LUTOSłAWSKI Symphonies 1 & 4; JeuX Vénitiens. Finnish Radio SO/Hannu Lintu. ONDINE 24/96. Qobuz Studio Stream.
Symphonies 1 and 4 aren’t usually the devoted Lutosławskian’s favourite symphonic works. Such status is usually reserved for the twin modernist/melodist peaks of 2 and 3.
Well, here’s a stunning album that might change that…
The 4th can at first seem baffling; it has a flowing continuity, yet seems to lack an obvious sense of direction….that slinky clarinet solo promising so much, which in too many hands never quite seems to arrive. Climactic passages culminate, then dissipate; a metallic scherzo strikes sparks, then cools and dissolves… ….the line seems lost in textural fantasy, mechanical birdcalls…
Yet we do finally arrive - somewhere; with clinching power and…playfulness.
The at once flowing yet episodic structure needs firm guidance and it gets that here, more convincingly than I’ve heard from any other: it’s the tightly cohesive sense of pace through tension and release, the assured swerving into huge dynamic swings and climaxes that make Hannu Lintu’s performance so compelling. He nurtures and caresses - then takes it by the scruff. A Luto 4th in a single breath? You’d better believe it.
And don’t worry, it has the range: colouristic fantasy, the delicate traceries, the crushing power, more convincingly recorded and imaginatively played than I’ve yet heard (listen to those mini- brass, piano and wind cadenzas toward the centre of the work, or those three violins drifting across vanishing-point clarinet and pitched percussion near the end; that eerie avian colloquy (he even finds the pulse in their dialoguing): breathtakingly delicate, in fabulously soft, tangible hi-res sound (no previous recording has ever shown us this much); the 4th is to some degree another Concerto for Orchestra).
But Lintu makes these vividly characterised episodes part of his eagle-eye view of the symphonic sweep, (that long singing melody is very clearly followed-through) gauging speed and power and pouncing on the prey of his climaxes with unerring accuracy and excitement.
Lintu’s given me the 4th I’d always hoped was there, hidden beneath the bafflements, failures and partial successes of earlier recordings. (Whatever I compared, I found disappointment or newly reduced status).
For once, you really want to go straight back to start…
(my previous favourite, Kaspzsyk on Accord, sounded cooler, monochrome, almost too epic (no, really) by comparison; stretched out, harder to follow, despite its many beauties)…
***
No.1 is, of course, a little too obviously modelled on its great Roussellian inspiration (it is Roussel’s 5th, in a way that Brahms 1st was never Beethoven’s 10th); but for me it now seems fresher than the ubiquitous Concerto for Orchestra, which always loses my sympathy in the playing-to-the-gallery of the finale; all too shameless, like all those conductors who rush to give us their precious version. Enough already!
Again Lintu gives a marvellous rendition of No.1, with terrific colour, character and structural awareness; sparkling textures, and a keen rhythmic attack; a poco adagio of remarkable sensuousness, depth and power; a suave, mischievous scherzo.. The bright open-eyed freshness of Lutosławskian orchestral youth is given an extra dimension - in fact, benefitting from the more clearly revealed Roussellian input.
For me this sets new standards: simply the best recording of a work I’m very fond of both for itself and its Roussellian echoes. Nothing to be ashamed about, indeed. (And sound to die for.)
(Previous favourites: Luto’s EMI Polish reading has all the passion, not always the polish; Skrowacewski on Accord is - spacious, coolly beautiful if a little distanced, emotionally; I think the newcomer beats them both out - it’s terrific).
***
The Venetian Games are as much fun as ever, this version mainly impressive for the wildly hilarious impact of its last section - hi-res wow! But I always wonder why Luto’s own EMI Polish one is so much more eventful and substantial than any other; more compellingly expressive too. For me, it still remains unsurpassed.
Symphonies 1 and 4 aren’t usually the devoted Lutosławskian’s favourite symphonic works. Such status is usually reserved for the twin modernist/melodist peaks of 2 and 3.
Well, here’s a stunning album that might change that…
The 4th can at first seem baffling; it has a flowing continuity, yet seems to lack an obvious sense of direction….that slinky clarinet solo promising so much, which in too many hands never quite seems to arrive. Climactic passages culminate, then dissipate; a metallic scherzo strikes sparks, then cools and dissolves… ….the line seems lost in textural fantasy, mechanical birdcalls…
Yet we do finally arrive - somewhere; with clinching power and…playfulness.
The at once flowing yet episodic structure needs firm guidance and it gets that here, more convincingly than I’ve heard from any other: it’s the tightly cohesive sense of pace through tension and release, the assured swerving into huge dynamic swings and climaxes that make Hannu Lintu’s performance so compelling. He nurtures and caresses - then takes it by the scruff. A Luto 4th in a single breath? You’d better believe it.
And don’t worry, it has the range: colouristic fantasy, the delicate traceries, the crushing power, more convincingly recorded and imaginatively played than I’ve yet heard (listen to those mini- brass, piano and wind cadenzas toward the centre of the work, or those three violins drifting across vanishing-point clarinet and pitched percussion near the end; that eerie avian colloquy (he even finds the pulse in their dialoguing): breathtakingly delicate, in fabulously soft, tangible hi-res sound (no previous recording has ever shown us this much); the 4th is to some degree another Concerto for Orchestra).
But Lintu makes these vividly characterised episodes part of his eagle-eye view of the symphonic sweep, (that long singing melody is very clearly followed-through) gauging speed and power and pouncing on the prey of his climaxes with unerring accuracy and excitement.
Lintu’s given me the 4th I’d always hoped was there, hidden beneath the bafflements, failures and partial successes of earlier recordings. (Whatever I compared, I found disappointment or newly reduced status).
For once, you really want to go straight back to start…
(my previous favourite, Kaspzsyk on Accord, sounded cooler, monochrome, almost too epic (no, really) by comparison; stretched out, harder to follow, despite its many beauties)…
***
No.1 is, of course, a little too obviously modelled on its great Roussellian inspiration (it is Roussel’s 5th, in a way that Brahms 1st was never Beethoven’s 10th); but for me it now seems fresher than the ubiquitous Concerto for Orchestra, which always loses my sympathy in the playing-to-the-gallery of the finale; all too shameless, like all those conductors who rush to give us their precious version. Enough already!
Again Lintu gives a marvellous rendition of No.1, with terrific colour, character and structural awareness; sparkling textures, and a keen rhythmic attack; a poco adagio of remarkable sensuousness, depth and power; a suave, mischievous scherzo.. The bright open-eyed freshness of Lutosławskian orchestral youth is given an extra dimension - in fact, benefitting from the more clearly revealed Roussellian input.
For me this sets new standards: simply the best recording of a work I’m very fond of both for itself and its Roussellian echoes. Nothing to be ashamed about, indeed. (And sound to die for.)
(Previous favourites: Luto’s EMI Polish reading has all the passion, not always the polish; Skrowacewski on Accord is - spacious, coolly beautiful if a little distanced, emotionally; I think the newcomer beats them both out - it’s terrific).
***
The Venetian Games are as much fun as ever, this version mainly impressive for the wildly hilarious impact of its last section - hi-res wow! But I always wonder why Luto’s own EMI Polish one is so much more eventful and substantial than any other; more compellingly expressive too. For me, it still remains unsurpassed.
.)
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