Grażyna Bacewicz is one of the most famous composers of the last century. She was distinguished by a bold, experimental approach to music and, at the same time, an excellent compositional technique, characterized by precision and predilection for an orderly form. This made her belong to the Neoclassical trend, which is reflected by the Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952) featured on the album. The second piece of this genre, Piano Quintet No. 2, was written in 1965 and shows a new, sonoristic approach to the sound matter, but it is still kept in Bacewicz’s elegant and at the same time temperamental compositional idiom.
Alexandre Tansman created his Piano Quintet in 1955; critics also classified him as a Neoclassical composer. In his Musica a cinque, he drew inspiration from Baroque music both in terms of form and technique, combining polyphonic and homophonic textures. This piece has been almost forgotten and rarely performed so far, so we are all the happier to present it to the audience. The piano part is interpreted by Julia Kociuban, an extremely talented pianist, performing on many continents, also experienced as a teacher and organizer of musical life. She is accompanied by the Messages Quartet, an ensemble specializing in Polish chamber music performance, active since 2014. © DUX Records