  Lutosławski, Szymanowski, A.Tchaikovsky , Cto. for Orchestra, Sy.#3, Sy.#4 M.Jansons / BRSO Rafał Bartmiński (tenor), Andreas Röhn (violin), Nimrod Guez (viola) BR Klassik     |
Lutosławski Touchstone
Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra is of a rare, invigorating quality: here pounding, there lyrical, then flitting like reveling grasshoppers. Success depends on painstaking precision, fitting each layer of different shades and timbres atop the next. Extreme virtuosity and difficulties stand in the service of the music and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons is suited to this challenge like few orchestras; the resulting live recordings is one of the finest of the Concerto yet. Szymanowski’s Third Symphony is a coupling on equal footing. Amid wordless chorus and ecstatic climaxes, the BRSO sounds at home and uncommonly full-bodied. Alexander (!) Tchaikovsky—not related—is a contemporary Jansons favorite; his post-Mahlerian Fourth Symphony for Viola and Chorus makes clear why.