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Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra- LOVE IT

dcoscina

dcoscina

Senior Member
I cannot stop listening to this work. Between the scoring of it and the structure of the work, I find it endlessly inspiring and enjoyable. The second movement is so beautifully scored for muted strings at the opening it perfectly balances the wind lines.

The take away from this piece for me is creating energy through contrapuntal figures and listener engagement through salient motives that can be used via imitative counterpoint. The ideas in this piece aren't terribly complex but how Lutoslawski develops and varies them is the real exciting aspect. And of course timbral contrast is terrifically wonderful.

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I remember listening to his music like a maniac when I was a student. The Cello Concerto, his symphonies, the Paganini Variations. His language hits my soft spot for my taste, in the middle of (Mahler & Shostakovich) in one hand and Penderecki on the other one, not so predictable, not that abstract! Alban Berg on the other hand was for me like the upgraded version of orchestration master Korsakov! They all left a mark in my way of thinking. Geniuses
 
aka70 said:
I remember listening to his music like a maniac when I was a student. The Cello Concerto, his symphonies, the Paganini Variations. His language hits my soft spot for my taste, in the middle of (Mahler & Shostakovich) in one hand and Penderecki on the other one, not so predictable, not that abstract! Alban Berg on the other hand was for me like the upgraded version of orchestration master Korsakov! They all left a mark in my way of thinking. Geniuses
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Yes the concerto ironically reminds me of both Bartok and Shosty which is funny since they didn’t get along. Or at least Bartok was not fond of his 7th symphony.
 
Sears Poncho said:
I've played (violin) the Concerto for Orch 3x over the years. Solid writing. I also like the Symphony #3, it's not as accessible at first but it's an excellent work.

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I listened to Symphony 3 today and enjoyed it. I think I have to do a deep dive in Lutoslawski’s work as I’m really digging the pieces I’ve heard. This recording of the concerto still is my fave:
 
dcoscina said:
I cannot stop listening to this work. Between the scoring of it and the structure of the work, I find it endlessly inspiring and enjoyable. The second movement is so beautifully scored for muted strings at the opening it perfectly balances the wind lines.

The take away from this piece for me is creating energy through contrapuntal figures and listener engagement through salient motives that can be used via imitative counterpoint. The ideas in this piece aren't terribly complex but how Lutoslawski develops and varies them is the real exciting aspect. And of course timbral contrast is terrifically wonderful.

Click to expand...


Thank you for reminding me of this. I already had it bookmarked and when I checked I noticed I have another version bookmarked that in my humble opinion sounds a bit better on headphones:




dcoscina said:
The take away from this piece for me is creating energy through contrapuntal figures and listener engagement through salient motives that can be used via imitative counterpoint. The ideas in this piece aren't terribly complex but how Lutoslawski develops and varies them is the real exciting aspect. And of course timbral contrast is terrifically wonderful.
Click to expand...

By the way that was super interesting for me to read and if you have any more of these big picture analysis thoughts on this or other works by Lutoslawski I'm sure a lot of people here would love to hear them!
 
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I'm not sure about the concerto but some of his works makes use of aleatoric boxes right? I'm not sure how much but seems I've seen a couple scores that make use of that.
 
dcoscina said:
Yes the concerto ironically reminds me of both Bartok and Shosty which is funny since they didn’t get along. Or at least Bartok was not fond of his 7th symphony.
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It's very interesting the effect of political upheaval in Eastern Europe on the music of Bartók, Shostakovich, and Lutoslawski. In spite of adverse political pressures, they still managed to develop their own musical language, they maintained artistic integrity despite their oppressive governments.

swinkler said:
I'm not sure about the concerto but some of his works makes use of aleatoric boxes right? I'm not sure how much but seems I've seen a couple scores that make use of that.
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That was after he was exposed by the Western music. His admiration of John Cage's work inspired him of writing Venetian Games, which is like his late style of composing!
 
aka70 said:
they still managed to develop their own musical language, they maintained artistic integrity despite their oppressive governments.
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In the case of Bartók, he was the government. When gone to the opposition, he emigrated. He was ready to return as a leading politician after the war, but sadly he had no more time left.

Paolo
 
And I surely can relate to that! The sheer amount of scores awaiting
swinkler said:
I have to check out the score to 'Blue Beard' and see how that 'door opening' is orchestrated. I'm overwhelmed with stuff to study and look at.
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to be picked up and studied grows by the day. There is just so much to learn, to analyze, it’s a treasure trove, really.
 
swinkler said:
I have to check out the score to 'Blue Beard' and see how that 'door opening' is orchestrated. I'm overwhelmed with stuff to study and look at.
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I got both piano short score and full score of Bluebeard from a great seller on eBay who has a ton of books from Peter Bartok’s estate. They are hard bound beautiful scores that Peter had published. They aren’t too expensive either. I think I paid $65-70 for both together.
 
aka70 said:
For anyone interested, there is a good documentary by Simon Rattle called

Three Journeys Through Dark Landscapes​

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Watched this video. Terrific fun! Though it seemed more focussed on Bartok which is absolutely fine since I’m a huge Bela fan.
 
Great composition by a great composer! I wrote part of my master's thesis on it. The concerto was one of Lutoslawski’s last “traditional” compositions before developing the style and techniques he would become famous for (e.g. limited aleatory, 12-tone harmonies, chain forms, etc.)

A lot of preparation and inspiration for the concerto actually came from Lutoslawski composing what is referred to as “functional music”, such as popular dance music for radio shows, and even film scores! Even though this music is very good, Lutoslawski wasn’t proud of it, so he used the pseudonym Derwid, which is a literary character doomed to a life of banality, haha.

As much as I love the concerto, hearing Chain III for the first time was one of the most profound moments of my life. I remember thinking “I didn’t know music could do that!”

Happy others enjoy his music too. Lutoslawski once said finding people who enjoy your music is like “fishing for souls”. Seems like he caught a few more :)
 
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