Witold Lutosawski Studies 3 (2009)

Jadwiga Paja-Stach

Witold Lutosawskis art of

orchestration. Instrumentation
devices as the key ideas
and tone-colour details

Despite having been discussed in books about the composer and in analytical
articles on his selected compositions, the problem of orchestration in Lutosawskis
music is usually handled with secondary importance. The possible root of this
neglect on the part of scholars might be the apparent lack of the composers inventiveness in this area as compared with his achievements in harmony and time
organization. Moreover, he didnt subscribe to the 20th century trend of preparing
instruments or using them in unorthodox ways. However, the way Lutosawski orchestrated his works shows a compelling choice of instrumentation devices, the distinctive forms of instrument employment that characterise his compositional style.
Lutosawski used to call the traditional musical instruments a collection of
old-timers.  Those old-timers, as he dubbed them, became the means of emphasizing the systemic pitch organization, highlighting the formal features in the
model he conceived, as well as decorating the piece with instrumentation devices
to his liking.
The composers musical path to his unique style of orchestration originated
from neoclassical patterns. They can be traced in Symphonic Variations, Sym One of the exceptions is an article by Adam Walaciski, Les Sons Tisses o poetyce
orkiestracyjnej Witolda Lutosawskiego (Les Sons Tisses, On the Orchestration Poetics of
Witold Lutosawski), in: Jadwiga Paja-Stach (ed.), Witold Lutosawski i jego wkad do kultury
muzycznej XX wieku (Witold Lutosawski and His Contribution to the Musical Culture of the 20th
Century), Krakw: Musica Iagellonica, 2005, pp. 7580.

Lutosawskis words in: Tadeusza Kaczyski, Rozmowy z Witoldem Lutosawskim (Con
versations with Witold Lutosawski), Wrocaw: TAU, 1983, p. 154.

Compare features of neoclassical orchestration with Zofia Helman, Neoklasycyzm
wmuzyce polskiej XX wieku (Neoclassicism in the Polish Music of 20th of Century), Krakw: PWM,
1985, pp. 13145.


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phony no. 1 and Concerto for Orchestra. In addition, it should be noted that next
to the traditional use of instruments through, for instance, colouring the same
motif or a phrase and introducing it to various instrumental parts or stressing
the contrast between themes by assigning them to specific groups of instruments,
there appear heralds of instrumentation devices that would become fixed elements of the mature musical language of Witold Lutosawski; nonetheless, even
then they would be more in line with traditional solutions than with the 20th
century avant-garde. The composer would occasionally supplement their delicate
sound structures, made of juxtaposed timbres of woodwind and harp, piano, celesta and strings in high registers (the mixture of instrumental tone-colour much
favoured by the composer and used, for instance, in the Symphony no. 1, the first
movement, no. 1317; and in Symphonic Variations, before and after no. 130),
with points of timbre produced by other instruments, for example, by percussion
(the First Symphony, finale of part 3, from no. 99; Symphonic Variations, no. 170).
Similar timbre interrelation comes with the new pitch organization of the composers mature and late oeuvre.
The aim of this paper is not to compile the instrumentation devices previously
commented on or to be commented on in musicological writing. It is rather an
attempt at presenting a typology of the combinations of instruments employed by
Lutosawski and pinpointing their role in shaping the dramatic aspects of a piece,
as well as underlining the interdependence between instrument timbre and pitch
organisation.
While elaborating on selected features of orchestration used by Lutosawski
in his compositions (after 1960), I want to refer to my analytical concept, applied
for the first time in my PhD thesis in 1982 and next in the book Lutosawski
ijego styl muzyczny [Lutosawski and His Musical Style]. The concept reflects
the manner in which I view Lutosawskis works as system objects. According to
this idea based on the general systems theory, Lutosawskis work is a hierarchical
system of interlinked elements, an entity comprising interdependent parts, asystem object. I examined all the relations between the elements belonging to the
system (pitches, pitch aggregations, strings of aggregations, segments and parts
and phases) from the perspective of pitch organisation, thus, I approached them
as an abstract model. I disregarded other tone features (timbre or time) which
were aimed at emphasising the coherence of a piece, resulting from the relation
between defined pitches. According to the systems theory, a system is always perceived together with its environment a set of objects on which a given element
depends and/ or on which it acts. As I transferred the notion of environment
Jadwiga Paja-Stach, Lutosawski i jego styl muzyczny (Lutosawski and His Musical Style),
Krakw: Musica Iagellonica, 1997.

Ibid: p. 62; transl. AG.

Ibid: p. 81.


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to the vein of discussion about Lutosawskis oeuvre, my goal was to refer to the
whole real sphere of sound of the compositions, including timbre; only the pitch
was excluded.
Admittedly, the question of timbres and their link to the systemic pitch organisation has been remarked upon in my book. Nonetheless, I believe it should
be developed in view of the fact that not only does orchestration considerably
impact on the clarity of compositional construction regarded as a system, but also
accounts for the unusual attractiveness of a piece, and takes an important part in
creating the musical expression and the beauty of sound that results, among others,
from polishing musical details.
If we return for a moment to the way of thinking according to systems theory,
instrumentation can be perceived as a more or less immediate environment of
asystem. The more immediate environment is referred to when instrumentation
is closely related to the systemic pitch organisation of a piece, for example when
a given pitch aggregation is always placed within parts of specific instruments.
The less immediate system environment is associated with the situations when
there is no direct link between a type of pitch aggregation and timbre, and given
instruments have been introduced to achieve the effect of extended scope of tonecolours of a piece, to focus the audience on the timbre nuances, on a type of note
register, or on a detail of timbre.
If treated as a more immediate environment of a system, orchestration reveals
itself, for instance, in those sections of Lutosawskis symphonic pieces in which
analogous aggregates of pitches are arranged in a similar way. It can be substantiated, to name but a few fragments of Lutosawskis compositions, by the refrains
of Symphony no. 2 and the so-called brass interventions of the Cello Concerto.
Another indication of how the orchestration works as immediate environment is
creating the climax through linking twelve-note chords with orchestral tutti (e.g.
in Symphony no. 2). In the examples given it is evident that orchestration contributes to the structure of the whole composition and plays a vital role in stressing the
contrast between separate elements of form (e.g. between refrains and episodes)
and in shaping the musical dramaturgy.
Discussed below are the main types of instrumentation devices used by
Lutosawski that distinguish pitch structures (pitch aggregations, strings of aggregations) coming in succession, simultaneously, or in the chain-like form.
Types of orchestration of pitch aggregations coming in
succession
The first type consists in linking a specific pitch organisation, for instance
a twelve-note aggregation, with an identical or similar way of instrumentation.


Ibid: pp. 812, 130.

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It refers to orchestrating the refrains, the elements of the first movement in the
two-movement model devised by Lutosawski. The device serves the purpose of
colouring refrains in order to emphasize the contrast between the neighbouring episodes that contain divergent pitch aggregations and different instruments.
The refrains are set to be performed by small groups of instruments in contrast
to the usually much wealthier arrangement of episodes. The practice can be well
illustrated by the aforementioned Cello Concerto, which contains brass refrains
(referred to by Lutosawski as interventions) that distort musical development
in the parts of other instruments. It is as early as at the introductory solo of the
cello that a sharp ff interruption of trumpets arrives. The following interventions
in trumpets bring sharp sonorities, which intensify the impression of contrast. In
turn, the euphonious episodes, interrupted with refrains played by brass, display
the composers favourite combinations of woodwind, harp and piano, as well as tubular bells, vibraphone, and celesta. There are also decorative elements that shape
the episodes. They take the form of percussion sonorities with undefined pitch. In
the following example such sonorities, meaningful in respect of time organisation,
are produced by bass drum and cymbals (Ex. 1).
A succession of contrasting timbre sections comes in the first movement of
Symphony no. 2.10 Seven episodes of various instrument arrangements have been
punctuated with refrains based on interval pairings 4+6, performed by similar
groups of reeds which do not feature in episodes (apart from the finale of the first
movement): refrain 1 and 2 two oboes and cor anglais, 3 two bassoons and cor
anglais, 4 and 5 oboe, cor anglais and bassoon, 6 two oboes and cor anglais;
whereas the episodes are rendered by the timbre of brass (ep.1, interrupted with
clustered sonority played by string instruments), three flutes, five tom-toms and
celesta (ep.2), muted horns, two different side-drums, bass drums and harp (ep.3),
three clarinets, vibraphone and piano (ep.4), two suspended cymbals, tam-tam,
celesta, harp and piano (ep.5), three flutes, three clarinets, three horns, five tomtoms, celesta, harp and piano (ep.6), and the longest, seventh episode, comprising several instrumental variations, including two independent percussion strands,
spreads over the end of the first movement (before no. 44 and after no. 46).
Let it be remembered that the model, described many times in writing on musicology,
comprises phase 1 (introduction) that consists of episodes separated with refrains as well as
phase 2 that leads to the climax and its unravelling.

