Lutoslawski: Double Concerto / Dance Preludes / Chain I

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Cat No: 8555763

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Release Date: 01 August 2003

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313576326

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: LUTOSLAWSKI

Description
Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)Orchestral Works, Vol. 8It might seem tempting to describe the works included inthis eighth volume of the orchestral music of Witold Lutoslawski asrepresenting the lighter side of his composing. In fact each of the five workshas a significant place within his overall output. Dance Preludes is a pendantto the Concerto for Orchestra [Naxos 8.553779], the climax of a phase in whichLutoslawski's work was - indeed, had to be - centred on folk music. The DoubleConcerto and, in its more restricted way, Grave resolve many of the compositionalquestions that the composer had been wrestling with during the 1970s, makingpossible the impressive span of the Third Symphony [Naxos 8.553423]. After thatwork, Lutoslawski sought new ways of establishing coherence in his music -Chain 1 being the first of three pieces in which melodic continuity is madeparamount. As to the Eight Children's Songs, these evince a positive approachto the Stalinist dictates of the period, as well as furthering a line offolk-based song composition with its antecedents in Janac˘ek, Bartok andStravinsky. Described by the composer as his \farewell to folklore,Dance Preludes was originally composed for clarinet and piano in 1954 andorchestrated the following year (a further arrangement for chamber ensemble followedin 1959), though the public premi?¿re came only with the 1963 AldeburghFestival, given by Gervase de Peyer, the English Chamber Orchestra and BenjaminBritten. The opening Allegro molto features a perky theme for the soloist,discreetly accompanied by orchestra. The Andantino is a wistful elegy, with anoticeably Bartokian idea as contrast. With its effective writing for piano andsnare drum, the Allegro giocoso looks back to the rhythmic high jinks of theCapriccio notturno from the recent Concerto for Orchestra. The Andante beginsas a stealthy motion in piano and lower strings, reminiscent this time of thePassacaglia of the Concerto, the soloist unwinding a plaintive melody whichremains unresolved, tonally and emotionally, at the close. This uncertainty isdispelled by the lively Allegro molto, with its folk-inflected theme andsyncopated accompaniment, ending with an amusing coup de the?ótre.The Double Concerto was commissioned by the Swiss conductorand new music patron Paul Sacher for the oboist Heinz Holliger, at whoserequest an obligato harp part for his wife Ursula was included. Completed in1980, the work was first performed in August that year, when the Holligers werejoined by the Collegium Musicum and Sacher. The orchestra consists of twopercussionists and twelve strings which, though the number can be increased inlarger venues, enables the composer to use them as an ensemble of soloists. The Rapsodico opens with swarming string textures, out ofwhich oboe and harp emerge in an elegant duet. This alternation of the twomusical 'types' continues in animated fashion, until a brusque gesture frompercussion brings them together in an Appassionato of hi
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