Search - Grazyna Bacewicz, Juliusz Zarebski, Warsaw Quintet :: Juliusz Zarebski & Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano Quintets

A Romantic masterpiece in a fine interpretation, and an enjo

Discophage | France | 06/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music lover asked for the great Romantic Piano Quintets will probably come up with the names of Brahms, Schumann and Dvorak (and Schubert's "Trout" if one substitutes a double bass for a violin). If he has more than a superficial interest in classical music, he might add to that group Franck and Fauré, and depending on his degree of knowledge and involvement, Saint-Saens and the post-Franckians (Vierne, D'Indy, Pierné, Le Flem for instance) on the one hand, and some Russians on the other (Taneyev's is one I'd certainly put in there) might be thrown in.



Well, add Zarebski.



Juliusz Zarebski was born in 1854, studied in Vienna and St Petersburg, became a pupil of Liszt, was appointed Professor of piano at the Brussels Conservatory - and died of tuberculosis in September 1885, at the age of 31 years old, which places him, along with Schubert, in the category of those composers having suffered tragically early deaths. Judging from his Piano Quintet op. 34 - his last work, completed in March of 1885 - he was on his way to becoming a composer of major importance. It is a composition of great romantic sweep and passion, owing as much to the models of Franck (integral with the recapitulation in the Finale of themes from the three first movements), Dvorak (the sunny lyricism) and Saint-Saens as to that of Brahms (the piano writing in the first movement strikes me as very brahmsian), and at times foreboding a "fin de siècle", impressionistic languor characteristic of the Franckian school. It is not inferior to any of these models.



The Quintet has had a handful of prior recordings. The oldest one is a radio recording from 1963 (given as a premiere recording) by no other than Wladylsaw Szpilman, "The Pianist" of Roman Polanski fame, playing in an ensemble known as the Warsaw Piano Quintet - a predecessor of the one featured on the present disc, but sharing only violist Stefan Kamasa. It is now available in a fascinating three CD box devoted to the pianist and published by Sony in 2005, but inexplicably (copyright reasons?) distributed only in Europe. Independent of any interpretive considerations (it has its weaknesses), its harsh sound rules it out. The modern recordings include an Olympia CD featuring Jerzy Witkowski as pianist (with compositions by Tansman and Twardowski), recorded in May 1992 (Polish Chamber Music), which is excessively languid and lingering. There is also a recording by Waldemar Malicki and the Varsovia Quartet, made in 1989 and paired with two quartets by the Polish contemporary female composer Johanna Bruzdowicz, a Pavane CD which I have reviewed (Bruzdowicz: String Quartets No. 1 "La Vita" & No. 2 "Cantus Aeternus" / Zarebski: Piano Quintet), and one by Zabolcs Esztenyi and the Wilanow String Quartet on the French label Accord from 1990 (Zarebski: Quintet in Gm; Les roses et les épines Op13), which offers a cohrent all-Zarebski program but has some interpretive flaws, especially tempos often too languid and a heavy-footed scherzo.



The present and more recent one by the (new) Warsaw Quintet with Krzyzstof Jablonski has the most natural sonic perspective. The interpretive approach is characterised by unrelenting forward-momentum and dramatic élan, and a commendable refusal to linger in the more appeased passages, making the first movement the fastest of the competition (and the same is true with the two next ones). But Jablonski's articulation is not quite as clear as Malicki's. The Adagio doesn't unfold as lyrically as Malicki-Varsovia's, but it has the same kind of forward-moving pace as in the 1st movement and great Romantic intensity and sweep. The third movement - an exhilarating tarantella of great kinetic energy - is urgent but nonetheless more disciplined and cogently held together than any of the competing versions, with beautiful violin harmonics at 2:02. But given the swift tempo, the piano's hocketing rhythms don't always come out as clearly as they might, and, despite the composer's explicit marking (l'istesso tempo) the players perceptibly ease back the tempo for the middle trio - and every one else does. The Finale exudes a sense of insouciant joy, but is more relaxed and not quite as exuberant and youthful as Varsovia's. All in all, qualities and (relative) weaknesses are equally shared between these two versions, and I am happy to have both.



Another similarity between the Pavane release and this one is their choice of pairing. Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was trained both as a violinist, a pianist and a composer and she was the first Polish female composer to achieve national and international recognition (Johanna Bruzdowicz, the Pavane discmate, followed suit). She studied composition with Kazimierz Sikorski in Warsaw and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her 1952 piano Quintet is a fine work, alternating moments of intense lyricism and great sonic refinement, and passages of Bartokian vigor. It is not extremely advanced in its musical language, even for its time: Bartok, Martinu, Villa Lobos come to mind (the exuberant joy of the first movement Allegro, the vigorous, dance-like rhythms of the Scherzo, the kinetic energy of the Finale), as well as Bloch and, again, Villa Lobos for the refined sonorities and the unabashedly intense lyricism of parts of the first movement (the slow introduction, the 2nd motive of the development's sonata-form) and of the third movement "Grave". There is nothing revolutionary or particularly original, but it is an enjoyable piece. By an amusing coincidence, there is a prior recording of the same piece by the former Warsaw Piano Quintet of Wladyslaw Szpilman (String Quartets / Quintets)



The two Quartets of Bruzdowicz featured on the competing Pavane disc are also fine works, though more advanced in their musical vocabulary, much in the style of Ligeti, Penderecki and Lutoslawski. So really it is a hard choice between this disc and the Pavane. Deciding factors would be price, availability and the couplings (based on the listener's preference for 1950s modern or 1970s contemporary), but you won't go wrong in either case. And don't pass up Zarebski's Quintet, it is one of the greatest compositions of chamber music written in the 19th Century.

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