1 	Cello Concerto 	23:05

Dance Preludes For Clarinete Solo, Harp, Piano, Percussion And String Orchestra 	9:31
2 	Allegro Molto 	1:02
3 	Andantino 	2:45
4 	Allegro Giocoso 	1:24
5 	Andante 	3:14
6 	Allegro Molto - Presto 	1:43

Concerto For Oboe, Harp And Chamber Orchestra 	18:23
7 	Rapsodico 	4:53
8 	Dolente 	6:51
9 	Marciale E Grotesco 	6:42

Heinrich Schiff - cello
Ursula Holliger - harp
Eduard Brunner - clarinet
Heinz Holliger - oboe

Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Witold Lutosławski – conductor

The Cello Concerto was composed in the years 1969-1970 on commission by the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, it received its world premiere on October 14, 1970, at London's Royal Festival Hall, in a performance by the dedicatee and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Edward Downes. ---lutoslawski.org.pl

LUTOSLAWSKI CONDUCTS LUTOSLAWSKI has three recordings, the CELLO CONCERTO, DANCE PRELUDES, and CONCERTO FOR OBOE, HARP, AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA. The orchestra is Symphonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the recording is from January 1986. Don't worry, even though the Cello Concerto was recorded live, there is not any of that dad-blasted, inappropriate applause that you find at the end of other classical music that is recorded live.

CELLO CONCERTO (22 min, 55 sec). This begins with a monotonous bowing of a low note of the cello, interrupted by skittish hiccups and noodlings. At 2 min, the cello plays an interesting series of glassando-tinged notes, followed by more of the dreadfully monotonous and stupid sounding monotonous bowings of one note. At 3 min, 50 seconds, the trumpet makes its entrance, and it spews out some robust screeching notes that sound stupid, is if desperately trying to sound avant garde. At 4 min, 50 sec, the cello, wind section, and string section, all join together, and this time the effect is a beautiful wonder to behold. The cello is in the foreground, and the backgrounds that is provided by the other instruments is like a subdued galloping flurry. At the 8 minute mark, the brass section provides a cacophonous motif, sounding like a barn full of stuttering cows. Then, the music is beautiful again. At 9 min, 40 sec, the trumpets provide a cacophonous motif, sounding like flock of ducks on electric shock therapy.

At 12 minute, the cello provides a meandering tune, while the orchestra provides a subtle backdrop, where this backdrop is like what is found in WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY by Charles Ives (see, 5 minutes 45 seconds into Washington's Birthday). The quiet backdrop is beautiful too. At 16 minutes, the string section gets more aggressive, and then for a while, the entire orchestra provides a noisy cacophony. At 17 minutes, 20 seconds, the xylophone provides a brief jumbled motif, making this piece sound oh so thrillingly avant garde. Then, the orchestra resumes its aggressive cacophony. At 19 and a half minutes, come some fun sounding percussive effects, and then the trombones provide a couple of inebriated glissandos. The final minutes of this piece are more beautiful, and we find a number of aggressive sonic thrashings.

DANCE PRELUDES (9 min, 31 sec). Cut 2 is a happy and bouncy piece, with prominent clarinet throughout, and lasting only 57 seconds. Cut 3 is slow, sounding a bit like Appalachian Spring by Copland. At the halfway point, the pace picks up, and here the piece sounds like a blustery symphony by Carl Nielsen. This piece ends on a quiet note (2 min, 40 sec). Cut 4 starts with a motif that is clowning and spunky, with prominent clarinet and pizzicato strings. Cut 4, in my opinion, is channeling the musical spirit of Prokofiev. Unfortunately, cut 4 is only one minute and 20 seconds long. Cut 5 begins with a spooky sounding bass line. Then, the clarinet enters, playing morose notes, and the spooky bass line resumes. Cut 5 is the only movement of this piece that is not interesting (3 min). Cut 6 begins on an optimistic note, with a chugging motif from the strings, which urges the clarinet to engage in tuneful pyrotechniques (1 min, 34 sec).

CONCERTO FOR OBOE, HARP, AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (18 min, 23 sec). Cut 7 begins with a swarming wasp nest of skittering strings, sounding like part of Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. The clarinet makes it entrance, playing an attractive avant garde melody similar to the reed music of Anthony Braxton. At 1 minute and 50 seconds, the wasp nest returns briefly. At 2 min, 20 sec, the wasp nest returns again. At 3 min, 50 sec, is a brief serialistic music motif coming from the percussion section (4 min, 49 sec). Cut 8 begins with a pizzicato flourish from the strings, sounding like raindrops pounding on a magnolia tree. The clarinet's contributions are sometimes like the bleating call of a shepherd's horn, and sometimes it sounds like the noodlings of Anthony Braxton. At 3 minutes, the raindrops return. The come more noodlings. From time to time, the harp provides a flourish sounding like background music from a film noir spy music. At 5 min, 50 sec, the percussion section briefly plays more serial music (6 min, 52 sec). Cut 9 is actually fun to listen to, from beginning to end. Cut 9 is 6 min, 42 seconds long. The piece clowns around, much like Lutoslawski's VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF PAGANINI (1941), which is based, in part, on Paganini's Caprice No. 24 in Am. The strings provide a couple of flirtatious glissandos, and then more glissandos. At 2 min, 15 sec, and again at 2 min, 40 sec, the clarinet decides that it has a sore throat, and it plays distorted bleatings. In the last four minutes of Cut 9, one finds a particular motif where one note is played rapidly in a mono-tone, resembling a rapid stutter. Cut 9 is my favorite part of this album. ---Tom Brody, amazon.com

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Lutoslawski: Concerto For Piano And Orchestra
1. 1. Dotted Quarter Note = 110-Quarter Note = 70
2. 2. Presto-Poco meno mosso-Lento
3. 3. Eighth Note ca. 85-Largo
4. 4. Quarter Note = 84-Presto

Lutoslawski: Symphony No.2
5. 1. Hésitant (Live)
6. 2. Direct (Live)

Krystian Zimerman - piano
Berliner Philharmoniker
Simon Rattle - conductor

This album follows up Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle’s award winning DG recording of Brahm’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto, written in 1988, is dedicated to Krystian Zimerman and was presented by him the first time to audiences in Salzburg in the same year.

