The Witold Lutosławski Festival Chain 12, Jan. 25 - Feb. 7, 2015
Witold Lutosławski Society, Institute of Music and Dance, Polish Radio Program 2, National Philharmonic
The programe booklet of the festival (pdf)
The idea for the Chain festivals, which are organized continuously since 2004 is to show the music of Witold Lutosławski in a captivating and significant context. The links of the 12th Chain are formed by five concerts taking place in Warsaw between January 25 and February 7, 2015. During the festival’s four evenings, eight works composed by its patron will be heard, as will the variously linked works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Fryderyk Chopin, Jean Sibelius, Béla Bartók, Karol Szymanowski, Luigi Dallapiccola, Roman Padlewski, Per Nørgård, and Krzysztof Penderecki. The sequence of festival evenings will present Lutosławski’s output on the backdrop of chamber works written by Béla Bartók and Ludwig van Beethoven, Scandinavian music, compositions tied with the tragedy of WWII, and works providing the context of Baroque polyphony.
As a separate event, a concert has been planned that will inaugurate the 10th Witold Lutosławski Cello Competition and the activity of the group Chain Ensemble, while simultaneously closing the master classes for young performers. Lutosławski’s music will be heard alongside works by Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Arvo Pärt, and Agata Zubel. Worthy of attention is also the “Little Chain”: a mini-festival for children, organized on the occasion of the Chain already the fourth time.
The filling of such a program in such thought-out manner would have been impossible without the support and collaboration of institutions that include the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Capital City of Warsaw, Institute of Music and Dance, Polish Radio’s Program 2, the National Philharmonic and the Foundation for the Promotion of Young Cellists.
Witold Lutosławski disclosed in conversation with Tadeusz Kaczyński just how accurate and attractive seems the performance of his own music in programs conceived not in an entirely banal manner (he gave as example the juxtaposition of his own String Quartet with a canzona by Gabrieli, a work by Debussy, and a cantata by Bach). When recommending the Chain 12 festival program to the kind attention of listeners, it seems appropriate to express the hope that they too will find it attractive and not altogether banal, and that it allows hearing Witold Lutosławski’s music anew: as one rooted deep in great tradition, and thus more contemporary.
January 25, 2015, 7 PM
National Philharmonic Chamber Hall
Silesian String Quartet
Szymon Krzeszowiec – first violin
Arkadiusz Kubica – second violin
Łukasz Syrnicki – viola
Piotr Janosik – cello
Béla Bartók String Quartet no. 3 (1927)
Witold Lutosławski String Quartet (1964)
Intermission
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in F major op. 135 (1826)
January 31, 2015, 7 PM
The Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio
Mariusz Godlewski – baritone
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Michał Klauza – conductor
Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994)
Musique funèbre for string orchestra (1958)
Interlude for orchestra (1989)
Les espaces du sommeil for baritone and orchestra to poetry by Robert Desnos (1975)
Intermission
Per Nørgård (*1932) Out of this world (Parting). Witold Lutosławski in memoriam for double string quintet or string orchestra (1994)
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) Symphony no. 4 in A minor op. 63 (1911)
February 1, 2015, 7 PM
Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio
Anna Mikołajczyk – soprano
Anna Lubańska – alto
Maciej Grzybowski, Ryszard Alzin – pianos
Anna Sikorzak-Olek, Anna Piechura-Gabryś – harps
Hob-beats Percussion Group (Magdalena Kordylasińska, Miłosz Pękala, Barbara Skoczyńska, Karol Krasiński, Olga Przybył, Karolina Sokołowska, Radosław Mysłek, Tomasz Bielecki, Jarema Jarosiński) – percussion
Barbara Świderska – organ
Adam Bogacki, Andrzej Gubernat, Tomasz Prawdzik, Jarosław Jekiełek – double basses
Hanna Sosińska-Kraski – celesta
Polish Radio Chorus in Cracow
Wojciech Michniewski – conductor
Ilona Polakowska-Rybska – chorus preparation, conductor
Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) Fac me tecum pie flere for soprano, alto and mixed chorus a cappella to texts from the sequence Stabat Mater dolorosa, translated by Józef Jankowski, [Part IV Stabat Mater op. 53] (1926)
Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) Lacrimosa for soprano, mixed chorus and organ (1937/1946)
Roman Padlewski (1915–1944) Stabat Mater for mixed chorus a cappella (1939)
Intermission
Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) Canti di prigionia for mixed chorus, 2 pianos, 2 harps and percussion to texts by Mary Stuart, Boethius and Girolamo Savonarola (1941)
Krzysztof Penderecki (*1933) Psalms of David for mixed chorus, 2 pianos, percussion and 4 double basses to texts by Jan Kochanowski (1959)
February 4, 2015, 7:30 PM
Royal Castle Grand Hall
The concert inaugurates the 10th Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition and is organised in collaboration with the Foundation for the Promotion of Young Cellists
Agata Zubel – soprano
Paweł Arendt – piano
Chain Ensemble
Andrzej Bauer – conductor
Giacinto Scelsi (1905–1988) Ohoi “Les Principes créatifs” for 16 string instruments (1966)
Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) “La Belle de nuit” for soprano and orchestra from the cycle Chantefleurs et Chantefables to poetry by Robert Desnos (1990)
Agata Zubel (*1978) Pomiędzy odpływem myśli a przypływem snu (In Between the Ebb of Thoughts and the Flow of Sleep) for voice, piano, and string orchestra to poetry by Tadeusz Dąbrowski (2013)
Intermission
György Ligeti (1923–2006) Ramifications for 12 string instruments (1969)
Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) Voile for 20 string instruments (1995)
Arvo Pärt (*1935) Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten for string instruments and bell (1980)
February 7, 2015, 7 PM
The Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio
Krzysztof Jakowicz – violin
Robert Morawski – piano
AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of Tychy
Marek Moś – conductor
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Ricercare a 6 in C minor from Das Musikalisches Opfer BWV 1079 (1748) for orchestra, instrumentation: Anton Webern (1935)
Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) Prelude and Fugue for 13 string instruments (1973) [abbreviated version]
Intermission
Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) Fugue in A minor (1841?) for string orchestra, instrumentation: Paweł Mykietyn (2012)
Witold Lutosławski Partita for violin, piano, and orchestra (1984)
Interlude for orchestra (1989)
Johann Sebastian Bach Contrapunctus I in D minor from Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080 for string orchestra (1750), instrumentation: Jan Krenz (first movement of the Polyphonic Suite for orchestra, 1952)
The festival is organized in collaboration with the Institute of Music and Dance and financed in part by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as well as the City of Warsaw