Witold Lutosławski's autograph, courtesy of www.lutosławski.org.pl
The Düsseldorfer Symphoniker performs Witold Lutosławski’s Concert for Orchestra from the 11th to the 14th of January, along with the world premiere of Krzysztof Meyer’s Chansons d'un rêveur solitaire and two compositions from Ravel. The ensemble is conducted by Andrzej Boreyko, with Claudia Barainsky singing the solo soprano parts. More of Lutosławski's music is played on the 12th of January, including the Two Piano Etudes and Paganini Variations, performed by the German-based Ensemble Différance. The concert on Saturday the 12th is preceded by a meeting with Krzysztof Meyer and Danuta Gwiazdalanka, about their two-volume monograph on Lutosławski, entitled Droga do dojrzałości / The Way to Maturity and Droga do mistrzostwa / The Way to Mastership, which will be published in Germany in 2013.
Krzysztof Meyer was born in Kraków in 1943. He took up the piano at the age of 5, and started composition studies in 1954, when he was 11, under the guidance of Stanisław Wiechowicz. Following Wiechowicz's death, Meyer completed his diploma in 1965, under Krzysztof Penderecki, and undertook courses abroad, most notably with Nadia Boulanger (1964, 1966, and 1968) in Paris. In Warsaw he became a private pupil of Witold Lutosławski.
Meyer's Symphony No. 1, his first publically performed work, premiered in Kraków in 1964 when the composer was 21. He made his debut at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1965 while still a student, as the youngest composer in the festival’s history.
In early compositions such as String Quartets Nos. 1–4 and Symphonies Nos. 1–3, Meyer experimented with unconventional sounds typical of Polish avant-garde music in the 1960s. He used the twelve-tone technique, albeit freely, as well as aleatoric technique and collage. These means of expression appear in his first opera, Cyberiada, with a libretto based on the Stanisław Lem novel The Cyberiad.
Meyer's later work reflects his interest in tradition, with titles such as "string quartet", "sonata", "concerto", and "symphony" indicating this aesthetic trait.
Andrey Boreyko is a prominent conductor of Polish-Russian heritage. Born in St. Petersburg, he received his musical education at his hometown conservatory where he graduated in conducting and composition with Elisaveta Kudriavzeva and Alexander Dmitriev. He moved to Poland in 1991, working as artistic director at Poznań’s Philharmonic. Throughout his career, Boreyko has traveled and worked internationally as a conductor and music director, cooperating with numerous orchestras in Ulyanovsk and Yekaterynburg in Russia, Vancouver and Winnipeg in Canada, and cooperating with the Jenaer Philharmoniker and the Hamburger Philharmoniker in Germany and the Berner Symphonieorchester in Switzerland. He was First Guest Conductor of the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart of the SWR from 2004 to 2012, and chief conductor of the Berner Symphonieorchester and the Jenaer Philharmonie, which appointed him Honorary Conductor. He is currently music director and conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and a musical director of the Orchestre National de Belgique. He has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and with top Polish ensembles.
In his work, Boreyko concentrates on popularising Russian and Polish music from the first half of the 20th century. Yarlung Records published a CD in 2011 with Boreyko conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonics and Martin Chalifour as violin soloist in the concerto Chain 2 by Lutosławski.
See more information on the Lutosławski Year 2013 official website
Event details:
Friday, 11th of January 2013, 8 pm
Sunday, 13th of January 2013, 11 am
Monday, 14th of January 2013, 8 pm
The Düsseldorfer Symphoniker is conducted by Andrey Boreyko, with Claudia Barainsky, soprano:
Maurice Ravel, Le tombeau de Couperin
Krzysztof Meyer, Chansons d'un rêveur solitaire
Chansons d’automne • Les Coquillages •
Les soleils couchants • Marine • Sérénade
Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte
Witold Lutosławski, Koncert na Orkiestrę (Concert for Orchestra)
Intrada • Capriccio notturno e Arioso•
Passacaglia, Toccata e Corale
Saturday, 12th of January 2013, 8 pm
Ensemble Différance performs:
Witold Lutosławski, Dwie Etiudy na Fortepian (Two Piano Etudes)
Frank Zabel, Concertino for Two Pianos and Percussion
Stefan Thomas, Neues Werk für Klavier, Schlagzeug und Elektronik
Witold Lutosławski, Wariacje na temat Paganiniego (Paganini Variations)
Béla Bartók, Sonate für zwei Klaviere und Schlagzeug (Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion)
Editor: SRS
Source: Polish Institute in Dusseldorf, www.lutosławski.org.pl, press release