Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer's own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

Richard Stoltzman's continuing exploration of the clarinet repertoire has yielded some uniquely enjoyable concerto recordings for RCA, of which the current issue is just the latest example. The disc opens with Lutoslawski's Dance Preludes, a brilliant and lively work of highly varied moods and styles ranging from somber chant to frenzied dancing. Stoltzman sounds as comfortable in each of these witty preludes as he would playing Mozart or Gershwin.


Nielsen's concerto always has been a formidable challenge for clarinetists, and, through its discursive one-movement form, for the listener as well. Happily, Stoltzman's pointed shaping of the musical material aids in the recognition of the various melodic lines, while his freewheeling virtuosity consistently commands attention. Still, Olle Schill's stunningly recorded daredevil performance on BIS remains the Nielsen concerto of choice.


Probably the most interesting item on the program is Kent Kennan's recasting of Prokofiev's Flute Sonata as a concerto for clarinet and orchestra. Kennan succeeds admirably in approximating a real Prokofiev orchestral sound and his arrangement sheds new light on the work's subtle beauties. Indeed the finale, with its judicious use of timpani, seems to improve upon the original. Stoltzman certainly sounds convinced, and you can appreciate in his performance that sense of satisfaction at discovering a new classic. Lawrence Leighton Smith and the Warsaw Philharmonic provide handsomely played and truly collaborative accompaniments. RCA's recording is rather flat in perspective, but allows all of Stoltzman's infectious playing to be clearly heard. A desirable disc, and not just for clarinet fans.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra - Cello Concerto

Lutoslawski: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - Partita for Violin and

Since 2015 young conductor Krzysztof Urbanski has been the principal guest conductor of one of Germany’s leading orchestras, the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. He is also music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. For this album, Urbanski conducts works of Lutoslawski. The tracklist includes his Concerto for Orchestra, Little Suite (Mala Suita), and Symphony No. 4. Lutoslawski was one of the great composers of the twentieth century. Like Stravinsky and Shostakovich, Lutoslawski reveled in the sound and textures of the full orchestra.

Lutoslawski: Preludes and Fugue for 13 Solo Strings, Postlud

Lutoslawski: Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp / Dance Prelu

Lutoslawski was one of the great composers of the 20th century. Although he was imprisoned by the Nazis and subject to the whims of a communist government after the war, Lutoslawski's voice remained original and always provocative. This collection presents orchestral music and two song cycles from a period spanning nearly 50 years of the composer's long life.
Symphony No. 1 was written during the 1940s and is scored for a large orchestra augmented by battery of percussion instruments. The symphony is a work of shifting moods, animated by colorful orchestration. When the Communists took power in Poland they demanded that composers write music based on folk-songs. Lutoslawski's 'Silesian Triptych' written in 1951, meets the party's demands but rises above the genre with its sensitive vocal writing and genial Slavic flavor.
Olga Pasiecznik's warm soprano voice is perfect for the 'Silesian Triptych,' and she floats lovely pianissimo notes in the complex song cycle 'Chantefleurs et Chantefables.' The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra directed by Antoni Wit play this music with energy and technical proficiency.

This is the fourth volume in Chandos’ series devoted to the music of the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. Described by Gramophone as a ‘veritable dream team’, Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform Symphony No. 2 and the Little Suite, and are joined by Paul Watkins as the soloist in the Cello Concerto and Grave.

Classical Music

Witold Lutoslawski's few surviving apprentice works are suffused with the elegance of Ravel and the lush effusiveness of Szymanowski, and this is particularly true of the early Piano Sonata, heard here in Giorgio Koukl's new and corrected edition based on the original manuscript. Further premieres include the wistful 'A Kiss of Roxanne' and the technically complex 'Invention.' Including all of the folk-music tinted pedagogical miniatures, works for piano four hands and other occasional pieces, this is the most comprehensive edition of Lutoslawski's works for solo piano ever recorded. Virginia Rossetti began her piano studies with Massimiliano Ferrati, later attending the 'Antonio Buzzola' Conservatory in Adria where she graduated with honors. In May 2013 she obtained her Master of Performing Arts with distinction at the Hochschule fur Musik in Basle and in 2014 at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire of Brussels. Since 2011 she has been the pianist of the Lunaire Piano Trio. Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer. He studied at the State Music School and Conservatory, and the Conservatories of Zurich and Milan.

Classical Music

Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 2 / Little Suite / Symphonic Vari

Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 3 / Paganini Variations

Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 4 / Violin Partita / Chain II / Fu

Classical Music

Classical Music

Volume Five pairs two relatively early works of Lutoslawski with two works of his full maturity. The 'Concerto for Orchestra' of 1955 is a brilliant example of Lutoslawski's orchestral craftsmanship. It also demonstrates that he was a great composer well before he explored the more personal idiom of his later music. Also from this period is the tiny Overture for Strings of 1949. It is a lovely work that has been completely overshadowed by the composer's first symphony as well as the more famous 'Funeral Music.'
From the composer's full maturity comes his only work for chorus and orchestra, the 'Three Poems of Henri Michaux.' The score specifies that the two ensembles are only loosely coordinated, and each has its own conductor. The middle movement is a brilliant evocation of a crowd on the verge of riot. Finally there is 'Mi-Parti,' from 1976, a two-part single-movement work written for the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. As always in this series, the performances are completely competitive and offer much repertoire not available elsewhere--and all at a budget price.

Somewhat unusually, the fourth volume of the Naxos series of Lutoslawski orchestral recordings concentrates entirely on the music of his full maturity where the composer used brief passages of aleatoric counterpoint. As the composer stated many times, this is not improvisation: All the music is written out, but the precise coordination over a set duration is left to the moment. Thus each performance is, in its small details, literally unique. By the time of 'Livre pour orchestre,' written in 1968, Lutoslawski had begun to incorporate a certain amount of indeterminacy in all of his music.
The masterful Cello Concerto, written for Rostropovich in 1970, marked Lutoslawski's mature return to concertante writing. At the great cellist's request, only musical considerations were taken into account, hence the fearsome solo part. It is one of the composer's finest works, and is very well performed here. The 'Novelette' was also written for Rostropovich, this time as conductor, as a companion piece to the Cello Concerto in 1979. Finally, from Lutoslawski's last period comes 'Chain No.3,' the last of three works all employing a similar chain method of construction. All three works reflect the increasingly refined idiom of Lutoslawski's final decades.