Customer Reviews

Witold Lutoslawski: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Les Espaces du Sommeil

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first recording I heard of Lutoslawski's Third Symphony was the first, with Lutoslawski himself conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in November, 1985. You can find it on THE ESSENTIAL LUTOSLAWSKI (see my review), an excellent 2-disc Philips set. The Third was widely acclaimed as one of Lutoslawski's masterpieces, but I just didn't hear it. About three years later, I finally heard Salonen's recording with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, from just one month later, December, 1985 -- it is a much stronger, more biting, more convincing interpretation and performance. A clear lesson that composers are not always their own best interpreters!

On the other hand, I am still not convinced that the Third is one of Lutoslawski's best works, nor that it is one of the best late 20th century symphonic works. It basically just meanders in a series of digressions, some at very low volume, and while it has several compelling passages, it never coheres into any sort of compelling structure. (The Second Symphony, also available from Sony with Salonen conducting, is even more shapeless and meandering!) So the 4 stars is for composition, not for conducting, performance or recording, all of which merit 5 stars.

The Fourth Symphony, one of Lutoslawski's last, was commissioned by Salonen and the LAP. It is a shorter work for smaller forces, sounding more like chamber music than a symphony. Though less ambitious than the Third, it is more coherent. I prefer the version on Naxos, though, with Antoni Wit conducting the Polish National Radio Symphony. By comparison, Salonen's version is more wispy, emphasizing details and texture that sound Debussian and Bartokian, while Wit's version is fuller-bodied, more Romantic.

I still recommend THE ESSENTIAL LUTOSLAWSKI as the best introduction for new listeners. It contains several works that I consider to be much better than these symphonies -- the "Concerto for Orchestra" (better than Bartok's work by the same name!), "Venetian Games," "Funeral Music," and the "Concerto for oboe, harp and chamber orchestra." Another great collection is an EMI 2-disc GEMINI set called Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works; Songs; String Quartet (see my review). Recorded in Poland in the mid-1970s, it features the composer conducting six works, some of which are more dissonant and avant-garde than most I've heard by him, including vocal and choral works. It also includes a fantastic 1995 performance of the "String Quartet" by the Alban Berg Quartet. These are definitely worth hearing, but I remain convinced that Lutoslawski was at his best when he didn't venture quite so far from the classical tradition.

(verified purchase from Virgin Records in Edinburgh, Scotland)

I have become convinced that Lutoslawski is the greatest symphonist since Mahler, with only Elliott Carter as an contempory equal in orchestral writing. Carter may even surpass Lutoslawski if his Symphonia is as great as press reports say (a recording should be released next year), but that doesn't take away from what Lut. has accomplished. Symphonies 2-4, along with Livre Pour Orchestre, Novelette, and the various Concerti, all repay multiple listenings. Symph.No.3 is probably the masterpiece, all-in-all, but No.2 is the most radical experimentally, while No.4 may be the most beautiful. In all of them, you get continual surprises, vibrant sounds and rhythms, and a wholely original means of organization, like nothing before it. While Lut. is entirely modern, he's not so dark and dreary as some modern composers, nor is he simplistic like the minimalists. He's just great.

Lutoslawski's Third Symphony is one of the finest works in this form of the century. It is bold and sweeping, using nothing less than Beethoven's own Fifth Symphony as a rhythmic framework. Unlike many modern symphonic works, it doesn't shy away from an honest-to-goodness climax. It is a piece that will have you on the edge of your seat.

I own the score to this symphony, and it's obvious that Salonen does not always follow the score directions faithfully. Sometimes he raises the dynamic level, sometimes he ignores mute indications. Salonen himself is a composer, and I suppose he couldn't resist a few "improvements". It's an exciting performance to be sure, but one should also be familiar with a more accurate performance (the series by Antoni Wit on Naxos is quite true).

I don't think the Fourth Symphony quite rises to the heights of the Third, but it's still a fine piece. It ends with a quiet coda that must be a third the length of the piece.

"Les Espaces du Sommeil" is a wonderful example of orchestral lieder. Evocative and colorful, it haunts the imagination. There's a downward-winding vocal line at one key moment that you wish could go on forever. We are fortunate to have several excellent performances of this piece. John Shirley-Quirk does the honors on this CD. I knew his voice well from many performances under Britten and Davis. It's awfully nice to hear it applied to this deserving music.

There are few of Lutoslawski's pieces that aren't available in multiple recordings. I own most of them. As with any other truly great composer, a single performance cannot capture all of a piece. To those that don't know this composer, this CD is a good place to start. To those that do, make a little room on your bookshelf for it.

Witold Lutoslawski is by now assured a repertoire staple, in many ways thanks to the commitment of Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Of the many giants of 20th Century music few were as introspective and compelled to discover a mode of expressing the psyche as Lutoslawski. My first introduction to his work was in the 1970s, listening to the rehearsals and subsequent performance of his 'Concerto for Orchestra' and it was love at first sound. Yet hearing how this quiet giant grew in his orchestrating techniques, his exploration of sound clouds and finding exquisite melody in a format of linear atonal composition all culminating in his 4th Symphony is no less than astonishing.

This disc captures the heart of the composer, with Salonen and his radiant orchestra presenting performances that are clean, rich, fully textured and eloquent. Coupling the 3rd and 4th symphonies with the 'Les Espaces du Sommeil'("Realm of Sleep" by Robert Desnos who died in a concentration camp shortly after the end of WWII) as interpreted by John Shirley-Quirk is very fine programming. This disc is destined to be an important part of every complete classical recording library.

This is one of my favorite discs. I have known the symphonies since their early concert performances in the USA: I was present when Lutoslawski premiered the 4th Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1993), for which he composed the piece, and when he conducted the 3rd in San Francisco in 1986. (Both were huge local events: many famous musicians were present at both occasions; I recall talking to members of the Kronos Quartet in the Green room after the concert as we waited to meet the composer.) I've also heard Salonen conduct these pieces in concert, so I am pretty familiar with his way with them. Although I love these performances, no recording of the 3rd can equal my experience of Lutoslawski conducting the San Francisco: It almost felt that the orchestra was going to leap out and swallow the audience whole, so powerfully did he make it growl, rumble, shake, and sing. It was a thrilling experience to hear, as it was to watch his face while he conducted (I sat in the chorus seating area for one performance): he looked so at peace and in command. Salonen's performance is wonderful, recorded soon after he led it in Los Angeles in 1983 (his debut with the LAPO, and a performance that made quite an impression on locals, obviously, considering the association that followed in later years). Nevertheless, I think Barenboim (on Erato) comes closer to the propulsion and drama that Lutoslawski invested in his performances of the piece. (Barenboim has the advantage of leading the orchestra for whom Lutoslawski wrote the piece.) Of course, it is possible to hear Lutoslawski conduct the piece himself, on Philips, though the Berlin Phil is not the ideal ensemble for this piece, being a bit too refined, me thinks, to convey its muscular and sometimes ragged feel. For the 4th Salonen is clearly superior to the other available performances, the orchestra sounds simply lovely, and Salonen keeps the melodic lines in clear view. My one complaint about the recording of the 4th is that it is recorded at a rather low volume. Where Salonen clearly shines is in his performance of Les Espaces du Sommeil. This is a brilliant, richly textured, glowing performance, and the vocalist is nicely placed amid the aural firmament. Salonen's Les Espaces is a recording for the ages.

This Sony disc containing three works by Witold Lutoslawski is already something of a legend. It contains three world premiere recordings of some of his grandest pieces, interpreted by the L.A. Philharmonic and its acclaimed conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, with John Shirley-Quirk as baritone solo in the middle work.

"Symphony No. 3" (1983) was commissioned in the early 1970s by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but appeared only a decade later after several false starts. It lies in between two clearly defined eras of the composer's work, containing both the aleatorism of the 1960s and 1970s and hints of the return to accessibility of his late neoclassical phase. Nonetheless, each of these two tendencies is blunted so that they exist in great harmony, forming a piece that is quite different from his other works though unmistakably Lutoslawski. The score is precisely notated--there are no "wavy lines" here, but the element of chance is provided by a large series of "ad libitum" sections which are unconducted. I've always had a hard time hearing an overall form for this piece, which starts from a series of hammering E notes and then wanders off. The composer claims that it's got four sections, but I have a hard time hearing it. However, that does not mean that the Third is boring. The frustration of not being able to speak of the structure of the symphony makes it harder for me to communicate to readers here just how great it is. It might be a somewhat formless blog, but it is beautiful, and in the end when this formlessness suddenly takes on a very directed form towards a quasi-romantic finale and ends on the same hammering E's., it's stunning.

"Les Espaces du Sommeil" for baritone and orchestra (1975) is a magisterial setting of Robert Desnos' poem about how in sleep we enter an irrational world of rich possibilities. While initially drifting, uncertain, lost, the music comes to a crashing climax. This is less immediately accesible than either of the other two pieces here, but slowly reveals its charms, and now I think it is my favourite piece for baritone out of all such compositions in the 20th century.

"Symphony No. 4" (1992) was written towards the end of Lutoslawski's career, some time after he had exchanged the rich avant-gardism of his middle period for a much more restrained style. Aleatorism still plays a role (but quite diminished), but the harmonies are more conventional and there is a more lyrical touch. I'm not too happy with this symphony, it certainly pales next to the Second and Third, but the brighter side of things is that it's not as dull as most of Lutoslawski's late work.

The major competition is from Naxos, which has the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit. Both Salonen and Wit do equally well, and there's little to complain about in terms of performance. What this Sony disc has going for it are are excellent liner notes, containing not only the usual description of the works and the sung text, but also Salonen's personal reminiscing of what Lutoslawski's music means to him. Since the Third is often seen as Lutoslawski's masterpiece, this disc would make a great introduction to his art, and its an economical purchase. I should mention, though, that if you like the Third, the very next disc you should buy is the Naxos release with his "Chain 3", very similar in sound.

The Symphony No.3 by Lutoslawski is a great masterpiece of the XX century. Lutoslawski was, among the four great polish composers of our time (Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Gorecki, Serocki) maybe the most interesting besides Penderecki. The Symphony No.3 is developed in one movement with an striking wisdom, a delightful sense of orchestral colour and powerful motives. (The beginning for example, reminds us, that of the Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1st movement)) This recording is a great one and it is strongly recommendable. Another good choices are Wit and Baremboim.

Ominous and mysterious is what Lutoslawski's music feels to me. In my mind, he feels closest to Pendericki in his compositional style, instrumentation and overall mood created. I learned from the CD booklet that Lutoslawski employed a concept called limited aelatoric counterpoint. "These are passages in which groups of notes, thematically derived and related, are played by individual instruments or in ensemble groupings" It is *limited* in Lutoslawski's writing because "the idea of chance is controlled both in pitch content and in the rhythmic shapes and overall time allotted to a given passage"

Track 1 - Symphony 4
Track 2 - Les Espaces du sommeil
Track 3 - Symphony 3

I am not a seasoned listener of works for voice and orchestra so I am skipping reviewing track 2 (les Espaces du sommeil) and leave it to experts in other reviews. On Track 1 and 3, the music was so diverse and fleetingly episodic in both the one movement works - symphonies 3 and 4, that I had to relate to the music in time - in terms of musical highlights. It is a very 20th century modern work. If it is the first time you hearing this, the first hearing may not make much sense to you. I got some handle on it on the third hearing. Symphony 4 is a one movement work - highlights in relation to playing time

3:36 - Interesting woodwind polyphony punctuated by drums
5:06 - (to 06:28) a very haunting string phrase has been launched which escalates in register
6:35 - Brass polyphony
7:12 - (to 09:20) String phrase accompanied by orchestra punctuated by drums. These sequence of phrases is so much like Penderecki.
9:47 - Piano breaks the tension only for the strings to try to creep in again like little aliens.
11:30 - Some sonic string sound effects. The music feels like coming towards you from a distance
12:50 - Strings, woodwinds and celeste chatter - creepy music. I feel like aliens chattering away in their different tongues. Then it grows in unnerving density. Then at 13:41, the brass answers as if asking for all the chattering to quieten down, still the chattering continues. The bassoons try again to stop the chatter. Flutes add to the chatter. At 14:00 suddenly a jarring electronic style sound effect via the violin gets everyone quite. Violin strings use the moment to launch into a monologue with flutes and percussion resistant.
18:50 - Curving reptilian music in the violins - like the tails of reptiles.
20:43 - Percussive drums draw the music to a rather tepid and lukewarm close where we expected crash-boom-bang.

This music gives me the ALIENS movie creepy feeling. It is apt for a sci-fi horror film. Try listening to this music and sleep alone at home with the lights off. Symphony 3 is more accessible out of 3 and 4 due to the onward dynamic drive of 4.

1:52 - Start with the snaking violins found in Pendericki's symphony 1
03:10 - squabble of woodwinds - like tiny earthworms spreading on the ground - the life of the tiny - complex and fast.
03:25 - Pleading clarinets - blast of brass (is that tuba?) stops the clarinets
05:00 - Sliding violins
....

You get the picture. There are just so many musical motifs. It is just hard to comprehend the first time. Needs patience and repeated listening. Lutoslawski seems to be finding the clarity of instrument sonority and see the effect of esoteric musical sound effects on a full scale orchestral work. In that sense he is closer to Pendericki. Both symphonies are almost like a symphony of sound moods and effects. I would call them chain of atomic mood poems rather than symphonies. The music felt challenging to me. If you dig 20th century modern compositions, this will be right up your alley.

In short: Lot's of power, lot's of strength; music that suits Salonen and the LA Phil the very best. The fourth is Lutoslawski's very best!

Don't look anywhere else, you have found the summit!

This recording by E.P. Salonen conducting LA Philharmonic Orchestra is an authentic reference for someone who wants to hear the most beautiful music by Lutoslawski (3rd-4th Symphonies). Another possible choices in this repertoire are Wit (Naxos) and Baremboim (Teldec). Though Wit's version (talking about 3rd Symphony) offers lots of delightful details which are not present in Salonen's version, the latter is more intense and convincent. Specially striking are the stunning fanfares of the brass (14 minutes from the beginning) and the colours of the strings, piano and percussion (last 10 minutes of the piece). The motives of the symphony are strong and powerful and the main one remind us that of the Beethoven's 5th Symphony (1st movement) The orchestra is in a good form and its conductor masters contemporary music and more specially Lutoslawski music. A great achievement!