Vytautas Bacevičius: Orchestral Music
The Lithuanian pianist and composer Vytautas Bacevičius (1905-70) is one of the undiscovered radicals of the twentieth century. The early works on this CD show him finding his voice, as in the First Piano Concerto, with its echoes of Scriabin, and the Poème électrique, cast in the 'machinist’ aesthetic in vogue in the 1920s and ’30s. The programmatic Second Symphony depicts the onset of the Second World War which Bacevičius, desperately anxious about his family in Poland and Lithuania, followed from his exile in the New World. And the late Sixth Symphony and Graphique, which show a kaleidoscopic, pointilliste use of orchestral colour, boiling with violent energy, point to an entirely new musical language.
Aidas Puodžiukas, piano
Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, orchestra
Vytautas Lukočius, conductor
Martynas Staškus, conductor
Listen To This Recording:
- Poème Électrique (1932)
- Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Sur les thèmes lituaniens (1929)
- I. Allegro
- II. Andante funebre
- III. Allegro molto
- Symphony No. 6, Cosmique (1960)
- Graphique (1964)
Symphony No. 2, Della Guerra (1940)
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2 reviews for Vytautas Bacevičius: Orchestral Music
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Guy Rickards :
“When the Second World War overtook Lithuania and Poland in 1939, Bacevicius was on tour in South America and he remained an exile (mostly in the US) until his death in 1970. The programmatic Second Symphony (1940) records his feelings at the invasion of his homelands in a simplified musical language, conceived (unsuccessfully) for America, that failed to secure attention. In the late 1950s he returned to a more advanced style, a “cosmic music” (of the inner cosmos of Man rather than Space), represented here by the turbulent Sixth Symphony (1960) and brilliant Graphique (1964) – the latter in particular showing what a fine composer Bacevicius was at his best. These fine performances and recordings (from 2003‑05) give this colourful music the best possible platform.” —Guy Rickards, Gramophone
Tim Ashley :
“The performances, with the conducting honours shared between Vytautas Lukocius and Martynas Staskus, are first rate. Aidas Puodziukas is the hard-hitting soloist in the Concerto.”—Tim Ashley, The Guardian