The second volume of Sakari Oramo’s series of works by the pioneering twentieth-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz has just been released on the Chandos label. Peter Donohoe features as the soloist in the Piano Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo.
The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was written in 1949 as an entry to the Frederic Chopin Composers’ Competition, held to commemorate the centenary of Chopin’s death. It received the second prize in the ‘works for piano and orchestra’ category – no first prize was awarded at all.
The album featured on BBC Radio 3’s Record Review on Saturday (12th July) with Andrew McGregor and Kenneth Hamilton who had this to say about the recording:
[Peter Donohoe is] “a pretty powerful pianist, and he needs to be! He’s also very authoritative – he plays with granite authority and musicality. I have 100% confidence that he is playing this very well indeed, even without pouring over the score. He works extremely well with the orchestra. There’s a lot of emotion and a lot of different moods in this music… It is played with such aplomb that the concerto feels as though it’s a repertoire. piece, in a good way. Radiant playing from the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sakari Oramo. It’s an excellent Chandos recording.”
Listen again on the Radio 3 website from 40 mins in: