Concerto for Orchestra

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The Concerto for Orchestra, which was first performed in Warsaw in 1954, was the result of a commission from Witold Rowicki who wanted a new score to show off the ability of the recently formed Warsaw Philharmonic. Mindful of what had happened to his First Symphony in 1949, when the Communist authorities banned it, Lutoslawski had to devise a way of avoiding political disapproval of his new work while at the same time preserving his integrity. It took him as long as four years to complete it, largely because of the official requirement that it should be based on folk music and the consequent problem of converting that material to his own, personal use. In the course of time, and inspired to some extent by Bartók’s example, he developed a very satisfactory compromise.    While the main themes of the Concerto for Orchestra are based on folk song, the way in which Lutoslawski uses them and interrelates them is not dissimilar to that of a serialist composer. Moreover, while not denying the work the illusion of a tonal centre, he allows his harmonic imagination much scope in the colouring of the music.

The repeated F sharps at the start of the Intrada provide a kind of tonal stability. Against that regularity, Lutoslawski projects his aggressivo main theme in a variety of keys as it works its way climactically from cellos to upper strings to woodwind in an ever denser texture. The second theme, quietly introduced by the horns, while actually based on another Polish folk song, is clearly related to the first. Similarly, the clashing of    fifths and sixths heard next in the strings and then in the brass are derived from the main theme. The rest of the Intrada enlarges on these three episodes, the main theme finally returning in an extended almost pastoral treatment in the woodwind against sustained F sharp harmonies in the strings.

The Capriccio notturno section of the second movement is a delicately scored scherzo with lightly pattering upper strings, woodwind, and side drum. Several melodic fragments are tossed around but the most important is a legato version for high solo violin of the main theme of the Intrada. The middle section, the Arioso, contains some contrastingly powerful brass writing and develops a theme soon recognisable, by its falling fifth, as yet another relation of the Intrada. At the end of its second appearance the Capriccio notturno interestingly features tuba, bass clarinet, divisi double basses, and five different drums in a mysterious series of rumblings.

Longer than the other two put together. the last movement    bears the stress of the whole structure. The sturdy theme of the Passacaglia, which is not unrelated to that of the Intrada, appears very quietly on pizzicato basses supported by the harp. As it moves solemnly forward it inspires a variety of virtuoso responses from the orchestra – a melodic improvisation on cor anglais, expressive recitatives and rhythmic stirrings in the strings. The Toccata is like a more substantial version of the Capriccio Notturno but with the capricious element based this time on the Passacaglia and the legato element based on the horn theme from the Intrada. Not surprisingly by now, both the main theme of the Corale, quietly introduced on oboes and clarinets, and its counterpoint on the flute refer back to the Intrada. After a return of the Toccata, the last part of the movement incorporates a final statement of the Corale on the brass, a rapid coda, and a unison F sharp to sustain the tonal illusion to the very end.

poco più tranquillo

Widely regarded at the time of his death as one of the most significant creative figures of his generation and as the greatest Polish composer since Szymanowski - or since Chopin even - Witold Lutoslawski had a hard time until he was well into his forties. His career was interrupted by war service and, during the German occupation of Poland, by strenuous Nazi efforts to suppress Polish musical life. Then for a period of six years or so under the Communist regime, his musical principles came into direct conflict with the official aesthetic of “socialist realism.” The Nazis he resisted by playing nightly for years on end in cafés in Warsaw, often in piano duets with Andrzej Panufnik - which was the stimulus for his Paganini Variations of 1941. The Communists, who banned his First Symphony as “formalist” in 1949, he resisted in a more subtle way.

The Concerto for Orchestra, which was first performed in Warsaw in 1954, was the result of a commission from Witold Rowicki who wanted a new score to show off the ability of the recently formed Warsaw Philharmonic. It took the composer as long as four years to complete it largely because of the official requirement that it should be based on folk music and the consequent problem of converting that material to his own, personal use. In the course of time, and inspired to some extent by Bartók’s example, he developed a very satisfactory compromise. While the main themes of the Concerto for Orchestra are based on folksong, the way in which Lutoslawski uses them and interrelates them is not dissimilar from that of a serialist composer. Moreover, while not denying the work the illusion of a tonal centre, he allows his harmonic imagination much scope in the colouring of the music.

The repeated F sharps at the start of the Intrada provide a kind of tonal stability. Against that regularity, Lutoslawski projects his aggressivo main theme in a variety of keys as it works its way climactically from cellos to upper strings to woodwind in an ever denser texture. The second theme, quietly introduced by the horns, while actually based on another Polish folksong, is clearly related to the first. Similarly, the clashing of fifths and sixths heard next in the strings and then in the brass are derived from the main theme. The rest of the Intrada enlarges on these three episodes, the main theme finally returning in an extended almost pastoral treatment in the woodwind against sustained F sharp harmonies in the strings.

The Capriccio notturno section of the second movement is a delicately scored scherzo with lightly pattering upper strings, woodwind, and side drum. Several melodic fragments are tossed around but the most important is a legato version for high solo violin of the main theme of the Intrada. The middle section, the Arioso, contains some contrastingly powerful brass writing and develops a theme soon recognisable, by its falling fifth, as yet another relation of the Intrada. At the end of its second appearance the Capriccio notturno interestingly features tuba, bass clarinet, divisi double basses, and five different drums in a mysterious series of rumblings.

The last movement is longer than the other two put together and bears the stress of the whole construction. The sturdy theme of the Passacaglia, which is not unrelated to that of the Intrada, appears very quietly on pizzicato basses supported by the harp. As it moves solemnly forward it inspires a variety of virtuoso responses from the orchestra - a melodic improvisation on cor anglais, expressive recitatives and rhythmic stirrings in the strings. The Toccata is like a more substantial version of the Capriccio Notturno but with the capricious element based this time on the Passacaglia and the legato element based on the horn theme from the Intrada. Not surprisingly by now, both the main theme of the Corale, quietly introduced on oboes and clarinets, and its counterpoint on the flute refer back to the Intrada. After a return of the Toccata, the last part of the movement incorporates a final statement of the Corale on the brass, a rapid coda, and a unison F sharp to sustain the tonal illusion to the very end.

Gerald Larner©

poco più tranquillo

Witold Lutoslawski is now such a senior figure in the world of music - greeted everywhere as one of the most significant creative figures of his generation and accepted as the greatest Polish composer since Szymanowski or even Chopin - that it is a shock to be reminded how much he suffered from political oppression both during and after the Second World War. During the German occupation he resisted the Nazi ban on Polish musical life by playing nightly for years on end in a café in Warsaw, usually in piano duets with Andrzej Panufnik. Then for a period of six years or so under the Communists, his musical principles came into direct conflict with the official aesthetic of “socialist realism” - which resulted in the banning of his First Symphony as “formalist” in 1949 and inevitable restrictions on his development as a composer.

But even such adverse conditions can produce positive results, like the piano-duet original of Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations in 1941 and the Concerto for Orchestra in 1954. The latter work was the result of a commission from Witold Rowicki who wanted a new score to show off the ability of the recently formed Warsaw Philharmonic. It took the composer as long as four years to complete it, largely because of the requirement that it should be based on folk music and the consequent problem of converting that material to his own, personal use: Lutoslawski had used folksong in educational pieces for the Polish Music Publishing Company but never before in a major work (and after the Dance Preludes of 1954 he was never to do so again). Anyway, in the course of time, and inspired to some extent by Bartok’s example, he developed a very satisfactory compromise. While the main themes of the Concerto for Orchestra are based on folksong, the way in which Lutoslawski uses them and interrelates them is not dissimilar from that of a serialist composer. Moreover, while not denying the work the illusion of a tonal centre, he allows his harmonic imagination much scope in the colouring of the music. He evidently found too that a certain freedom in rhythmic matters need not detract from the immediate intelligibility of the work.

The repeated F sharps at the start of the Intrada provide a kind of tonal stability. Against that regularity, Lutoslawski projects his aggressivo main theme in a variety of keys as it works its way climactically from cellos to upper strings to woodwind in an ever denser texture. The second theme, quietly introduced by the horns, though actually based on another Polish folksong, is clearly related to the first. Similarly, the clashing of fifths and sixths heard next in the strings and then in the brass are derived from the main theme. The rest of the Intrada enlarges on these three episodes. Two richly orchestrated and passionate statements of the horn theme are separated by another appearance of the chordal passage. The main theme finally returns in an extended almost pastoral treatment, mainly in the woodwind against sustained F sharp harmonies in the strings.

The Capriccio notturno section of the second movement is a delicately scored scherzo with lightly pattering upper strings, woodwind, and side drum. Several melodic fragments are tossed around but the most important is a legato version for high solo violin of the main theme of the Intrada. The middle section, the Arioso, contains some contrastingly powerful brass writing and develops a theme soon recognisable, by its falling fifth, as yet another relation of the Intrada. At the end of its second appearance the Capriccio notturno section interestingly features the tuba, bass clarinet, divisi double basses, and five different drums in a mysterious series of rumblings.

The last movement is longer than the other two put together and bears the stress of the whole construction. The sturdy theme of the Passacaglia, in a modal D but not unrelated to the Intrada, appears very quietly on pizzicato basses supported by the harp. As it moves solemnly forward it inspires a variety of virtuoso responses from the orchestra - a melodic improvisation on cor anglais, expressive recitatives and rhythmic stirrings in the strings. The Toccata is like a more substantial version of the Capriccio Notturno but with the capricious element based this time on the Passacaglia and the legato element on the horn theme from the Intrada. Not surprisingly by now, both the main theme of the Corale, quietly introduced on oboes and clarinets, and its counterpoint on the flute refer back to the Intrada. The Corale is passed to the brass and then to the strings (divided into 14 parts) before being transformed and merged into a return of the Toccata. The last part of the movement incorporates a final statement of the Corale on the brass, a rapid coda, and a unison F sharp to sustain the tonal illusion to the very end.

Gerald Larner