Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 4; Partita for Violin & Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This fine disc not only contains Lutoslawski's last major work, the compact and elegiac Fourth Symphony, it neatly gathers his two pieces for violin and orchestra, Chain II and the Partita. Like most Polish composers, Lutoslawski had a natural feeling for the violin, and although he never wrote a formal violin concerto, the Partita in particular certainly fits the bill. Like all of his best work, the music is modern in tone, but so lucidly structured and sonically eventful that, while it's certainly not easy listening, no sympathetic ear can fail to be impressed by its beauty and emotional directness. The performances, by the composer's compatriots, are all superb, and this budget-price disc is part of survey of the composer's complete orchestral music. Wonderful. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Funeral Music For Strings: Prologue
Funeral Music For Strings: Metamorphoses
Funeral Music For Strings: Apogeum
Funeral Music For Strings: Epilogue
Chain 2: Dialogue For Violin And Orchestra: Ad Libitum
Chain 2: Dialogue For Violin And Orchestra: A battuta
Chain 2: Dialogue For Violin And Orchestra: Ad libitum
Chain 2: Dialogue For Violin And Orchestra: A battuta - Ad libitum - A battuta
Interlude
Partita For Violin And Orchestra: Allegro giusto
Partita For Violin And Orchestra: Ad libitum
Partita For Violin And Orchestra: Largo
Partita For Violin And Orchestra: Ad libitum
Partita For Violin And Orchestra: Presto
Symphony No. 4

Amazon.com

This fine disc not only contains Lutoslawski's last major work, the compact and elegiac Fourth Symphony, it neatly gathers his two pieces for violin and orchestra, Chain II and the Partita. Like most Polish composers, Lutoslawski had a natural feeling for the violin, and although he never wrote a formal violin concerto, the Partita in particular certainly fits the bill. Like all of his best work, the music is modern in tone, but so lucidly structured and sonically eventful that, while it's certainly not easy listening, no sympathetic ear can fail to be impressed by its beauty and emotional directness. The performances, by the composer's compatriots, are all superb, and this budget-price disc is part of survey of the composer's complete orchestral music. Wonderful. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Generally minor Lutoslawski, but dependably performed........2006-08-02

This Naxos disc, the first of the label's seven-volume collection of Witold Lutoslawski's orchestral music, covers two very different phases of the composer's career, with one piece from the second half of the 1950s and the rest from the last decade of his life. As always, Antoni Wit leads the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Krzystof Bakowski appears as the soloist in the violin pieces.

While the "Jeux Venitiens" of 1961, bringing in limited aleatorism, is often heralded as the start of Lutoslawski's middle period, the chromatic language that marked these mature works was introduced with "Muzyka zalobna" for strings ("Funeral Music", 1958). In 1954 Lutoslawski had just finished his Concerto for Orchestra, and was commissioned to write a piece for the tenth anniversary of Bartok's death. The slight post-Stalinist thaw gave him the chance to entirely rethink his compositional technique, and four years later he presented this work where the socialist-realist or folk inspiration of the Concerto for Orchestra was strikingly replaced with dodecaphony. The twelve-tone method of the piece is too complicated to go into here, but what Lutoslawski was seeking to do was use chromaticism to give colour and personality, not just structure like the serialists. Many of the specific methods Lutoslawski uses here were not continued in later works, and Edward Cowie called the work a "diversion" from the composer's stylistic evolution, but it does signal a comfort with the full range of pitch and is moving listening.

We skip over a quarter century from "Muzyka zalobna" to the next piece. What happened in the meantime was exciting, limited aleatorism was an integral part of each piece, the selection of pitches was taken from twelve-note chords, and a bold concept of bipartite form ("hesitant" vs "direct" was introduced). Pieces like the splendid String Quartet of 1965 and the awesome Symphony No. 2 of 1968 are fine examples of this period. After his third symphony, however, Lutoslawski moved away from all this. While aleatorism remained, it began to contribute little to the music and in most places seems a mere formality. Total chromaticism disappeared, and instead the harmonies sound as restricted as neoclassicism or neoromanticism. This process of limitation took a while to come to fruition.