The piece features extremely virtuosic demands, its dense pianistic gestures at times recall the piano concertos of Bartók and Prokofiev. The Symphony No. 2, created with techniques of “limited aleatoricism” (Lutosławski), fascinates with its orchestral surfaces that offer an insight into their creator’s ability to organize sounds in a very precise way and their iridescent and colorful vitality. ---prestomusic.com

It's perhaps difficult to speak of a state-of-the-art recording of the music of Witold Lutoslawski, given the influence exerted on this Polish composer by the aleatoric procedures of the American John Cage, but this Deutsche Grammophon release might qualify. The Piano Concerto of 1988 is performed by the player for whom it was written, Krystian Zimerman, and he and conductor Simon Rattle have the well-oiled quality necessary to bring out the shifts in the piano-orchestra relationship over the course of the work's four movements and the neat combination of Lutoslawski's modernist idiom with his earlier Bartók-influenced style. And you get a good representation of the phases of Lutoslawski's career, missing only that early phase: the Symphony No. 2 is a prime example of his aleatoric style (you might expect it to cause problems for Rattle and the tradition-bound Berlin Philharmonic, but their realization seems confident and fresh), while the Piano Concerto exemplifies the more accessible late Lutoslawski style. Beautifully recorded, this is a place where those curious about Lutoslawski can begin with confidence. ---James Manheim, AllMusic Review

Witold Lutosławski przekonany był, że trzeba „pisać myśleć i mówić o muzyce”[1]. Nie czuję się jednak na siłach, żeby w kompetentny sposób mierzyć się słowem z muzyką tego formatu. Słabość ta z braku wykształcenia muzycznego się bierze. Pocieszam się jednak, że miś uszatek o uchu przyklapniętym też pisać może. Słów więc kilka dla zachęty.

Simon Rattle, zaprogramował w sezonie 2012/2013 w Filharmonii Berlińskiej cykl koncertów z muzyką Lutosławskiego. Sam poprowadził kilka wykonań, w tym wydane wspólnym nakładem Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Grammophon i Instytutu Adama Mickiewicza, w ramach programu Polska Music – II Symfonię i Koncert fortepianowy.

Koncert fortepianowy.Że zaproszony do wykonania został Krystian Zimmerman, jeden z najwybitniejszych polskich pianistów, zwycięzca IX Konkursu Chopinowskiego nie dziwi, wszak, to on długo namawiał Lutosławskiego do napisania utworu na fortepian i to jemu utwór ten został dedykowany. Kompozytor myślał o skomponowania koncertu fortepianowego już w latach czterdziestych, zrealizowany został jednak przez Lutosławskiego dopiero w ostatniej dekadzie twórczości, obfitującej w dzieła mistrzowskie. To w tym właśnie czasie rola melodii u Lutosławskiego się wzmaga, zaś kontrapunktu aleatorycznego ulega zmniejszeniu[2]. Mniejszą rolę odgrywa też przypadek. Koncert składa się z czterech części, granych bez przerwy, ale posiadających wyraźne zakończenie. Imponująca jest szczególnie druga część, wypełniona dźwiękami galopującego fortepianu na tle orkiestry.

II Symfonia miała być dla Lutosławskiego „kolejnym pożegnaniem z orkiestrą”. Zdawał sobie bowiem wyraźnie sprawę z ograniczającego charakteru utworów orkiestrowych, archaiczności form zamkniętych i jednoczesnego braku widoków na rozwiązanie tej trudności. Szukając dróg wyjścia z tego impasu nie chciał jednak tworzyć utworów, które by oderwane były od praktyki wykonania, a ich rezultat dźwiękowy pozostawałby wiele do życzenia. Będąc jednocześnie kontynuatorem zachodniej tradycji muzycznej dzięki śmiałym rozwiązaniom poszerzał horyzonty muzyczne współczesnych. W odpowiedzi na nieokiełznany aleatoryzm Johna Cage'a, Lutosławski wprowadzał własne rozwiązanie, który określał jako aleatoryzm kontrolowany. W II Symfonii stosuje wszystkie te elementy, które rozwijał i wypróbował w Muzyce żałobnej, Grach weneckich, Kwartecie smyczkowym, Trzech poematach.

Płyta znakomita, słyszana nawet przygłuchawym – jak moje – uchem, oferuje niesamowite doznania. ---magiaksiazki.blogspot.com

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Symphony No. 3 (1981-83) 30:50
For Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
1.Vivo - Lento - Vivo - Lento - Vivo - Stesso movimento - Lento 3:42
2.Vivo - Stesso movimento - Lento 	2:39
3.Vivo - Stesso movimento - Adagio - Più mosso - Lento 	4:37
4.Vivo - Poco meno mosso - Meno mosso 	4:48
5.Tempo I 		5:03
6.Meno mosso - Tempo I - Meno mosso - Tempo I - Meno mosso - Ancora meno mosso	3:00
7.A tempo - Poco meno mosso - Presto - Stesso movimento 	6:59

8.Chain 3 for Orchestra (1986)	10:53
Presto - [ ] - Presto - [ ] - Presto - [ ] - Presto

Concerto for Orchestra (1950-54)	27:51
Witoldowi Rowickiemu
9.Intrada. Allegro maestoso		6:34
10.Capriccio, Notturno e Arioso. Vivace - Stesso movimento - Stesso movimento	5:41
11.Passaccaglia, Toccata e Corale. Andante con moto 	5:47
12.Allegro giusto (alla breve) - Poco sostenuto - Quasi stesso movimento 	9:38

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner - conductor

This exceptional box set offers our complete Lutosławski series, featuring a string of the composer’s masterpieces performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner in exemplary partnership, along with some of Chandos’ finest soloists, and captured in surround-sound. ---chandos.net

Witold Roman Lutoslawski (Polish: 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and orchestral conductor. He was one of the major European composers of the 20th century, and one of the preeminent Polish musicians during his last three decades. He earned many international awards and prizes. His compositions (of which he was a notable conductor) include four symphonies, a Concerto for Orchestra, a string quartet, instrumental works, concertos, and orchestral song cycles.

During his youth, Lutoslawski studied piano and composition in Warsaw. His early works were influenced by Polish folk music. His style demonstrates a wide range of rich atmospheric textures. He began developing his own characteristic composition techniques in the late 1950s. His music from this period onwards incorporates his own methods of building harmonies from small groups of musical intervals. It also uses aleatoric processes, in which the rhythmic coordination of parts is subject to an element of chance.

