Lutoslawski - Music and Legacy by Stanislaw Latek and Maja Trochimczyk (Vol. 8, no. 2)

Lutosławski: Music and Legacy

Edited by Stanisław Latek and Maja Trochimczyk, 2014

 Montreal : Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada ; Cracow : Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014. ISBN 9788376761992 / ISBN 8376761994 / ISBN 9780986885143 / ISBN 0986885142.  Polish and Canadian copies required distinct ISBN numbers.

Lutoslawski: Music and Legacy contains proceedings of the International Lutoslawski Conference, held at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, November 21, 2013, as well as interviews with the composer and documents from his 1993 visit to the Polish Institute and McGill University.

This book is found in only six library collections worldwide and deserves a wider recognition of its rare studies and materials about Lutoslawski's life and work that it contains.

CONTENTS

• Foreward / Sean Ferguson, Dean of Solich School of Music at McGill University 
• Introduction / Stanisław Latek and Maja Trochimczyk 

Part I. A life remembered 

• Lutosławski as I knew him / Robert Aitken ; 
• Lutosławski as model and mentor / James Harley ; 
• An interview with Witold Lutosławski (1988) by Grzegorz Michalski, translated by James and Maria Anna Harley 

Part II. Style, technique, and legacy 

• The Lutosławski legacy / Charles Bodman Rae ; 
• Witold Lutosławski and the ethics of abstraction / Lisa Jakelski ; 
• Witold Lutosławski and musique concrète: the technique of composing with sound planes and its sources / Maja Trochimczyk ; 
• Witold Lutosławski - an algorithmic music composer? / Stanisław Krupowicz and Karol Lipiński 

Part III. Individual works in context 

• Strategies of instrumentation and orchestration in Lutosławski's cello concerto / Chris Paul Harman 
• Neoclassicism in Lutosławski's double concerto / Taylor Brook  
• Centrifugal and centripetal forces in Witold Lutosławski's Chain 3 / Duncan Schouten 

Part IV. Lutosławski in Montreal, 1993 

• Hommage à Lutosławski / James Harley 
• Witold Lutosławski -- Calendar of Life / Maja Trochimczyk  
• Witold Lutosławski -- List of Works / Maja Trochimczyk

Lutoslawski at the Polish Library in Montreal, with Librarian Stefan Wladysiuk, 

PINC President Dr. Hanna Pappius, and Board Members, Montreal, 1993

_______________________________________

From the Preface by Dean Sean Ferguson:

"During the first year of my doctoral studies in composition at McGill in 1993, Witold Lutosławski visited our faculty to receive an honorary doctorate from the university. My memories of this historic event are still vivid today, over 20 years later. I remember a sophisticated, even aristocratic man who was nevertheless highly approachable for myself and my fellow students in composition, as well as the many performance students he met. More than anything, I remember him as being incredibly generous, both with his time as well as with the feedback he gave to the many students he met. One of our colleagues, a violin student from Italy, told us about her transformative experience playing for Dr. Lutosławski – an experience that marks her to this day, as she continues to perform his music around the world. The two public lectures he gave during this time were eagerly anticipated and attended by large audiences. The energy, vitality and spirit that he showed during his visit only made it more shocking for all of us when he passed away only a few months later. We were all devastated at the news, yet incredibly grateful to have had his presence at our school."

"Because of the impact that Witold Lutosławski's visit had on me, and his important stature in the world of contemporary music, I was therefore extremely enthusiastic when I was approached by Stanislaw Latek from the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada about an academic event celebrating Lutosławski's 100th anniversary. As Dean of the Schulich School of Music, it was also a wonderful chance to collaborate with the Polish Academy of Arts and Science in Kraków and a number of other important partners. I was impressed by the high level of the presentations and am absolutely delighted that this conference has led to the publication of this important volume. Among the many people who worked to support this event, I would like to especially thank Mr. Latek for his leadership, as well as Dr. Christoph Neidhöfer who, as Chair of the Music Research Department of the Schulich School of Music, organized and coordinated McGill's participation in the event."

Sean Ferguson, D.M.A.

Dean, Schulich School of Music

McGill University, Montreal

4 November 2014

Witold Lutoslawski in Montreal,  with Maja Trochimczyk, 1993

_________________________________________________

From the Introduction by Dr. Stanislaw Latek and Dr. Maja Trochimczyk

Who was Witold Lutosławski and why do we want to remember him? As with all historical personages, this question can be easily answered in this era of instant access to electronic resources. Why publish an old-fashioned book, then? Speed is not everything.  Lutosławski’s life spanned the 20th century – a century of horrific crimes and monumental inventions. Born in 1913, he survived the outbreak of World War I in Poland, the Soviet Revolution in Moscow (that killed his father), the Polish-Soviet War of 1920, Germany’s invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939-1945, Stalin’s takeover of Eastern Block countries, and the establishment of fake democracy in Poland under Soviet rule in 1945-1989. He survived successive attempts of Poles to overthrow or transform the communist regime in 1956, 1968, 1970, 1981, and 1989.