In "Chain 2" (1984), a "dialogue for violin and orchestra" one still feels that the form is boundlessly expanding, avoiding any stale constraints of classicism. The title refers to Lutoslawski's late technique of beginning new sections before the last is fully completed, given the work a certain momentum that propels the music forward. While emphatically not a violin concerto (he was at work on a piece earning such a name in his final weeks), Lutoslawski's love for the instrument is so great that the work tours all manner of violin technique and mood. I think "Chain 3" for chamber orchestra is a better exposition of this form, but this follows not far behind.

"Partita" (1988), an orchestration of a piece originally for violin and piano, immediately strikes the listener who has followed Lutoslawski's work chronologically as strait-jacketed. The occasionally interludes for solo violin and piano don't are interesting. But that doesn't change the fact that the main of the work finds inspiration in Baroque music, and even if there are no major or minor keys, the work still approximates a sort of stale tonality. The "Interlude" for orchestra (1989) is a brief work written to bridge the two violin pieces. Its soft, slowly shifting textures sound eerily like something from Arvo Part, which is at first a bit surprising, but after a few listens the piece ends up seeming generally unremarkable.

The "Symphony No. 4" (1992) was Lutoslawski's last great work. It begins with the soundworld of the Third Symphony, as everything arises from the note E in both. The Fourth, however, is much more lyrical, brooding, meditative. Harmonies here are based on thirds. While not one of Lutoslawski's greatest symphonies--I favour the Second and Third--there's so many rich dramatic shifts, from sweetness to a sense of catastrophe, and it's pleasant listening. It certainly shows that Lutoslawski still had it even after the "Partita" or the rather appalling "Piano Concerto".

Naxos is rather hit-and-miss with liner notes, but this release has a surprisingly specific analysis. This is probably a dreadful introduction to Lutoslawski, and for that I'd recommend the Sony disc with the Third and Fourth symphonies and "Les espaces du sommeil". Still, the Naxos series of his orchestral works give full coverage to this intriguing composer's career, the price is right, and the performances are generally competitive with the best major-label offerings.

Great value and a good listen.......2004-02-29

I make no attempt to compare this with other versions of these pieces, as I haven't listened to any others. This CD, like the others in this series is great value. The issue mentioned in a previous review about Chain, the Partita and the Interlude being reversed in their usual order isn't problematic, as they all stand alone and can be programmed in the 'right' order anyway.

This is all fine music, but the highlights for me are the Funeral Music and Interlude. Their 'atmospheric' nature appeals.

For those interested in low price versions of Polish 20th Century masters, try:

Penderecki: Anaklasis/Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima/De Natura Sonoris Nos 1 & 2 etc on EMI Classics

Gorecki: The glorious Symphony No 3 on Naxos - at least equal best of all versions and my favourite

Great music; performances a little short of the best.......2003-12-15

This disc would make an ideal introduction to the music of the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, and as it happens it was the first in a series of eight Naxos discs of his orchestral music, all with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the capable baton of Antoni Wit. The disc includes three major late works and one of the best of the composer's earlier works, and only one minor piece.

The early work on the disc is Funeral Music, for string orchestra. This work, written between 1954 and 1958, was the closest Lutoslawski ever got to writing serial music--a slow elegiac work based on tritones and minor seconds. The opening builds up complexity from a single line to an eight-voice canon, and this process is played out in reverse at the close. In between these sections, the simple motif on which the work is based is transformed and metamorphosed, eventually climaxing in a series of twelve-note chords. This is a transitional work (Lutoslawski was not to find his mature style till Jeux vénetiens in 1961) but nonetheless well worth a listen. Wit's performance here is a little too soft-edged at times; there are many rivals that have a mild edge over him, for example Rowicki on Philips.