During World War II, after escaping German capture, Lutoslawski made a living by playing the piano in Warsaw bars. After the war, Stalinist authorities banned his First Symphony for being "formalist"—allegedly accessible only to an elite. Lutoslawski believed such anti-formalism was an unjustified retrograde step, and he resolutely strove to maintain his artistic integrity. In the 1980s, Lutoslawski gave artistic support to the Solidarity movement. Near the end of his life, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest honour. ---chandos.net

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01. Silesian Triptych: No. 1, Oj, mi się owiesek
02. Silesian Triptych: No. 2, Ach, w tej studni
03. Silesian Triptych: No. 3, Kukułeczka kuka
04. Lacrimosa
05. Paroles tissées: No. 1, Un chat qui s'émerveille
06. Paroles tissées: No. 2, Quand le jour a rouvert les branches du jardin
07. Paroles tissées: No. 3, Mille chevaux hors d'haleine
08. Paroles tissées: No. 4, Dormez cette pâleur nous est venue de loin
09. 4 Children's Songs: No. 3, Sleep, Sleep
10. Les espaces du sommeil: Dans la nuit il y a naturellement les sept merveilles
11. Les espaces du sommeil: Il y a toi l'immolée, toi que j'attends
12. Les espaces du sommeil: Il y a toi sans doute que je ne connais pas
13. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 1, La belle-de-nuit
14. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 2, La sauterelle
15. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 3, La véronique
16. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 4, L'églantine, l'aubépine et la glycine
17. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 5, La tortue
18. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 6, La rose
19. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 7, L'alligator
20. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 8, L'angélique
21. Chantefleurs et chantefables: No. 9, Le papillon

Lucy Crowe - soprano
Toby Spence - tenor
Christopher Purves - baritone
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner - conductor

The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner, music director of English National Opera and an exclusive Chandos artist, presents Volume 2 of their Polish Music series; a disc dedicated to vocal works by Witold Lutoslawski. They are joined by the soloists Lucy Crowe, Toby Spence, and Christopher Purves in looking at some of the composer’s earlier works for voice and orchestra as well as three major works written after 1960: Paroles tissées, Les Espaces du sommeil and Chantefleurs et Chantefables.

Among the earlier pieces, Lacrimosa is the only surviving fragment of an intended Requiem and the only sacred work in Lutoslawski’s output. In complete contrast, the Silesian Triptych was written at the height of the post-war Soviet doctrine that called for music that connected with the broad masses. In this folk-based work, Lutoslawski takes three Silesian songs about the trials of love, giving them sparkle as well as depth to lift them above the mundanity of everyday life. Both works here feature the soprano soloist Lucy Crowe.

When Poland finally emerged from the cultural oppression of the post-war decade, its music scene flourished. For Lutoslawski, it was a time for personal development. In the first half of the 1960s his music had a raw energy, but by 1965 it had developed a much more subtle tone. Paroles tissées, in which the tenor soloist here is Toby Spence, simply accompanied by strings, harp, and piano, was the first work really to show this new subtlety in his works. Les Espaces du sommeil, with the baritone soloist Christopher Purves, is another prime example of the new lyrical quality that came to colour many of Lutoslawski’s later orchestral works.

Chantefleurs et Chantefables is made up of nine charming and humourous songs which, inspired by the collection of childrens’ poems by the surrealist Robert Desnos, explores the vivid imagery and bright colours of the natural world through the innocent eyes of a child. ---chandos.net

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Symphonic Variations (1936-38)	9:29
1.Andante -1:41
2.Allegro - Stesso movimento -2:41
3.Adagio - Andante -3:22
4.Allegro non troppo - Subito poco meno mosso - Vivace	-1:45

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1987-88)	26:20
For Krystian Zimerman
5.1 dotted crotchet=c. 110 - crotchet=c.70 -5:41
6.2	Presto (crotchet=c. 160) - Poco meno mosso - Lento -4:41
7.3	quaver=c. 85 - Largo (crotchet=40 - 45) -8:13
8.4 crotchet=c. 84 - Poco meno mosso - Più mosso (crotchet=c. 110) -7:44

Variations on a Theme of Paganini (1978)	8:44
for Solo Piano and Orchestra; Arranged by the Composer from a Work for Two Persons (1941)
9.Allegro capriccioso - Meno mosso - Poco lento - Allegro molto - Più mosso -

Symphony No. 4 (1988-92)	22:24
10. crotchet=c. 55 - crotchet=c. 80 - quaver=c. 160 -7:08
11. crotchet=c. 85 - crotchet=c. 115 - Tempo i (crotchet=c. 85) -5:04
12. Lento (dotted crotchet=c. 60) - Tempo I (dotted crotchet=c. 85) - crotchet=c. 100 -6:12
13. dotted crotchet=c. 70 - crotchet=c. 60 -3:04
14. crotchet=c. 160 - 170	-0:53

Louis Lortie - piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner - conductor

Witold Lutoslawski was the most prolific of 20th century Polish composers (and pianist and conductor) who was little known in America until 1956 when he visited the U.S. to give lectures and seminars. Lutoslawski was trained for the Polish Army Signal Corp during WW II but was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. He escaped and played piano in musical cafes of Poland for the duration of the war. He was also a composer in search of a compositional style with which he could confidently express his musical ideas, and his musical journey meandered through several influences and styles before arriving at his own. Initially, the expression of his musical ideas was limited to folk-dominated music by the post-war Polish state until finally in the 1950’s, when he devised his own methods that involved using groups of musical intervals to build his harmonic structure. He also employed aleatory in which rhythmic elements of the music are subjected to chance. This element of chance culminates in Indeterminacy in which increasing degrees of freedom are granted to the performer.

I’ve covered only a sampling of Lutoslawski’s life to give you some idea of its breadth. That life was an active one experientially as well as musically, and this album presents works beginning with the Symphonic Variations, his orchestral debut written at the age of 25, his Piano Concerto (1988), Variations on a Theme by Paganini for Solo Piano and Orchestra (1978), and his final Symphony 4 composed in 1992, just two years before his death. The works are performed by Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Chandos and were recorded in 2011.

