Here
we have five Lutosławski chamber
works written between 1949 and 1991.
As with ACD
015 the disc plays for five minutes
short of an hour.
The rarely encountered
Overture for string orchestra
preceded the First Symphony and Concerto
for Orchestra. It is shaped somewhat
by the examples of Roussel and Bartók
in its darting activity with impudent
neo-classical elements.
Why the title Funeral
Music? It was to have been written
for the tenth anniversary of Bartók's
death. It is in four movements, played
without pause but tracked individually
here. The piece is for string orchestra
and presents a very solid and impressively
stern tone without being especially
funereal. Darting and quick music in
the Metamorphoses is not merely
athletic but also warm and humane rising
to the stabbing cauldron of Apogee
which falls away into the Epilogue
and silence.
Jeux Vénitiens
bears that title only in reference
to the fact that it was written for
the 1961 Venice Biennale. Its four movements
are the pinnacle of Lutosławski's
identification with modernity being
not only dodecaphonic but also requiring
an aleatory element namely that although
everything is notated there are points
at which the timing of the playing of
the lines is left to the individual
players. There is a noticeable
role for a stormy piano and that same
instrument's shuddering shivers end
the piece.
The Partita
was written for Anne-Sophie Mutter (now
Mrs Andre Previn). More than two decades
have passed and Lutosławski is
now finding a new voice. The
piece is in three movements divided
by two interludes. It is a work of virtuosity
as expected and the quick whirling high
cycles of the violin in the first movement
leave us in little doubt of its intentions.
The 6 minute central largo is
an exercise in Bergian romanticism while
the presto zips and buzzes with activity.
The Interludium
was designed as a 'separator' for
Partita from Chaine II or
either of these pieces from the orchestral
song-cycle Chantefleurs et Chantefables.
It is self-effacing - a bearer of minimalist
stillness.
The notes are very
full and performances are dedicated
and extremely well sustained.
Rob Barnett
The
entire CDAccord catalogue is available
from MusicWeb
for
details
Krzysztof Jakowicz (violin)