Magdalena Filipczak | BACEWICZ Polish Caprice on Stradivarius

GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ - Polish Caprice / Kaprys polski / Polnische Caprice
Magdalena Filipczak plays on Ex-Ida Haendel Stradivari violin
Audio: Chris Kalcov
Recorded at St. George's Headstone in London

Polish female composer Grażyna Bacewicz often incorporated folk music into her works. She was an accomplished violinist and her virtuosic writing naturally suites the hands of violinists. The Polish Caprice represents some key features of her composing style. It starts with a melancholic, simple folk song which rhythm tries to free from the indicated triple meter, making it sound as if it were improvised. The A minor key brings extra purity to the Andante melody. The last, calm note of the opening section abruptly ends and begins the folk dance as a stepwise, single melody in E major. Bacewicz contrasts it with a chromatic tune of a searching character accompanied by an open string. The Caprice continues first with alternating both dance tunes appearing in different keys. Later it becomes obsessed with the first one and replaces parts of it with new virtuosic material. Occasionally the composer briefly throws bars in triple time but never allows it to settle. After a series of brilliant scales, A major key takes over. The relentless, dominant quavers become energised by doubling. The final tension is created by chromatic climbing in fast double stops followed by broad chords that end on E major being only a dominant to final broken A major chord.

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