# Tadeusz Baird (1928-1981)



## Andreas

I've recently discovered this wonderful Polish composer.

Baird's early works were tonally conventional (among them the charming suite Colas Breugnon). After Stalin's death in 1953, modernist and avantgarde techniques were allowed some air to breathe. Baird adopted Schoenberg's twelve-tone system, applying it, however, rather freely. Pieces from his early serial period include Four Essays for orchestra.

Baird's style is generally sparse and translucent, but at the same time emotionally expressive. He named Alban Berg as one of his greatest influences. Baird wrote symphonies, concertos and a string quartet, but the actual structures of his pieces do not necessarily match these traditional forms.

Aleatoric techniques, as pioneered by his compatriot Lutoslawski, are used very little. So far, I am not aware of any compositions by Baird using magnetic tape of other electronic instruments.

He also composed one opera, many songs and music for film.

The mood of his atonal works is mostly serious, ambiguous, brooding. His music is centred around melodic lines, however fragmented they might be. There is a strong story-telling quality to this works, though he hardly wrote any program music in the conventional sense.

There are only very few recordings of Baird's music out there, but several of his major works are available on Youtube.


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## joen_cph

I´ve got a good bunch of works of this composer, a lot of the works still remain unheard, but I´ve noticed the Viola Concerto 



 , the Love Sogs for Soprano & Orchestra (no you-tube) and the set of Shakespeare Sonnets 



, whereas the 3rd Symphony at times reminds of early, rather aggressive Penderecki 



 .


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## Delicious Manager

Interestingly, Baird (whose parents were Scottish immigrants in Poland, hence his very UN-Polish surname) wrote a vast amount for Polish films in the 1960s and 70s. Extracts from some of these are available on two hard-to-find old Olympia CDs. The music for these, however, show few signs of Baird's 'serious' style.


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## Head_case

Andreas said:


> I've recently discovered this wonderful Polish composer.
> 
> Baird's early works were tonally conventional (among them the charming suite Colas Breugnon). After Stalin's death in 1953, modernist and avantgarde techniques were allowed some air to breathe. Baird adopted Schoenberg's twelve-tone system, applying it, however, rather freely. Pieces from his early serial period include Four Essays for orchestra.
> 
> Baird's style is generally sparse and translucent, but at the same time emotionally expressive. He named Alban Berg as one of his greatest influences. Baird wrote symphonies, concertos and a string quartet, but the actual structures of his pieces do not necessarily match these traditional forms.
> 
> Aleatoric techniques, as pioneered by his compatriot Lutoslawski, are used very little. So far, I am not aware of any compositions by Baird using magnetic tape of other electronic instruments.
> 
> He also composed one opera, many songs and music for film.
> 
> The mood of his atonal works is mostly serious, ambiguous, brooding. His music is centred around melodic lines, however fragmented they might be. There is a strong story-telling quality to this works, though he hardly wrote any program music in the conventional sense.
> 
> There are only very few recordings of Baird's music out there, but several of his major works are available on Youtube.


Glad to hear you've discovered his works. He was one of the foremost Polish composers I discovered in university, which led to the rest of the 'Vintage '33' Polish composers, like Kilar, Gorecki, Lutoslawski and Penderecki which brought classical music so centrally back into my life.

His suites and orchestral works have very interesting textures; not lest, the titles of his works, like 'Psychodrama'.

I find his string quartet, 'Play', much more compelling than Penderecki's work with which it is contemporaneous. This has re-entered the public domain recording via the Dafo String Quartet who give a very persuasive recording of his string quartet.

The Olympia recordings are how I came to discover him - no surprise, his film music features in my collection, although Wojiech Kilar seems to have penned some of my favourite film music.


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## Delicious Manager

Head_case said:


> ... Polish composers, like Kilar, Gorecki, Lutoslawski and Penderecki which brought classical music so centrally back into my life.


