The Life and Music of Grazyna Bacewicz
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The great Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski said this after the premature death of his contemporary Grazyna Bacewicz: "She was born with an incredible wealth of musical talent, which she succeeded to bring to full flourish through an almost fanatical zeal and unwavering faith in her mission. The intensity of her activities was so great that she managed, in a cruelly-shortened life, to give birth to such treasures that any composer of her stature with a considerably longer life span could only envy." Bacewicz is a name that is probably not that familiar to you, but during her lifetime she was an extremely popular composer in her native Poland and across Europe as well. In the United States, her music has been rarely performed, though this has started to shift thanks to a renewed interest in female composers of the past. This new look at Bacewicz has revealed an incredible wealth of music. Bacewicz was one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, writing over 200 works during her short lifetime! Some call her style neo-classical, but the main thing that I hear in her music is a sharp originality that permeates her music and makes her compositions a thrill to listen to. The vitality, energy, and creativity that embodies Bacewicz's works will be the main part of the show today, as we'll go through a set of some of her most representative pieces, pieces that I hope will enter the standard repertoire of performers all over the world even more so than they already have. So join me today to explore the life and music of this unfamiliar but vital 20th century master!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast. |
| 0:19.6 | My name is Joshua Weilerstein. |
| 0:21.6 | I'm a conductor, and I'm the music director of the Orchestra Nazian-Aldeil and the chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony. |
| 0:27.6 | This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. |
| 0:35.6 | Before we get started, I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, Martha, Bill, Gene, |
| 0:41.4 | Alan, and Susan, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making Season 10 possible. |
| 0:47.1 | If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com slash sticky notes podcast. |
| 0:52.1 | And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. |
| 0:57.7 | It is greatly appreciated. |
| 1:01.1 | So I have a pretty wild couple of weeks coming up. |
| 1:04.5 | I am in Alborg at the moment doing the first of two programs to open our season. |
| 1:09.0 | This one is an all-French program featuring the Poulenc Concerto |
| 1:12.5 | Champetre with the great harpsichordist Mahanis Mahanis, who will soon be on the show talking about his |
| 1:18.9 | recording of the well-tempered clavier, and we're also just going to be talking about Bach in general. |
| 1:24.0 | The following week, I'll be doing Brahms' third symphony and Brahms' first piano concerto with |
| 1:28.8 | Jeremy Denk as the soloist. And then additionally, I will be in Lille working with the legendary |
| 1:35.0 | baritone, Matthias Gernah. He is going to be singing a set of songs from Mahler's Descanabin Wunderhorn, |
| 1:40.6 | and we're also going to be doing a bunch of Ravelle on the second half of that |
| 1:44.6 | performance. So it's a pretty intense couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I'm really happy |
| 1:50.7 | to share with you this episode about an unknown, in some ways, composer, a very underrated composer. |
| 1:55.7 | I really hope you enjoy this episode. |
| 2:12.7 | The great Polish composer, some would say greatest Polish composer, Vitold Lutislavski, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joshua Weilerstein, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Joshua Weilerstein and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.