A virtuosic take on early and late works

ORCHESTRAL CHOICE

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Lutosławski

Partita for Violin and Orchestra*; Concerto for Orchestra; Novelette

*Christian Tetzlaff (violin); Finnish Radio Symphony/Nicholas Collon

Ondine ODE 1444-2 60:17 mins

The Concerto for Orchestra (1950-54) sealed Lutosławski’s arrival as a vital voice in postwar Europe – and it remains his most beloved work. Yet stylistically it represented an ending for the composer, who left behind ‘folk stuff’ to explore ideas more associated with the avant-garde.

This compelling release from conductor Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra makes clear the evolutionary exuberance of Lutosławski’s creative development. Building on the Bartók- and Stravinsky-inspired cross-rhythms and neo-baroque structures of the Concerto, he hones its lithe motivic detailing in complex rigorous forms, embracing aleatoricism, while retaining a distinctive directness of expression.

Collon’s Concerto is crisp and cogent at every turn, its textural contrasts playfully alive with a tactility that veers from fairy lightness to roiling turbulence via nervy, almost militaristic angular gestures. The urgency is more quicksilver than weightily ominous, with a slow-burn subtlety that erupts in a trice into blazing chords and passages of unstoppable, richly polyphonic momentum.

The approach maximises the orchestra’s virtuoso flair and deftly carries its musicians into partnership with soloist Christian Tetzlaff (joined by pianist Jouko Laivuori) for a stunning rendition of the Partita in its version for violin and orchestra (1988).

Commissioned by Rostropovich, Novelette (1979)’s five, tautly concentrated movements draw on balanced sonorities in a joyous celebration of possibility.

PERFORMANCE ★★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★★

Bacewicz

Orchestral Works, Vol. 1: Symphonies Nos 3 & 4; Overture

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Sakari Oramo Chandos CHSA5316 (CD/SACD) 59:50 mins

‘Nervously jagged shreds of motifs, artificial dirt patches, stubbornly dissonant harmonies,’ was one early verdict on Bacewciz’s Symphony No. 3. It should be noted that this listener had an agenda – considering whether the Polish composer’s music