The album begins with Lutoslawski’s Symphonic Variations, composed while the composer was studying composition at the Warsaw Conservatory. His teacher pronounced it musically incomprehensible and ugly. Nice. It depicts the influence of Stravinsky and involves a ten measure theme first presented by flute, then violins. Seven variations follow with a final coda. The music immediately captures and holds your attention, and it demonstrates how fine an orchestrator Lutoslawski had already become. The music is exciting, sometimes lovely, and sometimes powerful, sometimes stark, sometimes lush – but ALWAYS endlessly fascinating. Okay, I’ll admit it: I enjoy Lutoslawski! The rhythms, melodic elements, dynamic contrasts, orchestral sonorities, and drama make this music easy to enjoy.

The Piano Concerto was composed specifically for Krystain Zimmerman but is played here by Louis Lortie. Each movement has the tempo specified with metronome markings. The 1st movement is a driving affair with impressive climaxes. Lortie’s piano tone is beautifully rounded. The 2nd movement is marked Presto but is inconsistently so. I did not find it nearly as interesting as the 1st. The 3rd movement is slower and even less interesting. The 4th movement opens with low strings playing a quiet but agitated melodic element (really, a brief series of strongly rhythmic motifs). After 30 seconds of that introduction, the piano enters. As the movement continues and more instruments join in, those motifs dominate the musicscape. A final coda ensues that is quite exciting. Lortie demonstrates superb technique in one of the more difficult sounding piano concertos I have heard. The music is uniformly interesting and more than listenable, but I find it somewhat difficult to give it stars for beauty.

The Variations on a Theme by Paganini have an interesting history. German occupation of Poland stripped the land of its classical music opportunities, and musical cafes popped up as a new venue. Lutoslawski partnered with composer/pianist Panufnik to arrange and perform light music. They composed or arranged a considerable number of works, all but these Variations lost in the 1944 Polish Uprising. Much later, Lutoslawski arranged the Variations for piano and orchestra. These are interesting and superbly played, but I will always defer to Rachmaninov for such an arrangement.

Symphony 4 begins darkly. A clarinet sings a long, slow, rather pensive melody is soon repeated that is taken up by other instruments and instrument ensembles as the single movement symphony unfolds. Before the first tempo closes, the intensity increases, and the “movement” becomes a bit furious. The second tempo section is agitated and at times angry-sounding. Four more tempo section follow. This is difficult music to love, yet Lutoslawski felt that his later music better expressed his musical ideas. Personally, although I find great pleasure in modern music, I find Lutoslawski’s earlier works that are more easily accessible are far more enjoyable.

This album is an excellent sampling of Lutoslawski across time. Orchestral execution is superb, and Gardner is certainly in the mind of the music even if it has varying degrees of heart. Sonically, the disc is without flaw, and the music makes a big splash on an adequately amped audio system. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for the Symphonic Variations, but others may enjoy his more obtuse works as well. The latter, for me, are more enjoyable if absorbed rather than analyzed. ---Joseph Kline PhD, MD, amazon.com

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Mala suita (1950)	10:13 (Little Suite)
for Symphony Orchestra
1.I Fujarka (Fife). Allegretto - Poco meno - Poco lento	2:43
2.II Hurra polka (Hurrah Polka). Vivace	1:33
3.III Piosenka (Song). Andante molto sostenuto	2:50
4.IV Taniec (Dance). Allegro molto - Poco più largo - Tempo I - Presto	3:07

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1969-70) 23:53
To Mstislav Rostropovich
5.Introduction -	4:14
6.Episodes -	7:34
7.Cantilena -	6:27
8.Finale		5:36

9.Grave (1982)	5:36
Metamorphoses for Cello and String Orchestra
Orchestration by the composer of version for Cello and Piano (1981)
Stafen Jarocinski in memoriam
crotchet=c. 152 - Lento (minim=c. 40)

Symphony No. 2 (1965-67)	29:51
10.1 Hésitant -	14:30
11.2 Direct		15:19

Paul Watkins - cello
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner - conductor

The Little Suite ( Mala Suita ) of 1950 predates his popular Concerto for Orchestra by four years and is full of subtle touches of orchestration that prefigure that early masterpiece. Each of its four movements uses Polish folk tunes (following the proscribed Communist government line), but Lutoslawski’s skill and light touch in the handling of this fairly simple thematic material gives the work freshness and integrity. Gardner and his BBC forces play it with effortless virtuosity and evident enjoyment.

By the time of his Second Symphony (1965-67), the composer’s harmonic thinking had become more complex and he had embraced modernism in the form of a limited aleatory technique, which he referred to as “controlled chance”: passages in which the musicians are given thematic phrases to repeat, independent of their neighbors, for a specifically indicated duration. These free sections alternate with regular metered sections. Many of Lutoslawski’s compositions from the 1960s onward use this aleatory technique to some degree but it is especially notable in this symphony, his first large-scale work to feature it. The symphony is also the first of several pieces where the main thrust of the musical argument occurs in the latter half—literally, as there are two movements ( Hésitant and Direct ). Nevertheless, the work is by no means a complete break from the past. It conceivably might have been titled Concerto for Orchestra No. 2: It spotlights groupings of solo instruments such as oboes, bassoons, and English horn in the first movement and string sections in the second, and is as much an orchestral showpiece as the earlier concerto. Perhaps because of the aleatory sections, early parts of the symphony seem fragmentary—even random—and it lacks the lyrical impulse that the composer brought into the mix for his highly regarded Third Symphony, but ultimately it all comes together in the second movement with some impressive climactic passages.

Obviously no two performances of the Second Symphony sound exactly the same. In his recording from 1977 with the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, the composer finds mystery in the sectional first movement and builds the tension with compelling intensity in the second. His Polish musicians play with commitment but are somewhat distantly recorded. (Full disclosure: I used a 40-year-old LP of this performance for comparison. It may sound clearer on CD.) Salonen’s 1994 Los Angeles recording frames the instruments in a closer perspective and is brisker in its timing. More in the concerto for orchestra mold, it is brilliantly played but rather disengaged. Gardner gets the best of both worlds: involvement and understanding from his orchestra and warm, clear, revealing sound. I do not have Antoni Wit’s Naxos recording at hand but James H. North dismissed it in these pages, saying the “too-smooth performance” glossed over many details.

Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto (1970) is now regarded as a masterpiece of its genre and has been performed and recorded often. When the reiterated Ds of the cello at the opening are suddenly challenged by the orchestral trumpets, it is clear this will be an essay of confrontation between opposing forces. With his strength of attack and depth of tone, the dedicatee, Mstislav Rostropovich, could take on a full orchestra with aplomb, which he did in his iconic 1974 recording with the Paris Orchestra conducted by the composer. Although Lutoslawski played down the idea, it was thought at the time that the concerto illustrated Rostropovich’s personal confrontations with the Soviet regime. Since then, other cellists have found their own emotional resonances in the music, notably Pieter Wispelwey, whose recording was highly praised by Bernard Jacobson in Fanfare 21:1. Jacobson described the Dutch cellist’s approach as instinctive and mercurial in “a work that depends more than most on the conviction of its performers.” Paul Watkins, without being the larger-than-life protagonist Rostropovich was, holds his own in this new performance. He is suitably assertive but also brings an elegant detachment to his role, which works very effectively: It reinvents the protagonist as an Everyman rather than a Superman. As well, Watkins is a superb musician technically, and again Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (always comfortable in contemporary music) are first-class.

Finally, the disc includes a short work from 1981 entitled Grave , a series of variations or “metamorphoses” on a theme from the opening of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Originally for cello and piano, the accompaniment was transcribed by the composer for string orchestra in 1982. With several vigorous rhythmic episodes it is a good deal livelier than the opera from which it derives, and displays Lutoslawski’s finely tuned ear for texture and color. Watkins and Gardner give a pointed, detailed performance, outshining the robust one by Rafael Kwiatkowski in Wit’s Naxos recording where the cellist is recorded too closely for my taste.

In summary, this disc is a further triumph in a series that looks like it’s becoming the finest overview yet of the work of one of the late 20th-century’s most significant composers. I should add that this is a Super Audio CD, but I have only heard it in regular stereo. --- FANFARE: Phillip Scott, arkivmusic.com

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01. Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro giusto
02. Symphony No. 1: II. Poco adagio
03. Symphony No. 1: III. Allegretto misterioso
04. Symphony No. 1: IV. Allegro vivace
05. Partita (Version for Violin & Orchestra): I. Allegro giusto
06. Partita (Version for Violin & Orchestra): II. Ad libitum
07. Partita (Version for Violin & Orchestra): III. Largo
08. Partita (Version for Violin & Orchestra): IV. Ad libitum
09. Partita (Version for Violin & Orchestra): V. Presto
10. Chain II: I. Ad libitum
11. Chain II: II. A battuta
12. Chain II: III. Ad libitum
13. Chain II: IV. A battuta-Ad libitum-A battuta
14. Preludia taneczne: No. 1, Allegro molto
15. Preludia taneczne: No. 2, Andantino
16. Preludia taneczne: No. 3, Allegro giocoso
17. Preludia taneczne: No. 4, Andante
18. Preludia taneczne: No. 5, Allegro molto

Tasmin Little - violin (5-9)
Michael Collins - clarinet (14-18)
BBC Symphony Orchestra 
Edward Gardner - conductor

This is the final volume of what has become a five CD survey of Witold Lutoslawski’s music, witness to an increasingly confusing system as it is marked as volume six of Chandos’s Polish Music series; the unaccounted fifth Lutoslawski volume being that with his vocal music (see review), so falling outside the numbered canon of orchestral volumes, and volume five of the Polish set being one with works by Szymanowski (see review).

With this being Lutoslawski’s centennial it has to be expected that the classical labels will bring out come celebratory releases. I happened to have the two CD set from Sony Classical 88765440832 which brings Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Los Angeles symphonic cycle to a conclusion with a new recording of the Symphony No. 1.

This is a very good recording and performance with some elements of added excitement over Edward Gardner’s BBC Symphony Orchestra recording, but in the end I do have to come down on the side of Gardner. Lutoslawski’s Symphony No. 1 is a relatively up-beat work, which might be something of a surprise considering what was happening in Poland at the time of its composition. Gardner might be a little less wild and edgy in the outer movements, but his ear for detail, a feature of all these Chandos releases, brings out colours and associations which you might have missed in other versions. There are a myriad of allusions in this work, some possibly unconscious, others perhaps deliberate, but you can spot the lush romanticism of Szymanowski amongst the chill of Bartók in the second movement, the elegant neo-classicism of Stravinsky amidst the punchy narrative of the Allegretto misterioso and perhaps the narrative pace of Prokofiev in the final Allegro vivace. No, this symphony is not a patchwork of external influences, but with such a rich tapestry of orchestration and an intense musical ride on top of a superbly designed tonal torpedo it is inevitable that we’re going to pick up all kinds of little flags on the way, and Gardner waves them all like the expert puppet-master he has proved himself to be. This is as vibrant and engaging a performance of this symphony as I have ever heard on record, so we’re off to a good start.

Any recording of the Partita has to go up against that of Anne-Sophie Mutter on Deutsche Grammophon, conducted by the composer. The timings for this compared to Tasmin Little and Gardner are as close as makes no difference, and in another keenly observed performance I have to say I’m not entirely sure if this is heresy, but I think I prefer this Chandos recording. The DG ‘original’ is a classic of course, but this team has a way of giving the music some extra oomph which makes it even more impressive. Little’s little glissandi and her dynamic expression give the piece a motivating drive which is quite compelling, and the orchestral support is a music-for-musicians feast of refined style and quiet energy - contrasts of dark and light creating an acute sense of mystery and at times cinematic drama. A similar story could be woven around this recording of Chain 2. The timings are a touch longer here and there in this case, but with a score riddled with markings of Ad libitum this is perhaps more to be expected. Again, Tasmin Little is urgent and emotionally engaged with the piece from beginning to end, linked inextricably to striking moments of orchestral beauty which can bring you to your knees, or sections with violence which can have you cowering into your comfy club-style armchair. Mutter is somewhat more parlando in her approach to this score, but Little is every bit as communicative, creating for instance a genuine sense of tragic lament in the initial stages of the second Ad libitum, and responding with fearsome technique to the demands of a remarkably intense work.To my ears this performance generates a closer synergy between soloist and orchestra, and therefore creating a more satisfying musical experience. The Partita and Chain 2 were also part of Lutoslawski’s final concert by the way, released by Naxos and also worth having in its own right (see review), though not as a first choice.

After all that gripping furioso violin we deserve a bit of a break, and the Dance Preludes with their folk-style derivations deliver. These pieces are of course deceptive in their sprightly rhythmic and melodic charm, and if you can listen between the barlines there is plenty of toughness, turbulence and tragedy to be found. Michael Collins is soloist par excellence, extracting all of the wit and pungency from these tremendous little masterpieces. Picking out the Antoni Wit Naxos alternative (see review), you can hear how important the soloist’s colour is in the communication of the light and joy in these pieces - Zbigniew Kaleta is very good, but his less perky tone can’t lift the opening Allegro molto in the way Collins does, and there is a deal less contrast further on as well - it’s all a bit gloomy with Wit’s team, where the BBC/Collins alliance generate another highly satisfying roller-coaster ride full of character and zing.