After staying away from engagement in official politics and devoting his life to composing and conducting his music for over 35 years, Lutosławski  joined the reformers of the Solidarity movement in 1981, making a memorable speech about truth in the arts at the Independent Culture Congress in Warsaw that was cut short by the declaration of the martial law on December 13, 1981. He lived in interesting times.  His music remains a testimonial to his individuality, original artistic vision, and talent.  Performers, composers, and scholars continue to be drawn to it. Many books and studies have been published, but many gaps remain in the understanding of his compositional technique, his unique aesthetics, and the details of his biography.  Our book seeks to fill some of these gaps with new information and new scholarly interpretations. 

Lutosławski ’s 1993 visit to Canada, on the invitation by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada – as a guest of honor for the Institute’s 50th anniversary –  has not been adequately described by his biographers in Poland and abroad. The visit was eventful and important. In addition to participating in the Institute’s anniversary events, Lutosławski received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Music, McGill University, gave lectures and attended a concert in Montreal organized by James Harley, and conducted his last concert in Toronto.  Of course, he was here with his wife, Danuta.

Why did he come? He had a soft spot for Polish libraries and cultural centers around the world; after having lost many manuscripts in the war, he believed in the importance of promoting and documenting Polish culture. He also needed to go to Japan in November, for the award ceremony of the Kyoto Prize granted to him by the Inamori Foundation, so instead of flying east through Asia, he went around the world, heading west… One of us (Maja) was a co-organizer of the visit, as McGill’s doctoral student in musicology, the youngest member of PIASC, and a liason to the composer, through his biographer, Martina Homma, Lutosławski’s personal friend and the only scholar who had access to his sketches and manuscripts during his life. 

Witold Lutoslawski with Martina Homma, Montreal, 1993. Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Homma was among the guests of honor at the events and did us all a great service, when she “orchestrated” the question period after the composer’s Beatty Lecture at McGill University. Knowing Lutosławski’s fragile state of health and the aggravation caused him by having to answer pointless questions (that he never showed, being unerringly noble and aristocratic when dealing with all sorts of fans pestering him with questions), Homma wrote questions on topics that the Polish composer liked talking about. We distributed these questions among graduate students of music dispersed through the audience and they asked them, one after another. The discussion was lively, as the great musician explained, in extenso, his compositional techniques, aesthetic stance, attitude towards contemporary music fads and lasting values, the importance of communicating with listeners, and the abstract nature of this musical communication.  The speaker and the audience were delighted. And so are we, after twenty years, still remembering fondly the eventful and momentous visit, the wonderful concert, the quality of performances inspired by the presence of the master, and the intimate and exciting conversations…

The idea of celebrating the twentieth anniversary of this event gave rise to the Lutoslawski Legacy Conference held at McGill University in Montreal  under the leadership of another one of us (Stan). 

The book gathers the proceedings of the conference with two omissions.  Marcin Krajewski was not able to complete revisions to his paper in time.  Grzegorz Michalski replaced his spoken tribute to Lutosławski with a written text of a 1988 interview, translated into English by Maria Anna and James Harley, and published in a now-defunct magazine, Polish Music/Polnische Musik.  Additionally, the volume includes a Calendar of Life and a List of Works of Lutosławski prepared by Maja Trochimczyk and materials from the 1993 visit to Montreal. 

 Photographs and illustrations come from the private archives of Ewa and Grzegorz Michalski in Warsaw; Charles Bodman Rae in Adelaide, Australia; Robert Aitken in Toronto; New Music Concerts in Toronto; and Maja Trochimczyk in Los Angeles. We are particularly grateful to Dr. Felix Meyer, the Director of the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel who provided us with copies of Lutosławski s sketches and manuscripts.

We are also grateful to Marek Zebrowski, Director of USC Polish Music Center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for permission to publish photographs of Lutosławski’s manuscripts donated to USC in 1985 and held on deposit in the USC Special Collections.

Stanisław Latek and Maja Trochimczyk, Editors

November 10, 2014

Lutoslawski's Manuscripts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles

Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

On Hypnotic Modernism of Maciej Grzybowski (Vol. 3, No. 7)

How can you tell if a pianist is good enough to be worth the effort of driving on our congested freeways to attend his concert on a Friday night, if you have never heard his name before? Hard to tell… perhaps, you should believe what others say about him.  You certainly should watch for the name of Maciej Grzybowski, an extraordinary Polish pianist, who recently visited Los Angeles upon the invitation of the Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club. On May 11, 2011, he performed a solo piano recital at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica.  From there, he went on to play for the Polish Arts and Culture Club of San Diego and then to appear in a recital in Montreal, Canada. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have to state that as the President of the Modjeska Club I personally invited him to L.A., while his tour was sponsored by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute of Poland and supported by the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles). 

