W. Lutoslawski - Bucolics for Viola and Cello | Allegro Molto

W. Lutoslawski - Bucolics for Viola and Cello | Allegro Molto

Viola: Kaya Katarzyna Bryla
Cello: Peter Sanders
Recording and mixing: Peter Weitzner

For the complete performance, please visit:
   • CVCMF 2022 - Witold Lutoslawski Bucol...  

Recorded in concert live on August 20, 2022 at the Chandler Center Center for the Arts in Randolph, VT
www.cvcmf.org


Bucolics (1952) by Witold Lutoslawski (1913 - 1994)

War often evokes sudden changes of content as well as context in music. In the case of Witold Lutoslawski, the years during and just following the war contributed to cementing his identity as a serious composer. Lutoslawski’s Bucolics, originally composed as a solo piano piece in 1952, is a perfect illustration of both the non-conformist and nationally oriented aspects of Lutoslawski’s postwar canon.
In the case of the Bucolics, which employ traditional Polish folk materials, Lutoslawski drew upon his experience writing popular music during the German occupation. This necessity for composing in popular idioms was a direct result of a German mandate forbidding public gatherings. This destroyed the traditional notion of a concert in Poland during the war and made cafes Poland’s principal musical venue. Here Lutoslawski began arranging popular Polish songs as well as composing original resistance songs, both of which relied heavily on Polish folk material.

As a result of the Soviet occupation of Poland, after the war Polish composers were forced to follow the same strict rules that were established by the NASM in Soviet Russia. These principals were all steps toward “socialist-realism” in which music’s only goal was to reflect the plight of the people. It was therefore only appropriate to write music that reflected factory work and that employed march-like rhythms. The Soviet authorities viewed adapting folk melodies as the only source of musical inspiration with any validity. Despite the folk origins of the Bucolics (literally defined as “characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic”), Lutoslawski was very much against the idea of “socialist-realism.” He was instead interested in the more progressive class of Polish composers who used heavy chromaticism and non-standard notation to express their musical ideas. However, the Bucolics do not follow these principals, and in some ways show Lutoslawski writing music that is in league with the Soviet system that he very much despised. Despite this similarity, the motivations are clearly opposed to the socialist ideal.
The Bucolics are a celebration of rural life and not a glorification of conformist thinking. Lutoslawski in his postwar years often used enough folk material to appease the Soviet censors, but exhibited enough individuality to be personally satisfied.

In 1963, Lutoslawski arranged the original piano version of the Bucolics into a viola and cello duo. Despite not being premiered until 1973 by Stefan Kamasa and Andrzej Orkisz, this piece has found a special place in chamber music repertoire. In six short movements, Lutoslawski illustrates every aspect and emotion one can associate with rural life. In a time when the true identity of Poland was veiled in postwar politics,
Lutoslawski managed to create something that celebrates the beauty of Poland, as well as the broad range of genuine and diverse art that would populate the latter half of the 20th century."
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James Praznik

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