With this release, Chandos and Edward Gardner can look back on a series of recordings which has to be considered a worthy new reference in some of the best music the 20th century has to offer. Each new Lutoslawski release has been a highlight over the last few years, and this volume is every bit up to standard. The SACD and stereo sound layers are both rich, full and detailed, delivering plenty of the sonic spectra demanded of these pieces, from the spectacular First Symphony to the atmospheres and subtle brushstrokes of the Partita and Chain 2. Balance between soloists and orchestra is realistic, and I have no complaints … other than this being the last one. ---Dominy Clements, musicweb-international.com

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Dance preludes  [9'17]  Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)

1  Allegro molto  [1'01]
2  Andantino  [2'27]
3  Allegro giocoso  [1'11]
4  Andante  [3'06]
5  Allegro molto  [1'32]
	
Concertino for clarinet and string orchestra  [15'11]  Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960)

6  Toccata (Allegro)  [2'38]
7  Variazioni semplici (Andante)  [3'39]
8  Scherzo (Allegro)  [2'45]
9  Recitativo (Introduzione) (Rubato)  [2'55]
10 Finale (Allegro)  [3'14]

Clarinet Concerto  [21'31]  Howard Blake (b.1938)

11  Invocation: Recitativo - Moderato, molto deciso  [7'51]
12  Ceremony: Recitativo - Lento serioso  [7'12]
13  Round dance: Vivace  [6'28]

Thea King - clarinet
English Chamber Orchestra
Andrew Litton – conductor (1-10)
Howard Blake – conductor (11-13)

In the years immediately following the end of the Second World War, Poland’s musicians and film-makers suddenly blossomed in a remarkable resurgence of artistic independence. But the Communist regime demanded music that was ‘accessible’ and folkloristic, requirements that many Polish composers, Witold Lutoslawski prominent among them, found restrictive, though they managed to conform without compromising their principles. The Dance Preludes are a product of that difficult period and they remain one of Lutoslawski’s most popular works.

Originally written in 1954 for clarinet and piano, Lutoslawski subsequently made two orchestral versions. One closely adheres to the original with the clarinet as soloist; the other, made in 1959 for a larger group, breaks up the solo line and shares it between several instruments. The earlier of these two orchestral versions, the one recorded here, dates from 1955 and was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1963 with Gervase de Payer as soloist and Benjamin Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. In addition to the strings, harp, piano and percussion were added to the orchestra.

All five movements are based on Polish folk dance rhythms if not actual folk tunes. Lutoslawski has not identified them but they follow the general dictum that ‘the tempo of Polish folksongs changes almost from bar to bar’. The first, led in with a downward arpeggio in crotchets on the clarinet, is a jerky dance, almost wholly staccato. It centres round E flat and varies between 2/4 and 3/4. The second, a flowing Andantino alternating between 9/8 and 6/8, is based on B flat minor tonality with a quicker central section heralded by the quiet rattle of the tambourine.

No. 3, a kind of scherzo, alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 with 4/4 making an appearance near the end. Jagged acciaccaturas give the music a wild, abandoned character, and fast, high-register passages for the soloist suggest the sharp tone of the E flat clarinet favoured by many Polish folk musicians.

No. 4, another reflective piece, this time in 3/4 and 3/2, is introduced by a quiet pizzicato on the doublebass punctuated by a few low flourishes from the piano. The melody, concentrated within the interval of a fifth, is relatively simple and makes much use of repeated notes.

The last movement, a strongly accented dance centring round E flat, is the most complex metrically speaking – a combination of 2/4, 5/4, 3/4, 4/4, and finally 6/4 signatures, with the clarinet being offered alternative passages that run counter to the rhythm of the orchestra. There are hints of bagpipes, and the jolly atmosphere, rising to a wild climax, perhaps suggests a village wedding.

Mátyás Seiber was one of that distinguished group of European composers (others were Roberto Gerhard and Egon Wellesz) who sought refuge in Britain from Nazi tyranny. Seiber, a pupil of Kodály in Budapest, brought with him his Hungarian heritage and a love of jazz as well as an awareness of the music of his most distinguished contemporaries, Bartók and Hindemith – and, to a lesser degree, Schoenberg. All these influences eventually became distilled into a personal style whose further development was cruelly cut short on 24 September 1960 by a fatal car crash in the Kruger National Park during a visit to South Africa.

I am indebted to Thea King for the information that the Concertino was sketched during a train journey from Frankfurt to Budapest in 1926. The work began life as a quintet titled Divertimento for clarinet and string quartet. Its composition occupied Seiber on and off until 1928 and was his only major composition during that period. The present version for clarinet and string orchestra dates from 1951.

In common with many of his contemporaries at the time, Seiber became converted to neoclassicism, but Hindemith’s version of it rather than Stravinsky’s, and the Concertino reflects this preoccupation. It is possible to find in the opening Toccata some of the rhythmic elements associated with trains – running quavers punctuated by octave interjections suggesting wheels, rails and points, but the simile ought not to be taken too far. The Toccata develops into a lively contrapuntal exchange between soloist and orchestra in a modified sonata form with a brief development and the first subject reappearing in reverse order in the recapitulation.

The ‘Variazioni semplici’ is, as its title implies, a brief set of variations on a simple but endearing melody whose outlines evoke Hungary. The Scherzo, a witty but slightly acidic ‘joke’, obliquely reminds us of Seiber’s long-term interest in jazz, though the slap-tonguing demanded of the clarinettist has little to do with that beloved by the Ted Lewises and Wilton Crawleys in the New York of the 1920s. The Recitativo, subtitled ‘Introduzione’ (presumably to the finale) is another folky piece, full of atmosphere and coloured by rapid arpeggios on the clarinet, reminiscent of Bartók’s ‘night music’. Bartók, with Kodály, again comes to mind in the rapid finale, a dance whose outlines call up many such in the works of those two great collector-composers. A coda, pierced by shrill exclamations from the clarinet, again hints at that train journey, or at least its arrival at the Keleti terminus in the Hungarian capital.

