Grazyna Bacewicz: Quartet for Four Violins

Quartet for Four Violins

Choreography by Isabella Carroll and Mathieu Rouaux

from 9 August 2022, KoncertKirken Blågårds Plads

program notes

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909 - 1969) was a prodigious pianist and violinist who performed her first concerto with orchestra at age 12 and became concertmaster at the Polish Radio Orchestra only nine years later. She studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and there her reputation as a composer flourished, as well as her career as a violinist - she toured Europe as a soloist, premiering most of her seven violin concertos herself. In World War II she stayed on in occupied Warsaw, premiering her compositions at secret underground concerts.

She was also a passionate teacher, and wrote this Quartet for Four Violins in 1949 to whip her students into shape. The work embodies the “socialist realism” style of the time, transforming Polish folk tunes through a neo-classical lens into a playful and driving piece.

concert details

”Folk Songs”
9 August 2022, 19:30
KoncertKirkgen Blågårds Plads

Program:
Gabriela Lena Frank: Cuatro Bosquejos Pre-Incaicos
Bo Holten: Clarinet Quintet
Grazyna Bacewicz: Quartet for Four Violins
Florence Price: String Quartet in A Minor