Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto / Livre Pour Orchestre / Chain III

Description

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-93) Livre pour orchestreConcerto for cello and orchestra NoveletteChain 3The titles of the three symphonic works of Witold Lutoslawski included in the present recording suggest extra-musical inspiration, literary, fable or narrative, Livre, Novelette and Chain, the first suggesting, perhaps, Couperin, the second Schumann and the third the only one with a direct Polish translation, a title used by Lutoslawski for a series of works. Surprisingly the final work included, the Cello Concerto, with its less evocative, purely technical title, has strong extra-musical connections. It was written in 1969-1970 for a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Gulbenkian Foundation, and first performed on 14th October 1970 at the London Festival Hall by the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom it is dedicated, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Edward Downes. The work, because of its dedication, has suggested association with the position of Rostropovich at the time as a dissident in the Soviet Union, but the composer, in spite of the sufferings of his own family at the hands of Russian Communists, denied this, although the Soviet authorities banned its broadcast performance in Russia and in Poland, after Rostropovich had been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society. In the Concerto, typically, the soloist is the ubiquitous hero of the work, varied in contrasting moods and forms of expression that follow the request of Rostropovich to take no account of technical problems for the soloist but only of musical problems. The whole work is built on the principle of conflict, in form and in expression. It begins with an introduction for the soloist that develops from the note D, repeated. This provides an inner dialogue between phrases that make a firm statement of belief and those that oppose it. The cello-writing is as polyphonic as that for unaccompanied violin by Bach or Bartók, but here the polyphony is a matter of craftsmanship, of ambience and of types of expression. Soon, however, conflict begins with the first interruption by the brass. This continues in four phases, the second with four outbursts from the brass, the third a lyrical cello solo with strings, again interrupted with greater intensity and the fourth the climax of the work. The Concerto, in fact, consists of four linked movements, Introduction, four Episodes, a Cantilena and a Finale. The soloist, after the brusque interruption of the Introduction, moves on to the first of the four Episodes, which all involve dialogue with other instruments and are all to be interrupted by the 'serious' brass. The cello, relatively unconcerned, turns to weightier matters when it comes to the Cantilena, interrupted by the whole orchestra. In the Finale the cello is, as it were, attacked by smaller groups of instruments, leading to what might appear defeat. This is contradicted by the final coda, recalling the opening and allowing a triumph