NOSPR Chamber Musicians / Classical Radiance - NOSPR

In 1932, when Grażyna Bacewicz was composing her Quintet for wind instruments, few believed that a woman could ever achieve international success. Looking back from today, when her music has witnessed a remarkable phonographic revival, it is worth recognising the significance and originality of the work. Małgorzata Gąsiorowska, Bacewicz’s biographer, regards the Quintet to be the first authoritative manifestation of the 23-year-old composer’s individual style.

Bacewicz’s music will resound in the context that was so natural for her, namely the light and sunny neoclassical idiom of Jacques Ibert, but also in dialogue with the work of Joseph Haydn, whose models provided the first framework for such substantive yet refined compositions. With their lightness and grace, the charming arrangements of sea shanties by Sir Malcolm Arnold will further delight the audience, while the cycle of 17th-century Hungarian dances, in the 20th-century recomposition by Ferenc Farkas, will serve as a reminder of how deeply tradition continues to stir beneath the surface of classical music.

Adam Suprynowicz