I would urge everyone interested in 20th-century Polish music to explore another composer who is extremely little-known outside his own country; Kazimierz Serocki [prononced 'SEH-rot-ski'] (1922-81). His earliest music, like that of Lutosławski, is quite Romantic in idiom and shows a faint influence of folk music. However, his works of the late 1950s and 60s show great originality and can be compared to Lutosławski's works of the same period. It was Serocki who, alongside Baird, founded the famous Warsaw Autumn festival in 1956. I would recommend:

Sinfonietta, for two string orchestras (1956)
Eyes of the Air, song cycle for soprano and orchestra (1957)
Musica concertante (1958)
Episodi, for strings and 3 groups of percussion (1959)
Segmenti, for orchestra (1961)
Symphonic Frescoes (1964)
Continuum, for percussion (1966)
Swinging Music, for clarinet, trombone, cello or double bass, and piano (1970)
Fantasia elegiaca, for organ and orchestra (1972)
Pianophonie, for piano, electronics and orchestra (1976-1978)


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## Weston

I'm streaming a Baird suite called "Colas Breugnon" now, after discovering this thread. It's beautiful. I would call it neo-baroque, or something along the lines of "Ancient Airs and Dances."


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## Prodromides

Delicious Manager said:


> Interestingly, Baird (whose parents were Scottish immigrants in Poland, hence his very UN-Polish surname) wrote a vast amount for Polish films in the 1960s and 70s. Extracts from some of these are available on two hard-to-find old Olympia CDs. The music for these, however, show few signs of Baird's 'serious' style.


Hello, Delicious Manager.

Tadeusz Baird's score for Andrzej Munk's final (and partial) film PASSENGER seems rather 'serious' to me.
Baird's scores for a couple of earlier films by Wajda, SAMSON and LOTNA, sound like more typical film music though never hackneyed.

LOTNA (1959)






SAMSON (1961)






PASAZERKA (1963)






BTW: IMDB doesn't have any data on Baird's scores from the 1970s. It appears as though the last feature film that Baird worked on was from 1966...


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## Prodromides

Delicious Manager said:


> I would urge everyone interested in 20th-century Polish music to explore another composer who is extremely little-known outside his own country; Kazimierz Serocki [prononced 'SEH-rot-ski'] (1922-81). His earliest music, like that of Lutosławski, is quite Romantic in idiom and shows a faint influence of folk music. However, his works of the late 1950s and 60s show great originality and can be compared to Lutosławski's works of the same period. It was Serocki who, alongside Baird, founded the famous Warsaw Autumn festival in 1956. I would recommend:
> 
> Sinfonietta, for two string orchestras (1956)
> Eyes of the Air, song cycle for soprano and orchestra (1957)
> Musica concertante (1958)
> Episodi, for strings and 3 groups of percussion (1959)
> Segmenti, for orchestra (1961)
> Symphonic Frescoes (1964)
> Continuum, for percussion (1966)
> Swinging Music, for clarinet, trombone, cello or double bass, and piano (1970)
> Fantasia elegiaca, for organ and orchestra (1972)
> Pianophonie, for piano, electronics and orchestra (1976-1978)


... also, DM, Serocki wrote music for Aleksander Ford's 1960 film KRZYZACY (Knights Of The Teutonic Order), which was probably THE epic Polish film at the time.

KRZYZACY


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## Head_case

Weston said:


> I'm streaming a Baird suite called "Colas Breugnon" now, after discovering this thread. It's beautiful. I would call it neo-baroque, or something along the lines of "Ancient Airs and Dances."
> 
> View attachment 15103


The programming looks really familiar.

I think this album was re-released by Olympia (I don't have it anymore to check).

Anyone know?


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## Head_case

Prodromides said:


> ... also, DM, Serocki wrote music for Aleksander Ford's 1960 film KRZYZACY (Knights Of The Teutonic Order), which was probably THE epic Polish film at the time.
> 
> KRZYZACY


Hmmm. I'm sure I have a book of the same title! I can't remember who wrote it - maybe Adam Miecewicz.

Anyone confirm lol. My head is in the wrong memory bank tonight.


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