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Witold
LUTOSŁAWSKI (1913–1994)
CD 1
Symphonic Variations (1936/1939) [8:52]
Symphony No.1 (1941/1947) [24:43] Musique funèbre (1954/1958) [13:30]
Symphony No.2 (1965/1967) [31:22]
CD 2 Concerto for Orchestra (1950/1954) [28:26] Jeux vénitiens (1960/1961) [12:58] Livre pour orchestre (1968) [21:12] Mi–parti (1975/1976) [14:35]
CD 3 Preludes and Fugue for 13 solo strings (1970/1972)
[33:31] Trois Poèmes d’Henri Michaux (1963) [20:11] Paroles tissées (1965) [13:51] Postlude No.1 (1958) [4:03]
Louis
Devos (tenor); Krakow Radio Chorus; Polish Chamber Orchestra;
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Witold
Lutosławski
rec. May and June 1976, Polish Radio and TV Studios, Katowice
(CDs 1, 2), Kraków (CD 3). ADD BRILLIANT
CLASSICS 9011 [3 CDs: 77:32 + 62:44 +
59:16]
This
is a very generous and interesting set of nearly all of
Lutosławski’s orchestral music up to
1976. It charts his progress from classical composer to
the time that he was really coming to terms
with his use of avant-garde techniques. These would only
be fully assimilated in such late works as the last two Symphonies,
the Piano Concerto and the Double Concerto for
oboe and harp.
With
its easy–going, folk-inflected, lyricism the Concerto
for Orchestra has to be one of Lutosławski’s
most popular works. Fully composed throughout, it’s an
enjoyable entertainment, even if the tripartite last movement – Passacaglia,
Toccata and Chorale – is about five minutes too long
for the material employed. But it wasn’t this delightful
work which brought the composer international fame – that
fell to the deeply felt Musique funèbre, written to commemorate the 10th anniversary
of Bartók’s death. This is a rich tapestry of writing for string orchestra,
the textures becoming very thick as the music becomes more
impassioned. The whole is a marvellous example of how Lutosławski can really sustain an atmosphere and build on the fact that
he knows that he has gripped his audience. These two works,
together with Jeux vénitiens were my introduction to Lutosławski’s music when Philips issued an LP of them in the late 1960s. Jeux
vénitiens is the first work of his to use randomness in the synchronization
of the separate parts. This is more obviously modernist
than the music which precedes it and it’s a thrilling and
brilliant composition. It was at about this time that the
much underrated Grazyna Bacewicz blossomed into the major
composer we know her to be, using avant-garde techniques
and gestures. Having started with works which I first heard
by this composer what of the other pieces?
The
two earliest works here are the Symphonic Variations and
the 1st Symphony. The Symphonic Variations is big in scope,
if not in playing time. Its language is very late romantic – there’s
something of Szymanowski about it, and on a couple of occasions
the almost frenetic writing reminded me of Kodaly's Peacock
Variations. This is very approachable and even more
extrovert and approachable than the Concerto for Orchestra.
Unlike the latter, it doesn't outstay its welcome. The 1st
Symphony followed quite closely and its idiom is astringent
folksy. The first movement will come as a shock for it's
exactly what I would expect from a Kurt Schwertsik Symphony-non-Symphony
type of thing he occasionally gives us. It's a violently
extrovert and free-spirited piece, totally un- Lutosławski–like but very enjoyable and entertaining. The slow movement
gets to grips with the emotions, building a big Prokofiev–like
climax before returning to the more emotional music. The
scherzo and finale return to the free-spirited world of
the opening and bring the whole work to a raucous and very
amusing conclusion. This is not what you would expect from
this composer, but he is feeling his way and trying to
find his voice so it is fascinating to hear the workings
of his, as yet, unformed musical mind.
Postlude No.1 (from a set of three) has the feel of both the folk style
and the more modern language Lutosławski was moving towards and which he utilises
with such skill in both the Henri Michaux settings and Paroles
tissées. The choral work, written for 20 part chorus
and wind band, is an hypnotic experience, full of swirling
mists and indeterminate vocal utterances. Written for Peter
Pears – who made a fine recording of it on a Decca Headline
LP of three of his (then) "recent" commissions – Paroles
tissées is
a very beautiful, almost erotic, setting of words by Jean-Francois
Lebrun, in Lutosławski's most lyrical style. It was obviously
tailored for Pears's voice and there's the declamatory
as well as the long-breathed slow melody in a fairly high
tessitura, both of which he could do so well. I have always
thought that vocal music was Lutosławski's strong
point and this work proves the marvellous singing quality
of so much of his work. It is the total assuredness of
these two pieces which make the 2nd Symphony seem
the lesser composition for here Lutosławski's use of
aleatory techniques takes over the whole work. The element
of chance is an integral part of the "structrue" of
the work. In two movements - Hésitant and Direct - what the composer does is
to give instruments, groups of instruments, or whatever
takes his aural fancy, a group of notes whose duration
and start and finish are controlled by the conductor, who
does not conduct in the conventional sense of the word,
but directs the progress of the music. This seeming floundering
goes on for about half an hour and, for me, it goes nowhere.
At the end, the whole orchestra joins together for a big
climax before the music falls back to the earlier, freer,
music. But this is purely personal and I know many people
who would disagree with me in my understanding of the piece.
However, by the side of his later works, especially the
superb 3rd and 4th Symphonies, this stands
as more of an experiment than a finished composition, but
he's certainly on the right track for the later works which
are so satisfying.
Livre pour orchestre is a large-scale one movement piece which shows the composer
to be fully in control of his material. The forward progress
of the music is quite breathtaking and the logic he applies
to his compositional method is profound. With the Preludes
and Fugue we find the Lutosławski so well known today. This is a tour de force of string writing,
the Preludes contrasting full, tutti, sound, with
solo lines, almost in concerto grosso style. There
is much more hesitation and directness to this music than
anywhere in the 2nd Symphony. The fugue is
a stupendous affair, multi-layered, thickly textured, dramatic
and full of the most satisfying musical logic. Lutosławski is truly in his stride, with this
work, as a major force to be reckoned with.
The most recent work in this set is Mi-Parti,
premiered by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1976. This
is a superb achievement, building on the success of the Livre.
This one movement structure is held together by a fiercely
controlled musical logic, allowing for huge climaxes and
the most delicate of intimate moments.
It's good to welcome these performances back into
the catalogue for they are very fine indeed and the music
shows the genesis of a composer who was to become a major
figure on the contemporary music scene. Louis Devos is
the lyrical tenor in Paroles tissées, and whilst lacking the power of its dedicatee – Pears – he
allows for more subtlety in his delivery. Both orchestras
give of their best and the recording, which is over thirty
years old, sounds as fresh as ever.
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