Witold Lutosławski and the Taming of Chance

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0:00 I: Poland on the Brink
11:48 II: War and Partition
16:51 III: “Composing with the Left Hand”
30:34 IV: The Parallel Path
47:06 V: The Taming of Chance
1:06:21 VI: A Performer’s Composer
1:09:55 VII: The Late Style

📚 Sources/further reading:
“The Music of Lutosławski” by Charles Bodman Rae, Third Edition (Omnibus Press, 1999)
“Lutosławski and His Music” by Steven Stucky (Cambridge, 1981)
“Lutosławski Studies,” edited by Zbigniew Skowron (Oxford, 2001), with contributions by Benoît Aubigny, Charles Bodman Rae, John Casken, James Harley, Martina Homma, Irina Nikolska, Jadwiga Paja-Stach, Peter Petersen, Zbigniew Skowron, Steven Stucky, Adrian Thomas, Maja Trochimczyk, Andrzej Tuchowski, and Arnold Whittall
“’Akcyja’ and Narrativity in the Music of Witold Lutosławski” by Nicholas Reyland (PhD thesis, Cardiff University of Wales, 2005)
"Instrumentation in the Works of Witold Lutosławski” by Kathy Ann Russavage (DMA thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988)
“Remembering Lutosławski” by Steven Stucky
“Lutosławski’s Approach to Sound Masses and Form in ‘Livre pour orchestre’” by Eli-Eri Moura
“An Analysis of Lutosławski’s ‘Venetian Games’ with an Emphasis on his Aleatory Techniques” by Yoo Hee Kim
“A Russian Rhetoric of Form in the Music of Witold Lutosławski” by Douglas Rust (Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, Vol 3/1, Sep. 2010)

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Music (all by Lutosławski, in order of first appearance):

Livre pour orchestre (1968), performers unknown
Symphony No. 2 (1965–7), performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, conducted by Witold Lutosławski
Symphonic Variations (1936–8), performed by The Orchestra Now conducted by Leon Botstein
Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941, orch. 78), performed by Stephen Hough and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo
Symphony No. 1 (1941–7), performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice conducted by Hannu Lintu
Melodie Ludowe (1945), performed by Christopher Baxter
Concerto for Orchestra (1950–4), performed by the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero
Dance Preludes (1955), performed by Martin Fröst and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Dance Preludes (1955), performed by Vitor Fernandes and Bruno Ferreira
Livre pour orchestre (1968), performed by the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra conducted by Gunther Herbig
Cello Concerto (1969–70), performed by Nicolas Altstaedt and the Orchestre National de Lille conducted by Krzysztof Urbánski
Five Songs (1957, orch. 1958), performed by Jadwiga Rappé and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice conducted by Antoni Wit [text by Kazimiera Illakowicz]
Musique funèbre [Music of Mourning] (1954–8), performed by The Orchestra Now conducted by Leon Botstein
Jeux vénitiens (1961), performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice conducted by Witold Lutosławski
String Quartet (1964), performed by members of the Hwaum Chamber Orchestra (Jiyoon Kim, Jiwon Song, Erwan Richard, and Helen Lee)
Les espaces du sommeil [Spaces of Sleep] (1975), performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Witold Lutosławski [text by Robert Desnos]
Symphony No. 4 (1988–92), performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen
Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp, and Chamber Orchestra (1979–80), performed by Heinz Holliger, Ursula Holliger, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Witold Lutosławski
Epitaph for Oboe and Piano (1979), performed by Heinz Holliger and Szabolcs Esztényi
Łańcuch [Chain] 1 (1983), performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Witold Lutosławski

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