Howard Blake was born in London in 1938, but grew up in Brighton. At eighteen he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied piano with Harold Craxton and composition with Howard Ferguson. Then, during the next ten years, he proved himself a highly versatile, all-round musician, working in London as a pianist, conductor and orchestrator, but especially as a composer. In 1971 he left London to live in a watermill in Sussex, and started to forge a personal style of composition – rhythmic, contrapuntal, and above all melodic. Since then there has been a steady stream of works in many different forms: a Divertimento for cello and orchestra, the Clarinet Concerto, a Piano Quartet, Sinfonietta for brass, song cycles, a comic opera, piano music, and the large-scale choral and orchestral work Benedictus which has been given many major performances including the Three Choirs Festival 1987, Westminster and Canterbury Cathedrals, and Kings College, Cambridge, in 1988.

Howard Blake’s Barbican concerts for children enjoyed a huge success, featuring his music for The Snowman with its much-loved song ‘Walking in the Air’. Howard Blake has also composed widely for ballet, television, the cinema and the theatre. He lives once again in London and most of his music is now published by Faber Music.

The Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by Thea King and first performed by her at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in June 1985, with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer. A nine-bar recitative leads to the first movement, ‘Invocation’, which develops a mysterious, syncopated theme in G minor. A horn note dies away to a second recitative which leads to the slow movement, ‘Ceremony’, a hushed cantilena using the clarinet’s capacity for sustained lyricism. The third movement uses its capacity for rapid passagework in the form of a restless but exuberant ‘Round Dance’ – an accompanied cadenza returning to the recitative material from the beginning of the work and confirming the strong feeling of the piece as being in one movement.

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1.Idzie Grześ
2.Spóźniony słowik
3.Ptasie plotki
4.Rok i bieda
5.O panu Tralalińskim
6.Kotek
7.Trudny rachunek
8.Warzywa
9.Taniec
10.Rzeczka

Dorota Miśkiewicz – vocals
Kwadrofonik:
Emilia Sitarz, Bartek Wąski – piano
Magda Kordylasińska, Miłosz Pękala - percussion


THOMAS CIANNARELLA sent to us this album with songs for children. Thank You very much Thomas.

Jedna z najbardziej niesztampowych i intrygujących polskich płyt ostatnich lat. Stoi w sprzeczności z niskobudżetowymi i artystycznie nijakimi tendencjami w polskiej muzyce adresowanej do dzieci. Światowej sławy kwartet specjalizujący się w muzyce współczesnej wraz z Dorotą Miśkiewicz, dokonał ponownego odczytania zbioru piosenek skomponowanych przez Witolda Lutosławskiego do tekstów Juliana Tuwima.

O walorze tej muzyki (w oryginale) przekonany był sam Lutosławski, bowiem w przeciwieństwie do piosenek „dla dorosłych” kompozytor nie ukrywał się pod pseudonimem, tu tworzył pod podniesioną przyłbicą. Łącznie skomponował ponad 40 piosenek, 10 z nich za sprawą Centrum Sztuki Dziecka w Poznaniu i programu „Lutosławski dla Dzieci” (subwencja – Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego/Instytut Muzyki i Tańca) trafiło ostatecznie na krążek.

Przyznam, że można się w nim zasłuchać. Arcytrudne linie melodyczne Dorota Miśkiewicz wykonuje jak wprawny sternik, a energetyczna gra kwartetu, odwołująca się do najlepszych światowych wzorców, wymusza nasze skupienie. Tutaj wszystko jest wycyzelowane, każda nutka ważna, wielopłaszczyznowość w warstwie perkusji staje się tłem do raz ekspresyjnych (O panu Tralalińskim), a kiedy indziej impresjonistycznej (Kotek) konwencji gry pianistów. Zdumiewające urodą, dowcipem i znajomością możliwości instrumentów opracowanie, wynika wprost z wirtuozerii samych muzyków. Totalne traktowanie perkusjonaliów i fortepianów w Tańcu aż skrzy się obertasem. Założę się, że niejeden kompozytor chciałby zgłębić tę wiedzę tajemną.

Kiedyś nieodżałowany Jan Weber w długiej rozmowie na pokładzie samolotu (lecieliśmy na koncert z Krzysztofem Pendereckim) zauważył, że podobnie jak dobry jazz, dobra interpretacja muzyki poważnej – swinguje. Przywołał casus Mozartowskiego Requiem pod Christopherem Hogwoodem i Cztery pory roku Vivaldiego w interpretacji Simon Standage/Trevor Pinnock. Trafił w sedno.

Podobnie jest tutaj. Płyta jest jak świetna opowieść, wciąga. Nie idzie na interpretacyjne skróty. Nic więc dziwnego, że album dostał nominację do Fryderyka w muzyce poważnej. Tym bardziej docenić trzeba fakt obecności Doroty Miśkiewicz. --- Piotr Iwicki, jazzforum.com.pl

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1 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - 1. ca. 110		Krystian Zimerman	5:38
2 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - 2. Presto – attaca	Krystian Zimerman	4:38
3 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - 3. ca. 85		Krystian Zimerman	7:23
4 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - 4. ca. 84		Krystian Zimerman	8:01
5 Partita (for Violin and Orchestra) - 1. Allegro giusto	Anne-Sophie Mutter	4:14
6 Partita (for Violin and Orchestra) - 2. Ad libitum	Anne-Sophie Mutter	4:11
7 Partita (for Violin and Orchestra) - 3. Largo		Anne-Sophie Mutter	6:22
8 Partita (for Violin and Orchestra) - 4. Ad libitum	Anne-Sophie Mutter	0:47
9 Partita (for Violin and Orchestra) - 5. Presto		Anne-Sophie Mutter	3:51
10 Chain 2 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra - 1. Ad libitum Anne-Sophie Mutter	3:50
11 Chain 2 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra - 2. A Battuta Anne-Sophie Mutter		5:00
12 Chain 2 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra - 3. Ad libitum Anne-Sophie Mutter	4:58
13 Chain 2 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra - 4. A battuta - Ad libitum - A battuta Anne-Sophie Mutter	4:30

Krystian Zimerman - piano
Anne-Sophie Mutter – violin
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Witold Lutoslawski  - conductor

Bartók's influence in the Forties and Fifties grew to a great height throughout the Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe, particularly among the better composers. True, one found serialists like Eisler in East Germany and Tadeusz Baird in Poland, but they seemed exceptions, rather than the rule. In Poland, for example, we meet the examples of the remarkable Grazyna Bacewicz and Witold Lutoslawski. Lutoslawski especially seemed to regard Bartók as Brahms did Beethoven, a spiritual father who inspired within him both an almost stifling reverence and the need to break free. Although we tend to think of Lutoslawski as a monument among post-war composers, he did change. The early stuff owes just about everything to Bartók. To say this doesn't trivialize Lutoslawski. It takes a great composer to "do" Bartók so well. A middle period follows, during which Lutoslawski reacts against the older man. The music is almost feverishly experimental. The work in the style we think of as Lutoslawskian accepts Bartók's influence, if it ever comes up, but that's not its point. As Brahms remarked to someone who pointed out a Beethoven reference in Brahms's first symphony, "Any fool can see that."