Chain 2, written in the mid-1980s, is in effect a concerto for violin and chamber orchestra. It is written in four movements--in the first and third, the orchestra and violin play without co-ordinating their music, creating fluid, flexible counterpoint. In the second and fourth, the music is notated as normally (except for at the climax of the fourth movement, where the music briefly loses co-ordination). The music here contrasts dramatic, abrasive material with lyrical melody--at the climax of the finale it seems that the abrasive material has won out, but the violin then re-enters, ending the work melodically. Krzyszstov Bakowski takes a much more classical view than the more romantic Anne-Sophie Mutter in her rival recording on DG, and this is not to his advantage--the music really here needs the drama Mutter brings to it and the more virtuoso playing of the BBC Symphony under Lutoslawski.

The Interlude is a short piece intended to be played between Partita and Chain 2 (I'm not sure why Naxos programmed the disc the way around they did, as it reverses the composer's intended order of the three works). This is a minor work, a kind of Polish Unanswered Question, but not nearly as haunting as Ives' masterpiece. Wit directs a good clean performance of this work, which is otherwise hard to find on disc.

Partita is Lutoslawski's other concertante work for violin and orchestra (technically, it is really for violin and piano, but Lutoslawski produced a later orchestral version, which we hear here: I confess to a slight preference for the original). Also dating from the 1980s, this work occupies a similar world to that of Chain 2, though slightly more clear-cut. The work is in three main movements in fast-slow-fast form, with short interludes for violin and piano separating them (in these interludes, violin and piano play uncoordinated, at all other times--except for the climax in the finale--the writing is strictly coordinated). The outer movements are vigorously rhythmic and melodic, almost neo-Classical at times, while the slow movement is a deeply felt elegy. Here, I find Bakowski's style more appropriate to the work, and highly competitive with Mutter; I would favour the DG recording only marginally if at all.

The last work on the disc is Lutoslawski's last major work, the Fourth Symphony, written between 1988 and 1992. This is a primarily lyrical work in two movements, a slow introduction lasting about seven minutes and a faster main movement of twice the length. The first movement is probably the most beautiful and lyrical music the composer ever wrote, with a glorious clarinet melody over held strings and tolling harp; the second movement takes the same material as the first and transforms it into ever more diverse forms before leading to a exhilarating conclusion. Wit is again on form here, though I have a preference for Salonen's recording on Sony, where the orchestral playing is that bit more lush and Salonen gives the music a little more space to breathe.

While none of the performances here are the outright front-runner, none (with the possible exception of Chain 2) are weak. Accordingly, this disc can be safely recommended to anyone wishing to explore one of the finest (and most accessible) of post-tonal composers. Those already tuned into Lutoslawski's world may wish to look into the rivals I mention in the review, which do provide an even finer musical experience--if at a greater price.

stunning performances.......2003-02-06

I have listened to this disk over and over -- something I rarely do. The Fourth Symphony is exciting in Wit's hands. I prefer it to Esa-Pekka Salonen's outing with the LA Philharmonic. The Funeral Music is moving and the Chain II/Interlude/Partita sequence rewarding.

Superb 'Funeral Music' and breathtaking Fourth Symphony.......2000-01-31

This disc would serve as a wonderful introduction to the music of this late Polish master to those who have yet to be delighted by his music. The disc begins with his haunting, elegiac 'Funeral Music,' scored for strings only, with a solo cello mournfully playing its beginning and its conclusion. This recording is an absolute must, for only the composer's own recording can top it, and not by much. Next, 'Chain II' is given a supreme performance by Krzysztof Bakowski, a performance that is equal to or maybe even better than Anne-Sophie Mutter's (he wrote it for her). The calm and graceful 'Interlude' is brilliantly scored, and serves as a very effective transition piece. The 'Partita,' once more featuring Bakowski, is given its essential performance. Finally, Lutoslawski's swansong, his Fourth Symphony, is given a performance that probably can't ever be topped. Conductor Antoni Wit brings so much life and energy to it, and it is recorded with such a great sound, that it quickly becomes permanently embedded in your mind. Of course, its wonderful scoring and thick textures help too! Lutoslawski's oeuvre is among the most formidable of 20th century composers. He wrote so much wonderful music, and the pieces showcased here are a great introduction to it.

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