Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Overture for Orchestra
Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994)
Symphony No. 3
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), arr. Iain Farrington (b. 1977)
Symphonic Fantasy on “King Roger”
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård
rec. live, 2024, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, UK
Reviewed as a download
Linn CKD758 [60]
Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is reasonably well known in Britain having been principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2012 to 2018 and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2018. In Wales he set down a Sibelius cycle for Linn (review) and his relationship with that record company continued in Scotland with Strauss and Prokofiev (review). Since 2023, he has been Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, but I have not heard anything from them on disc yet.
This disc of music by Polish composers is interesting for me. I have a special love for Lutosławski’s Third Symphony and very much admire Szymanowski’s opera Król Roger. When I bought my first subscription to the Hallé’s Thursday series in the early 1990s I was able to see the great Witold Lutosławski when he came up to Manchester for a festival held to mark his 80th birthday. He was involved in several events as I remember, but I only saw one. On a cold Thursday evening he conducted the Hallé in a full programme that included the Piano Concerto in the first half and the Third Symphony after the interval. The Free Trade Hall was not full, but the work made a real impression on me at the time. Over the next few years, mainly by investing in the Naxos series of CDs, I got to know all his works quite well.
Lutosławski had been pondering on his Symphony No.3 since the mid-1970s, but it was not until 1981 that he really got down to it. The premiere was given by the Chicago SO under Georg Solti in 1983. That year, Takemitsu and Reich both wrote some fine music and Messiaen saw his huge opera Saint François d’Assise staged in Paris. This symphony is a real contender for work of the year for me, though. In it, Lutosławski reaches a peak of quality for this period of his compositional development. It is an intensely felt piece and stands on its own for originality. One can always hear Bartók’s tread in Lutosławski but the Hungarian could never have written this music.
The work is in two broad movements with an opening introduction and closing epilogue and coda. Linn program three tracks for the work. Listeners must be aware that at this stage of his writing, Lutosławski allows themes and motifs to overlap with each other, making use of small rhythmic cells and repetition, too. After the initial introduction in which an important very quick four note cell is hammered out fortissimo and winds muse, we hear three distinct sections beginning at 1:32, 4:03 and 7:08 separated by the 4-note motif. As the final one ends, we are not far from the world of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
This first movement is really a prelude to the more important second which contains the essence of the work. It starts at 11:54 of track 2 with exciting fugal writing for the strings. This material forms the first subject of the construction; the second begins at 0:40 into track 3, quietly and ominously. Lutosławski develops both themes ingeniously and symphonically. It is superb music and the craftsmanship is genius. After the amazing development section, we hear a return of themes from both movements in a resolving calm. If the symphony had ended here, it would have been an amazing work still, yet Lutosławski adds an epilogue of vision and inspiration containing music of yearning beauty.
The work is not short of wonderful recordings, but this new one is a real treasure. The sound Linn have engineered is vivid and warm. All the pieces on this release are from live recordings but you would never guess. The dynamic range is wide, yet not so extreme that you find yourself turning the volume up one minute, only to be scared out of your wits by a sudden loud fortissimo the next. The RSNO play marvellously. The woodwind section particularly distinguishes themselves as do the percussion. Thomas Søndergård’s leadership skills are really tested at certain places (try from 4:07 in track 3) but his grip of the score is highly impressive. Ensemble is precise, accents sharp and he draws some superb acoustic effects from his wonderful orchestra (from the development again try 5:12 or 6:40). He maintains the right pulse in longer lines (which can die a little in some readings on record) and his overall building of the arch in the music is there.
I hugely enjoyed the last record of Lutosławski 3 which came from Ondine in 2020. Hannu Lintu with his Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra gives a splendid account of the work and it forms a symphony cycle. The record before that one was Ed Gardner’s from Chandos back in 2010, again part of an extended series devoted to the Polish composer.
Whichever version you choose, you need this symphony in your collection. If you are completely new to Lutosławski then I would recommend starting with his Musique funèbre or the Concerto for Orchestra. After hearing those pieces, you will surely want to hear his finest symphony next.
Linn’s showcase of Polish music continues with a new arrangement by the hugely talented musician Iain Farrington of music from Szymanowski’s King Roger. He has constructed a Symphonic Fantasy based on the opera’s themes moving in sequence through the work. It is 25 years now since Rattle gave us his version of the opera on EMI with Thomas Hampson in the title role (review). I fell in love with the work then, and managed to see it when the Royal Opera staged it in 2015 with Mariusz Kwiecień as Roger and conducted by Pappano, subsequently released on DVD and Blu-ray (review).
Farrington’s distillation has a playing time of 22 minutes and is well worth hearing. It begins in the solemnity of Roger’s court. The shepherd is presented in the cellos with a lovely long theme of pure beauty, Roxana by a solo violin (but of course). The sensuality and exotic nature of the score is vividly captured in Farrington’s adaptation and the RSNO mould their sound to match it perfectly. Maya Iwabuchi is the violin player who sings Roxana’s song so seductively. The Bacchial dance of Act 2 is positively cinematic. King Roger, torn throughout the piece between Apollo and Dionysus is given the spotlight at the end of the work as he sings, transformed in his new enlightenment a hymn to the rising sun. Lutosławski adored the music of the older composer and its position at the end of the program, following the symphony, works admirably well. This Symphonic Fantasy on King Roger is a very clever piece and deserves to do be taken up by conductors who love Szymanowski as a showcase for this operatic masterpiece.
The CD begins with the Overture of 1943 by Grażyna Bacewicz. It is a brilliant orchestral showpiece and a great opener to the program. I feel like we have heard a lot of it recently however and wish all concerned had given us something a little meatier from her pen. I’m no A&R man but what about the rarely recorded and splendid Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion. That would have fitted very well with the other pieces on this disc and bumped up the playing time to a more enticing 75 minutes.
Nonetheless, what we have is an hour’s music from three excellent composers in very appealing performances. I am glad to be able to hear it.
Philip Harrison
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