just lends itself to a veritable blockbuster performance, still remains unpublished is difficult to fathom; it didn't meet the composer's own standards, but mine are apparently lower and I would agree with the musicologist Tadeusz Zieli'ski who deems it "one of the most beautiful piano concertos in Polish music after Chopin [which should] take its rightful place in our concert life."

Performances and sound are absolutely first rate. If you like Hyperion's "Romantic Piano Concerto" series (but maybe had to make occasional allowances for the romantic slop included there), this disc should rank very highly on your Want List.

These are the three great Polish piano concertos you never heard or heard of. All three are very approachable 20th-century works. If you like the Szymanowski Symphony Concertante (the 4th Symphony) or the Prokofiev and Shostakovich piano concertos, try these. Performances and sound are just fine. This is the most enjoyable new music I've heard in awhile.