In 1901 the nineteen-year-old Karol Szymanowski travelled to Warsaw for four years to complete his musical studies. His work with accomplished teachers during this time demanded tonal discipline which cramped rather than developed the young composers inventiveness.
Perhaps the most beautiful fruit of those studies was the Sonata in D minor for violin and piano, Op. 9, written towards the end of that four-year period, in 1904, and dedicated to the composers close friend Bronislaw Gromadzki.
Mythes, Op. 30 was inspired by the composers journey to Italy and Africa in the spring of 1914. The titles of the three parts of the cycleLa Source dArethuse, Narcisse, Dryades et Panare suggestive of a programme. Within the context of the violin literature of those times.
Mythes was an exceptional phenomenon. The singular mood, original expression and vivid images painted in sound delighted listeners with their remarkable wealth of tone colours, ingenious harmonies and seductive melodies.
Ignacy Jan Paderewskis Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 13 for violin and piano, written in 1885, islike Szymanowskis Sonataa youthful work and was of analogous significance for the artists career, securing him the status of the most outstanding composer of his generation.
The first performance of the Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 13 was given on 9 April 1885 in Warsaw, by the violinist Wladyslaw Gorski and the composer. One can hear Romantic loosening of the Classical strictures of form and a departure from the widespread practice of writing native themes. Distant echoes of traditional folk music can be heard and yet the category that dominates the whole composition is a typically Romantic lyrical expression.
Baevas career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons. She now performs for Valery Gergiev, Paavo Jarvi, and Vladimir Jurowski.
In chamber music, she has the pleasure of collaborating with such esteemed artists as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, and Daishin Kashimoto.
Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko (2013 Van Cliburn Winner), with whom she has established a musical partnership of more than a decade.
