The Essential Lutoslawski

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Performer), Witold Lutoslawski (Composer), Witold Lutoslawski (Conductor), Witold Rowicki (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Martha Argerich (Performer), Nelson Freire (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire
• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Witold Lutoslawski, Witold Rowicki
• Composer: Witold Lutoslawski
• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00002DDWR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,043 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Single Lutoslawski Purchase You Could Make, May 4, 2000

By 

Karl Henzy - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Lutoslawski (Audio CD)

If I had to recommend one CD as a Lutoslawski starter kit for a new listener, this would be it. For a double CD, it's inexpensive. It has works from the whole range of Lut's compositional periods and styles. And it has absolutely top notch musicians, orchestras, and conductors. The one draw back on a few selections is sound, since the recordings are older, but the sound quality is never poor, just not state of the art.

Lut's 3d Symphony is, for me, his greatest masterpiece, an endlessly thrilling and mesmerizing work, combining his aleatory (chance)techniques with more planned symphonic gestures. The effect is a combination of passages of mysterious, faery-like beauty with other passages of powerful drama and force. And here you get Lut conducting. He is a great conductor of his own work, giving everything a snap and liveliness that even devoted, world class conductors like Salonen can't quite match.

The Concerto for Orchestra is Lut's masterpiece from the earlier period when was still a largely tonal composer. It's a great work, proving that Lut's greatness later isn't just a matter of fancy techniques, but of a fine ear and sense of form, in whatever style he chose to work in.

The Cello Concerto is a great drama, a powerful commentary on the fate of creativity under the repressions of the Soviet system (Poland was an iron-curtain country at the time).

These recordings of Espaces du Sommeil and the Double Concerto have, respectively, the greatest male vocalist (Fischer-Deiskau) and the greatest oboist (Holliger) in the world, and Lut gives them music to display their full talents. Fischer-Deiskau puts a superb voice tone at the service of a great dramatic sense. Holliger plays lyrical passages and passages of "extended technique" equally well.

What more is there to say. Of all modern composers, Lutoslawski is perhaps the most endlessly delightful, though it takes sometimes several listenings before someone new to Lut can appreciate what he's doing, since he's also completely original. I hope people will give this CD a try, and experience the great pleasure that Lutoslawski can give.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Great Composers, February 5, 2001

By 

Scott Spires (Prague, Czech Republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Lutoslawski (Audio CD)

I rank Lutoslawski as one of the 3 greatest composers of the past half-century (the others are Ligeti and Carter). His genius lies in his ability to write music that makes use of the most advanced modernist techniques, yet remains emotionally accessible and vividly dramatic.

This Philips duo is packed with excellent performances of great music. The 3rd Symphony (my single favorite work) is an amazing rollercoaster of a piece, marked by wild aleatoric episodes, fierce orchestral conflagrations, and a strong but very idiosyncratic sense of symphonic development. The Concerto for Orchestra is every bit the equal of Bartok's, while the Cello Concerto, with its starkly dramatized depiction of struggle between soloist and orchestra, is quite unlike any other concerto I've heard. There are other goodies here, including the wild "Venetian Games", one of Lutoslawski's most radical pieces.

As noted, the performances are generally excellent, and the composer is a first-class conductor of his own work. The liner notes are unfortunately skimpy. Still, at the 2-for-1 price, there's no reason not to get this. And if you respond to this music, there's plenty more: try Salonen's recordings on Sony, or the very fine (and cheap!) Lutoslawski series on Naxos.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A portrait of the great Polish composer, August 19, 2004

By 

Crt Sojar Voglar "Crt" (Ljubljana, Slovenia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Lutoslawski (Audio CD)

Witold Lutoslawski has rightfuly reached the position as one of the great masters of the 20th century music. His compositions are always presented with the composer's unique sense of beauty of tonal colour and pitch organisation which never turns out to be just pure mathematics. An artist should NOT be scientist or philosopher. Just a pure artist with heart, ideas and musical invention, that's all.
Even if Lutoslawski would not write anything else but the Concerto for orchestra, this magnificent, monumental work is one of the best orchestral works of the 20th century. Although many people describe the Concerto as the composition with Bartok influences, I do not find so many relations between these two works. Lutoslawski has such unique orchestral colour and is much more radical than Bartok.
The most radical works such as Venetian Games show the composer's taste for "sounding" but it is the weak point in his opus. It took Lutoslawski some time to rediscover himself. The Cello Concerto, Double Concerto and Third Symphony are excellent proof. Cello Concerto is a unique dialogue between soloist and orchestra, while Double Concerto is perhaps too "plural" to become a masterpiece and it lacks the certain stylistic point. Third Symphony is a true masterpiece and constantly surprises the listener with its ideas. The symphony also has a great organic development, good contrasts and modern beauty of melodies.