The Classical Music Book

323

See also: Webern’s Symphonie, Op. 21 264–265 ■ Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony

274–279 ■ 4 ́33 ̋ 302–305 ■ Gruppen 306–307

T

he life of Polish composer

Witold Lutosławski

coincided with a turbulent

period in Eastern Europe. At the

time of his birth in 1913, Poland

was partitioned between Austria,

Prussia, and Russia. In World

War II, the composer was briefly

imprisoned by the Nazis, and after

the war, he was hounded by the

communist authorities. Only in

his last years was Poland free.

While Lutosławski believed in

the autonomy of art, critics often

perceive the reflection of outside

tensions in his music. Like many of

his pieces, his Fourth Symphony,

whose composition spanned the fall

of communism, has two halves—a

halting introduction, followed by a

decisive and conclusive statement.

An element of chance

From the early 1960s, a consistent

feature of his music was his use of

“controlled aleatory” passages, in

which the coordination between

instrumental parts is partially

governed by chance. They may be

fully written out, but how they line

up is only partly predictable—they

may start at different times, for

example. The method is evident in

the Fourth Symphony’s first section:

at three points, rhythmic music

dissolves into disarray, like a false

start to a race, creating a sense of

anticipation that is resolved in the

work’s more assertive second half.

The Fourth Symphony was

Lutosławski’s last work. He died

in 1994, a year after conducting

its Los Angeles premiere. ■

CONTEMPORARY

I COULD START OUT

FROM THE CHAOS AND

CREATE ORDER IN IT

FOURTH SYMPHONY ( 1993 )

WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

“Controlled aleatory”

composition

BEFORE

1958 John Cage composes his

Concert for Piano and Orchestra.

1961 After hearing a snippet

of Cage’s Concert on the radio,

Lutosławski uses “controlled

aleatory” for the first time in

his Jeux vénitiens.

AFTER

2003 Lutosławski’s Polish

colleague Wojciech Kilar

composes September

Symphony (Symphony No. 3)

to commemorate the 9/11

attacks in New York City.

2011 Liza Lim’s Tongue of

the Invisible is one of many

contemporary works since

Lutosławski’s death that

combine controlled

improvisation with passages

in conventional notation.

It [music] always fascinated

me, and I couldn’t imagine

any other profession

than musician, and

even composer.

Witold Lutosławski

US_322-323_Schafer_Lutoslawski.indd 323 26/03/18 1:02 PM