Maria Szymanowska Book

Steven Stucky's LUTOSLAWSKI AND HIS MUSIC, published in 1981, is a biography of the great Polish composer and an analysis of his work up to "Mi-Parti" of 1976. It covers briefly the earliest works, divided in the juvenille period up to 1948, the years under Stalinism of 1949-1955, and the years of transition of 1955-1960. The writer's main interest, however, is the music of Lutoslawski's "maturity", from "Jeux venitiens" of 1960 to "Mi-Parti".

Nearly a hundred pages are dedicated specifically to these later works. In a chapter "Elements of the late works", Stucky tries to explain some general characteristics of these pieces, and then he explores a number of pieces individually. These are "Jeux venitiens", "Trois poems d'Henri Michaux", the String Quartet, "Paroles tissees", the Symphony No. 2, "Livre pour orchestre", the Cello Concerto, Preludes and Fugue, "Les espaces du sommeil", and "Mi-Parti". Stucky's work is a detail musicological investigation of Lutoslawski's oeuvre, with numerous illustrations taken from the scores, but it can be a useful resource for all fans of the composer's work, even if they have no formal musical training. One will understand the String Quartet much better after seeing a breakdown of its sections here.

The downside of the work is that it was written before the composer's Symphony No. 3 appeared in 1983. The piece not only came to be widely regarded as his masterpiece, but inaugrated a new style in a highly accessible neo-romantic vein that was to continue until his death in 1994. The material here is very helpful to any fan of the composer, but it is a pity that no second edition was ever issued.