Lutosławski: Bukoliki (Shepherd Songs). 2 Studies for Piano. Folk Melodies. Pieces for the Young. Invention. Zasłszana melodyjka (An Overheard Tune) for 4 Hands. Piano Sonata
Corinna Simon,
piano
AVI 8553341
(62:57)
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New classical music releases reviewed in detail by Gavin Dixon
Monday, 27 February 2017
Lutosławski Complete Piano Works Corinna Simon
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This disc is entitled Lutosławski: Complete Piano Works, but it would be more precisely
named Complete Surviving Works for One Piano.
Lutosławski’s most famous piano piece is, of course, the Paganini Variations for piano duo, not included here, although
pianist Corinna Simon does perform a short four-hand work, Zasłyszana melodyjka, all four of the hands her own in a studio
overdub.
Almost all of Lutosławski’s piano works are early, the
short Inwencja dates from 1968, but everything
else from the period 1934–1957. Lutosławski excelled as a pianist in his early
years, and his compositional output, from his student days onwards, focused
heavily on the piano. But much of this was lost when the composer left Warsaw
shortly before the Uprising in 1944. Of the present program, only the Two
Studies for Piano (1941) and the substantial Sonata (1934) are from an earlier
era.
The Piano Sonata was written while Lutosławski was
still a student, and was apparently something of a calling card, with the
composer performing it regularly, although he later distanced himself from the
work and never sought publication. It is substantial, coming in at almost half
an hour, and tightly argued, especially the first movement, which lands
running, the main ideas presented up-front without an introduction and then rigorously
developed. The style suggests Szymanowski, and perhaps also Debussy and some of
the Russian late-Romantics. Connections with mature Lutosławski are more difficult
to pin down, certainly the fluency of line and keen ear for appropriate and
well-voiced harmony—matters of technique and compositional craft, then, more
than of style or intent.
The sonata ends the program, and the works the
preceded it are all short. The Bukoliki (Shepherd
Songs, 1952) and Folk Melodies (1945)
are both reminiscent of Bartók in their uncomplicated but often innovative and
angular piano settings of folk themes. The other works are in a similar vein,
if not as explicitly folk-orientated. In terms of technique, the first of the Two
Studies for Piano (1945) sounds like
an imposing challenge for the pianist, as, inexplicably, does the first of the Pieces for the Young (1953).
Corinna Simon
gives engaging and characterful accounts of all the music here. She is at her
best in the sonata, where the breadth of the musical argument matches the
commitment and emotional engagement of her playing. She also excels in the
virtuoso movements mentioned above, and there is never any question of the
music ever challenging her technique. But in the folk music arrangements, her
touch is a little too even and legato. Many of these short movements pick out a
staccato motif or accompanying line as the basis for the music’s character, and
too often the touch here is overly rounded and delicate. There is also too much
pedal in many of these movements, an impression not helped by the audible
dampers strangling the note endings as the pedal rises.
The recording was made in a church, the famous
Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin, and the acoustic also contributes to the
rounded-out effect. But the audio quality is good—in fact the piano is a little
too immediate, the brightness of the tone often overpowering at climaxes. All
round, an interesting program, though, and a useful window on Lutosławski’s
early career. Worth hearing, especially for the sonata.
This review appears in Fanfare magazine, issue 40:5.
This review appears in Fanfare magazine, issue 40:5.
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