Witold Lutoslawski

La version originale de cette oeuvre, pour clarinette et Piano, a été écrite en 1954 suite à une commande des éditeurs du Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, d'une oeuvre facile pour étudiant interprète. Les cinq mouvements sont basés sur des chants folkloriques du nord de la Pologne. La première représentation eut lieu en 1963, lors du Aldeburgh Festival par Gervase de Peyer et l'English Chamber Orchestra, dirigée par Benjamin Britten. / Classique / Partition /

Le travail immense et acclamé de Lutoslawski, commissionné et d'abord exécuté par l'orchestre philharmonique de Los Angeles en février 1993, dirigé par le compositeur. En 2 mouvements. Durée 22minutes. Partition orchestrale disponible a la location auprès de Chester Music. / Classique / Partition /

Commissioned by Paul Sacher who conducted the first performance in Lucerne 1980. The parts are also available here are the item codes. CH55410-01(harp)  CH55410-02 (oboe)

Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux was written for the Zagreb Biennale and first performed there by the orchestra and choir of Radio Zagreb, conducted by the composer and Slavko Zlatic on 9 May 1963. It is composed for 20-part choir and an orchestra similar to that of the Symphony of Psalms, though without the lower strings of the latter.Lutoslaswski has said that the general outline of the work came to him first, and only then did he choose the three poems. These reflect his Francophile taste: Henri Michaux was born in Belgium in 1899 and later became a painter: the trenchant Le Grand Combat, with its onomatopoeic invented words, dates form the 1920s- the other two texts, which are more philosophic than pictorial, form the 1930s. Choir and orchestra need separate conductors even though throughout they alternate more often than they combine.A description of the course of the music itself will be more useful than any discussion of its technical processes or of its notation. A quiet section of orchestral polyphony, which brass sforzandi punctuate with increasing frequency, frames the beginning and end of Pensées. After the choir's first unaccompanied passage, the woodwind have a staccato section over which the female voices, singing downward glissandi, are superimposed ('Ombre de mondes infimes?'). Then the woodwind and both pianos join in a lapping ostinato which illustrates the text of the next forte choir entry 'Pensées à la nage merveilleuse?' The climax of the movement comes as these characteristic woodwind figures alternate with the tintinnabulation of a gamelan-like ensemble of vibraphone, céleste, harp and pianos. / Orchestre

Commissioned by the Salzburg Festival. First performed in August 1988 by the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer with Krystian Zimerman. Duration c.27 mins. Full score and orchestral material available onhire from the publishers.

Song cycle for soprano and orchestra with poems by Robert Desnos. First performed at the BBC Proms in August 1991 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer with Solveig Kringleborn. Duration c.16 mins.

Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. First performance in September 1983 conducted by Sir Georg Solti. Duration c.28 mins. Full score and orchestral parts available on hire from the publisher.

Commissioned by the Amsterdam Municipality for the Concertgebouw Orchestra. World Premier in October 0976 conducted by the composer. Duration c.15 mins. Full score and orchestral parts available on hire from the publisher.