This is the fifth and now final volume in our survey of orchestral works by the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski. Gramophone wrote of a previous volume in the series (CHAN 5106) that it ‘offers a broad view of Lutoslawski’s creative profile, which the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner fleshes out with playing that is as polished as it is animated, and alert to the individuality of Lutoslawski’s musical vocabulary and mode of expression’. Lutoslawski wrote his Symphony No. 1 between 1941 and 1947, but interestingly it does not display any obvious signs of his trying to come to terms with the ordeal that befell his people. Quite the opposite, in fact. Lutoslawski himself described the symphony as bright and cheerful, ‘because that was the idea of the composition, which was conceived in the period of independence before the war, but brought into being during the terrible wartime and in far from idyllic post-war years’. At the time, one Polish colleague went so far as to call it ‘fauvist’, so wild and vibrant did it appear to the audiences at its first performance in April 1948. Lutoslawski was a meticulous collector of folk materials in the first half of the 1950s, but for him, Dance Preludes was a ‘farewell to folklore’, even though he privately still explored folk tunes for several more years. Here the orchestra and conductor are joined by the clarinettist Michael Collins, an exclusive Chandos artist. As his career developed in the more open environment that emerged after the ‘socialist-realist’ period, Lutoslawski began to receive international recognition, and with the Partita (1984, orchestrated 1988), for violin and orchestra, he presented a newly relaxed, more melodic compositional style to the public. The soloist is the exclusive Chandos artist Tasmin Little. Chain 2 (1984 – 85) was premiered by Anne-Sophie Mutter on 31 January 1986 with Collegium Musicum, conducted by Paul Sacher to whom it was dedicated. On this recording Tasmin Little leads the orchestra through a succession of ideas, much as the soloist had done in the ‘Episodes’ movement of the Cello Concerto (recorded on CHAN 5106 with Paul Watkins). Symphony No. 1 (1941-47) 24:36 Grzegorzowi Fitelbergowi 1 I Allegro giusto - Poco meno mosso - Tempo I - Poco meno mosso - Poco sostenuto e poi accelerando - Tempo I - 4:30 2 II Poco adagio - Pochissimo più mosso - Tempo I - Poco più largo - A tempo ma molto sostenuto - Lento 10:15 3 III Allegretto misterioso - A tempo ma poco meno mosso (Tempo II) - Tempo I 4:24 4 IV Allegro vivace - Subito meno mosso - Poco più vivo - 5:13 Tempo I - Subito meno mosso - Partita (1988) 16:45 for Violin and Orchestra with Piano obbligato Orchestration by the composr of version for Violin and Piano (1984) For Anne-Sophie Mutter 5 I Allegro giusto - Un poco meno mosso - Ancora meno 4:21 mosso - Tempo I 6 II Ad libitum - 1:05 7 III Largo - Poco meno mosso - A tempo - Meno mosso - 6:31 8 IV Ad libitum - 0:54 9 V Presto - Poco meno mosso - Tempo I - Ad libitum - Presto 3:52 Tasmin Little violin Chain 2 (1984-85) 19:18 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra For Paul Sacher 10 1 Ad libitum 4:16 11 2 A battuta. Crotchet=c. 150 [Tempo I] - Tempo II - 4:55 Tempo III 12 3 Ad libitum 5:43 13 4 A battuta. Vivace - Ad libitum - A battuta. Presto - Più mosso, furioso 4:17 Tasmin Little violin Preludia taneczne (1955) 9:49 (Dance Preludes) for Clarinet Solo, Percussion, Harp, Piano, and Strings Orchestration by the composer of version for Clarinet and Piano (1954) 14 I Allegro molto 0:57 15 II Andantino - Un poco più vivo - Tempo I - Poco meno mosso 2:32 16 III Allegro giocoso 1:13 17 IV Andante - Tranquillo 3:22 18 V Allegro molto - Poco più tranquillo - Avvivando poco 1:35 a poco - Presto Michael Collins clarinet 71:02 BBC Symphony Orchestra Edward Gardner Recorded in: Watford Colosseum 2 and 3 April (Preludia taneczne, Symphony No. 1) and 3 July (other works) 2012 Producer(s): Brian Pidgeon Sound Engineer(s): Ralph Couzens Jonathan Cooper (Assistant) Format: Digital CD 16Bit 44.1Khz Originally recorded in: 24Bit 96Khz