Witold Lutosławski - Vocal Works (Edward Gardner)

Information

Composer: Witold Lutosławski

• Tryptyk śląski (Silesian Triptych)
• Lacrimosa
• Paroles tissées
• Śpijże, śpij ('Sleep, sleep) (No. 3 from four Children's Songs)
• Les Espaces du sommeil
• Chantefleurs et Chantefables

Lucy Crowe, soprano

Toby Spence, tenor

Christopher Purves, baritone

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Edward Gardner, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: Chandos

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

Volume 2 in Edward Gardner’s Lutosławski series for Chandos brings us six vocal compositions spanning more than five decades, the earliest of which is the hauntingly beautiful Lacrimosa for soprano and orchestra of 1937. Conceived as part of a never-completed Requiem, it might easily have come from a late work by Szymanowski. Lucy Crowe is in ravishing voice and displays comparable charm and composure in both the rustic Silesian Triptych (1951) and miniature ‘Sleep, sleep’ (the third of the four Children’s Songs from 1954). She also shines in Chantefleurs et Chantefables, Lutosławski’s penultimate opus, completed in 1990. These gem-like, at times distinctly Ravelian, settings of nine poems from Robert Desnos’s eponymous collection for children, make an enchantingly varied and witty 20-minute sequence. And Crowe’s immensely personable rendering must be deemed a worthy successor to distinguished versions by Dawn Upshaw, Valdine Anderson and Solveig Kringelborn.

Of course, Desnos’s surrealist texts had previously fired Lutosławski’s imagination in Les espaces du sommeil, an infinitely subtle and endlessly absorbing masterwork written for Fischer-Dieskau in 1975. Baritone Christopher Purves proves a wonderfully secure exponent in a reading which combines tingling atmosphere and arresting drama to consistently riveting effect. As for the sublimely delicate and exquisitely rapt Paroles tissées, tenor Toby Spence acquits himself with enormous credit in what is arguably Lutosławski’s first fully mature canvas, originally fashioned for Peter Pears (who first performed it at the 1965 Aldeburgh Festival). In fact, all three vocal protagonists benefit from the most glowing and refined support imaginable from Gardner and the BBC SO, not to mention the Chandos production team. A terrific CD: roll on the next instalment!

— Andrew Achenbach

-----------------------------------------------------------

Witold Lutosławski (25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Educated in Warsaw, he initially drew inspiration from Polish folk music, gaining international recognition with works such as Concerto for Orchestra (1954). From the late 1950s, he developed innovative compositional techniques involving controlled aleatoricism, carefully structured musical materials and distinctive harmonic systems. Despite political pressure under postwar Stalinist rule, Lutosławski maintained his artistic independence. His major works include four symphonies, concertos and chamber compositions.

***

Edward Gardner (born 22 November 1974) is an English conductor. Educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, he began as a choral conductor and répétiteur before advancing to major roles. He served as music director of English National Opera (2007–15) and later held key positions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic (2015–24), where he became honorary conductor. Since 2021, he has been principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with tenure extended to 2028. Gardner has recorded for EMI Classics and Chandos Records.

-----------------------------------------------------------