All the works on the CD appear relatively late in Lutoslawski's career. This CD repackages previous tracks. The Partita joins Chain 2 and the Stravinsky violin concerto on DG 423696-2, while the piano concerto brings with it Chain 3 and the Novelette on DG 431664-2. If you have those, don't bother with this one.

Other than that, the performances are stunning. The BBC plays to a fare-thee-well, while Lutoslawski does a fine job on the podium. I won't say I can't imagine these works done better, but the readings will not likely be bettered for a while. The conductor certainly knows what the composer wants. Zimerman and Mutter, the original soloists and dedicatees, perform at the top of their considerable game, and, since Lutoslawski played both the piano and the violin himself, he understands how to make these instruments sound, even among unusual textures.

Lutoslawski's major instrument was the piano, and his catalogue is filled with terrifically effective, even virtuoso stuff, from at least the early (1943) Variations on a Theme of Paganini for two pianos on. The concerto, however, comes from 1987 (the composer died in 1994)—so, pretty late—although the composer had been thinking about the work for at least ten years previously. The liner notes by Anthony Burton make much of the technique of the piece, the compositional "gadgets," as it were. The two main ones are Lutoslawski's contrast of ad libitum (music without a strong metric pulse, like Hovhaness's "spirit murmur") and a battuta (music with a strict pulse, something the conductor can beat) and his notion of the "chain." The "chain" grows out of the composer's ad libitum music and apparently updates the baroque notion of stretto. That is, short strands or even sections of music, not necessarily related and not necessarily coordinated in strict time, overlap each other. We oohed and aahed over these things when they were new, but fortunately the music doesn't depend on their novelty, any more than the power of a Bach cantata depends on its having a fugue. I think by now listeners can "just listen," enter Lutoslawski's emotional world, without having to worry about the composer's technique.

We can, however, note the potential for the music, through these techniques, to degenerate into an undifferentiated aural ooze. Lutoslawski's great expressive and rhetorical command never allows this to happen. The piano concerto's opening movement glitters in a delicate way that will remind listeners of Bartók's sonata for two pianos and percussion (perhaps even parts of Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra), minus actual quotes. Lutoslawski ensures that the tension between strict and free rhythm remains an element of drama, rather than of technique only. The first movement acts as a kind of wind-up, Vaughan Williams's "wisps of music floating about," trying to coalesce into something purposeful. The soloist provides the gravitational focus, accreting to itself more and more of the orchestra. The music sputters, pulls up its socks, rears back, and finally, after a sustained build-up, leaps directly into a wild toccata second movement. Rhythm is the musical point. For some reason, the entire concerto has a nocturnal "feel" to it. In the second movement, night terrors alternate with flocks of demons fading off into another part of the forest and the next movement. This one, roughly an A-B-A structure, sings like a voice in the night, sad and meditative on what has gone on before. Zimerman has always impressed me with his command of keyboard color and emotional range—not for nothing do people like his Chopin and Debussy—and Lutoslawski demands not only these, but a kind of emotional maturity, which Zimerman delivers. The third movement leads without a break to the fourth, a passacaglia—something I wouldn't have known, had not Burton pointed it out. Even so, I don't yet hear it, and, without a score, it will take me a while. Again, however, that doesn't keep me entirely out of the music, which rhetorically (as opposed to architecturally) seems a conflict between strict and free rhythm, fast and slow tempi, this time in the confines of a single movement, strict and fast win out, in a blazing close that gives you as much bang for your buck as you would wish.

Lutoslawski first composed a violin-and-piano version of the Partita for Zukerman and composer-pianist Marc Neikrug in response to a commission from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. I'm no Zukerman fan and have difficulty imagining that he actually enjoyed playing it, given his usual know-nothing comments on modern and contemporary music. It doesn't surprise me that he didn't record it. However, Mutter so impressed Lutoslawski with her performance of Chain 2, he orchestrated the Partita especially for her. The work consists of five movements, two of which are ad libitum interludes after the first and third movements. The three "real" movements are based on Baroque dance forms: courante, air, and gigue. While hardly light music, it seems to me Lutoslawski in a relatively relaxed mode. It's a very attractive work. The orchestration is that of a master, rich and imaginative without necessarily calling attention to itself. The composer uses the piano as an orchestral sonority, particularly in the first and last movements, I suspect because he couldn't quite translate all of it into orchestra-ese. The beauties of this work, particularly those of a quiet section toward the end, can just about break your heart. Mutter has always been an elegant, patrician player (as well as a babe), and this music suits her down to the ground.

I realize that Chain 2 counts as a major work in Lutoslawski's catalogue, but I've never entirely warmed to it. I admire it, as I might admire blueprints or a well-reasoned legal brief. However, as I continue to listen, it sinks in a bit more—unlike many pieces that simply increase my antipathy and where familiarity breeds contempt. This time around, I found myself hooking into the fast parts of the piece. Again, the free-vs.-strict rhythmic dichotomy prevails. Lutoslawski calls it a "dialogue" rather than a concerto, and, indeed, its dedication to Paul Sacher also suggests large-scale chamber music. One can find that element in the work, but one can also single out plenty of passages where the soloist contends "heroically" with the orchestra or where the ensemble mainly supports the soloist, as in the typical concerto. My favorite movement, contrary to what I've said so far, has always been the slow third movement, passionate and demanding. Mutter meets the emotional requirements of the piece, without stepping into bathos. To me, this account also represents the best conducting and orchestral playing on the CD.

The sound is wonderful, capturing Lutoslawski's brilliant textures and precise balances, without crossing the line to the hokey. --- classicalcdreview.com

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