CCXCIX. LUTOSŁAWSKI, Witold (1913-1994)
Like Shostakovich and many other composers who had the misfortune of having to write music to please Communist Party bosses, Lutosławski's First Symphony was performed and then quickly withdrawn from public performance.
It was later -- in the 50s -- when relaxed attitudes permitted a performance.
First Movement
Traces of Shostakovich and Bartók can be discerned -- but yet, there is something quite new and original in this music. With a massive orchestra, the piece starts brilliantly, with a rhythmic, fanfare-like trumpet motif. A second subject -- lyrical, in the lower strings -- provides a contrast. This is all developed and recapitulated.
Second Movement
Beginning with an unwinding figure in the lower strings, a French Horn sings above, poignantly. The texture thickens and thins; Over twisting strings, an oboe soars; a solo violin, and the movement closes with the dark sonority of a solo viola.
Third Movement
A bizarre off-beat scherzo, using a twelve-tone row and a contrasting trio.
Fourth Movement
Energetic and propelled forward, the music continually surprises. Written in '47, again one hears traces of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (1945) [see Post CV], with swirling strings and piled-up brass.
A rousing work, too infrequently performed.
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