The specially crafted Santa Monica program included music by Polish composers (Paweł Mykietyn, Witold Lutosławski, Paweł Szymański, and Fryderyk Chopin) juxtaposed with Western classics – Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel. Some of the best music of the world, played by one of the best pianists you can ever hear…

Born in 1968 and educated in Warsaw, Maciej Grzybowski is the winner of the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 20th Century Music Competition for Young Performers in Warsaw (1992). He made numerous phonographic, radio and television recordings as a soloist and chamber musician and collaborated with Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by such conductors as Jan Krenz, Witold Lutosławski and Krzysztof Penderecki. From 1996 to 2000 Grzybowski was a co-director of the "NONSTROM presents" concert cycle in Warsaw. He took part in numerous music festivals in Poland, such as the Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova, Witold Lutosławski Forum, Warsaw Musical Encounters, and the Polish Radio Music Festival. He also performed at the Biennial of Contemporary Music in Zagreb, Hofkonzerte im Podewil, Berlin and festivals in Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (Ukraine). In March 2005, Grzybowski’s recital at the Mozart Hall in Bologna was recognized as the greatest music event of the 2000s. After Grzybowski’s U.S. debut in New York, in August 2006 EMI Classics released his second solo CD with works by Paweł Szymański (b. 1954). He also appeared in three concerts at the critically acclaimed Festival of Paweł Szymański's Music in Warsaw. In February 2008, Grzybowski premiered a Piano Concerto by an unjustly forgotten composer, Andrzej Czajkowski (Andre Tchaikovsky).

After the 2004 release of Grzybowski’s first solo CD, Dialog, juxtaposing works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Alban Berg, Pawel Mykietyn, Arnold Schönberg and Pawel Szymanski, (Universal Music Polska), critics raved:
·       “His interpretations of Bach, Berg, Schönberg, Szymański and Mykietyn show the touch of genius! There are certainly none today to equal his readings of Bach! (...) How refreshing and exciting it is to be in the presence of such great art of interpretation, akin to a genius!”   (Bohdan Pociej).
·       “The performance of Berg’s youthful Sonata and Schönberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke could easily stand alongside the recordings of Gould or Pollini.”  (Marcin Gmys).

These exorbitant expressions of praise were seconded by attendees of the Santa Monica recital including composer Walter Arlen, the founder of the music department at Loyola Marymount University and for 30 years the most influential music critic of the Los Angeles Times. After the concert, he stated, “this was the best pianist I have ever heard in my life.” His praise was seconded by another listener, Howard Myers: “Maciej is a phenomenon, a marvel, a miracle, a special kind of genius.” The belief in Grzybowski’s exceptional talent is shared by the Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Paweł Potoroczyn: “He is more than just a talented pianist – he is both a virtuoso of the highest order and a great musical personality.  The resultant unique combination is that of an uncommon musical genius that fully justifies comparing him with such masters as Glenn Gould or Maurizio Pollini.”

While admitting to a personal bias towards someone who has dedicated years of his life to the music of Paweł Szymański, one of the greatest Polish composers who ever lived (as it will become apparent in 50 years, when the dust settles and musical diamonds will be found in the sea of ashes), I had no doubt that by bringing Maciej Grzybowski to California, I offered our audiences a special treat.  His recital exceeded even my already sky-high expectations. First the program: arranged in two distinct parts, pairing composers of different generations in a surprising dialogue of musical ideas.

The youngest of the composers featured by Grzybowski was Paweł Mykietyn (b. 1971), his colleague and co-founder of the Nonstrom Ensemble where he has played the clarinet. In an entry on the Polish Music Information Center’s website affiliated with the Polish Composers’ Union, Mykietyn’s style is described in the following way:  “The composer ostentatiously applies the major-minor harmonies, introducing tonal fragments interspersed with harmonically free sections. He also makes use of traditional melodic structures, transforming them in his own individual manner. Mykietyn could be described as a model postmodernist, deriving his inspiration as well as material from all the available sources without any inferiority complex.” These words could well be applied to the virtuosic and wistful Four Preludes (1992) that opened the program with their contrasting moods, textures and tempi.



Grzybowski with Howard Myers and Prof. Walter Arlen.

