Joachim Mendelson, Grażyna Bacewicz: Chamber Works

Featuring

Szymon Krzeszowiec
Arkadiusz Kubica
Łukasz Syrnicki
Piotr Janosik
Karolina Stalmachowska
Piotr Sałajczyk

Silesian String Quartet
Joachim Mendelson
Grażyna Bacewicz

Did you know?

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Historical Context

This album highlights the immense cultural losses in Poland due to Nazi imperial and racial policies, which led to the mass murder of civilians and the destruction or plunder of artworks.

Performer Biography

The Silesian Quartet, a leading Polish chamber music ensemble, won the prestigious Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Music Album of the Year in 2017 for their recording of Grażyna Bacewicz's complete string quartets.

Composer Biography

Grażyna Bacewicz, a Polish composer and violinist, studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Henri Touret, thanks to a scholarship from Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a renowned Polish pianist and statesman.

Composer Biography

Joachim Mendelson, a Polish composer, was murdered by the Gestapo in 1943 in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he was hiding during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Composition History

Five of Joachim Mendelson's compositions, including his First String Quartet and Quintet, were preserved thanks to the Parisian publishing house Max Eschig, despite the loss of his other documents and manuscripts during the war.

Composition History

Grażyna Bacewicz rejected her early and late string quartets, never including them in her official catalogue of works, possibly due to rigorous self-criticism or negative critical reception.