Search - Lutoslawski, Barenboim, Chicago Sym Orch :: Lutoslawski: Cto for Orch / Sym No 3

Colossal interpretation of Lutoslawksi's masterpiece

Ian K. Hughes | San Mateo, CA | 10/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Witold Lutoslawski ( 1913-1994 ) wrote many great works, particularly for orchestra, but if this reviewer had to choose just one piece as being fully representative of his genius, it would be his Symphony #3. Started in 1972 as a result of a commission by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the music was not completed until 1983. In the interim, the composer finished several shorter works ( including "Mi-Parti" & "Les Espaces du Sommeil" ) which influenced the form and details of the ( approx ) 30 minute symphony. As freely structured as it is, there is a powerful underlying unity to the piece- a cohesion easier to discern by ear than convey by word- framed by the brief motive heard at the beginning and end. A work of masterful craftsmanship, the symphony resounds with beautiful, kaleidoscopic orchestration and coloration, powerful brass chorales and the jesting playfulness ( characteristic of Lutoslawski ) of free, aleatory passages. The sombre profundity of a short, string-laden adagio is a pointed and effective contrast to the prevailing sense of play.



"Symphony No.3" will likely be best appreciated by those familiar with the earlier masters ( Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok ) who themselves had such great influence on Lutoslawski. In fact, the companion piece on the compact disc under review is the much earlier ( 1954 ) "Concerto for Orchestra", directly modeled on Bartok's famous work of the same title. Lutoslawski's "Concerto" is an instrumental tour de force but for all its undoubted virile exuberance, is more of a showpiece than anything else the composer would conceive until his bravura Piano Concerto of 1987.



Both works on this disc have been recorded by a number of excellent orchestras/conductors, but the performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim are simply colossal. Not even the composer's ( seemingly definitive ) 1985 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic tops the passion and detail that Barenboim brings out of the CSO. Note that the tracks on this suberbly engineered recording are indexed on the CD so that the listener can perceive with the eye the various sections into which Lutoslawski divided his work. Highest recommendation.



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