Grzybowski followed the postmodernist Mykietyn with Twelve Folk Melodies by the dean of Polish composers of the 20th century, Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994). Commissioned by PWM in 1945, and elevating folklore to the realm of high art (in a preview of the official ideology of „socialist realism“ of 1948) these little gems show how unimportant is the ideology or context for a great compositional talent. The popular melodies of Hej, od Krakowa jadę [Hey, I come from Cracow], Na jabłoni jabłko wisi [An apple hangs on the apple tree], or Gaik [The grove] were set to music in a sophisticated harmonic style, reminiscent of Bèla Bartók.

Under Grzybowski’s fingers, these charming miniatures sparkled with a caleidoscope of colors and rhythms. The pianist brought out the complexity of inner voices in seemingly simple pieces and endowed folk melodies with an aura of nostalgia and drama.  In a stroke of genius, Grzybowski followed the folk arrangements with an entirely hypnotic and modernist reading of Drei Intermezzi, Op. 117 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). A standard in every music theory textbook on Schenkerian analysis, Drei Intermezzi could be heard as small interludes only in comparison with Brahms’s majestic symphonies.  Composed in 1892, the intermezzi (No. 1 in E-flat major, No. 2 in B-flat minor and No. 3 in C-sharp minor) transverse cosmic landscapes of feeling evoked in Rainer Maria Rilke’s timeless poem, An Die Musik.

Yet it was the piece that followed, Two Etudes by Paweł Szymański(1954), written in 1986 and available on two Grzybowski CDs, that elicited the greatest enthusiasm of the audience.  It is a work of genius, unparalleled in music in its hypnotic effect on the listeners. The Etudes, played without a break, contrast the slow emergence of music in the first etude with the titanic flows of sound in the second.  The piece arises from silence in what appears to be a series of random, repeated notes and chords, but there is nothing random in Szymański’s music, everything is carefully constructed.  Sometimes called a “neo-Baroque” composer (due to his frequent inspirations with the music of that period, and talent for creating complex polyphony), Szymański refers to his style as “sur-conventionalism” and thus describes his main approach: “The modern artist, and this includes composers, finds himself tossed within two extremes. If he chooses to renounce the tradition altogether, there is the danger of falling into the trap of blah-blah; if he follows the tradition too closely, he may prove trivial. This is the paradox of practicing art in modern times. What is the way out? However, there are many methods to stay out of eclecticism despite playing games with tradition. An important method for me is to violate the rules of the traditional language and to create a new context using the elements of that language." Thus, Szymanski draws from traditional tonal and harmonic language by playing with the conventions of musical styles and with the listeners’ expectations. This game of cat-and-mouse was apparent in the stretching and constricting of time in the two Etudes. The irregularity of recurring chords and notes piqued the listeners’ interest and intensified their expectations. Thus, the music grew and expanded in scope in the first Etude, to reach monumental proportions and then dissolve in massive complexities of the second.

The second half of the recital started with a series of unusual readings of Fryderyk Chopin’s four mazurkas (in A Minor, Op. 7, No. 2; E Minor, Op. 41, No. 1; F Major, Op. Posth. 68, No. 3; G-sharp Minor, Op. 33, No. 1). The originality of the pianist’s interpretations rendered these well-known gems of the repertoire almost unrecognizable.  More angular and modernist than usual were also three Preludes from the second volume of impressionistic masterpieces by Claude Debussy (1862-1918): II  ...  Feuilles mortes, VI  ... „General Lavine” eccentric; VII ... La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune.  These terraces were lighted less by effervescent moonlight than by the brilliant focused light of Grzybowski’s intellect.  Again, they were so different from what I was used to hearing that I would need to hear these preludes again, to render an opinion. Yet, the rest of the audience was hypnotized into a complete silence and immobility: no slow, tortuous opening of candy wrappers at this recital! 

Grzybowski with the Modjeska Club Board

The finale was indeed “grand” -  a monumental rendering of Valses nobles et sentimentales by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). In 1906, Ravel started his “waltz” project, culminating with the 1919 publication of the orchestral suite, La Valse. Inspired by the noble and sentimental waltzes by the Viennese Franz Schubert, Ravel published a suite of eight pieces for piano in 1911 and followed them with orchestral versions a year later. The waltzes are not separated into distinct “noble” and “sentimental” sections; it is up to the listener to decide what is what.  The pieces, in contrasting tempi, span the whole expressive trajectory for which the words are too limited to give the music full justice.  An unusual selection to close a solo recital, the suite ended in a slow tranquil dissolution into silence. 

After a well-deserved standing ovation, the pianist relented and added a melancholy and thoroughly modern version of a Scarlatti’s sonata as an encore to the evening’s inspired and inspiring program.  One thing is certain: the name recognition problem mentioned at the beginning should be resolved, once for all, in the case of Maciej Grzybowski: just go to every concert of his, and if you cannot go, buy his CDs.