Polmic - FB

CDs (L)

A B C D E F G H I J K L Ł M N O P Q R S Ś T U V W X Y Z Ż


Witold Lutosławski

-


Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic
Concerto for piano and orchestra
Chantefleurs et Chantefables
Symphony No. 2

Perf.: Dawn Upshaw - soprano, Paul Crossley - piano, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Esa-Pekka Salonen
* Sony 1996 - SK 67 189, DDD 73'54''
The authors of this CD, dedicated exclusively to Lutosławski, made a very careful selection of works. The idea behind this selection is reflected by its full title: Sculptures in Sound - Fluid and Fixed. What is common to all the pieces included here is the use of chance as the main music-organising principle in each composition. Symphony No. 2, written in 1966-67, was Lutosławski’s first work for grand orchestral forces to apply the technique of his own invention - controlled aleatorism. For a set period of time, each of the performers is to play as though he or she were alone, taking no heed of what sound will result from the overlapping parts. Each performance is, then, characterised by the effect of chance sound structures. A similar principle was used ten years later in the Concerto for piano, though here it no longer determines the character of the whole. In Chantefleurs et Chantefables, a cycle from 1990 (brilliantly interpreted by the American singer Dawn Upshaw), the ad libitum sections are of even lesser importance.