See description in, for example, Charles B. Rae, The Music of Lutosawski, London: Faber and Faber, 1994, p. 120; or Danuta Gwizdalanka, Krzysztof Meyer, Lutosawski. Droga do
Mistrzostwa (Lutosawski. The Way to Mastery), Krakw: PWM, 2004, pp. 1378.
10
A detailed description of the link between pitch organisation and orchestration in
Symphony No. 2 is to be found in the article by John Casken, Transition and transformation
in the music of Lutosawski, Contact 12 (1975), pp. 312; and in Charles B. Rae, The Music of
Lutosawski, London: Faber and Faber, 1994, pp. 1029.


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Ex. 1 Cello Concerto, a refrain-intervention of trumpets and the neighbouring episodes.

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The instrumental arrangement represented by the Cello Concerto and Symphony no. 2 underlines different approaches to pitch organisation. When considered from the perspective of systems theory the role of instrumentation may be
referred to as the immediate environment of the system. It is only the participation
of percussion instruments of indefinite pitch that can be described as the less direct environment used for either decorating the system elements or impeding the
flow of musical action (in the case of independent soundings of percussion).
The second device to be set forth here is the use of altering instrumental tonecolours as a means of modification of the same or similar note organisation, thus
bringing a new timbre to identical or equivalent pitch aggregations. Timbre modifications of this type are showcased by three Intermdes from Livre pour Orchestre that separate Chapitres, vast episodes of the piece. The Intermdes presented
below (Ex. 2) display interval-pitch analogies, differences and similarities in orchestration and gradual loosening of the timbre relationship between them: the
first Intermde is scored for three clarinets, the second for two clarinets and harp,
and the third for harp, piano and tubular bells.

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Ex. 2. Livre pour Orchestre, 3 Intermdes, no. 110, no. 216 and no. 401402.

The important role orchestration plays in emphasising the instrumental tonecolour differences of equivalent timbre sections can also be traced in the chaconne
of the Piano Concerto. Its theme has been based on interval pairing 1+6 and
arhythmic pattern gradually taken over by various sets of instruments (in 17 statements)11, which emphasises the structure of this movement.
Types of orchestration of pitch aggregations that come simultaneously, or in the chain form; splitting the texture.
The orchestration devices I present below pertain to the procedure of splitting
instrumental texture into several layers of distinct timbre (two, three, and four layers) and matching each of them with specific instrumental tone-colour and pitch
organisation or a string of such organisations.
Examples of splitting a twelve-note chord or another chord into smaller
parts scored for particular instruments can be found in all the orchestral pieces Lutosawski composed after 1960. They contain sound-constructions of two,
three, or four layers: heterophonic, vertical and horizontal. Many a time, those
11
See the table of metamorphoses in timbre as affected by scoring, articulation, and
theme transpositions in Alicja Jarzbska, Witold Lutosawski a postmodernism (Witold
Lutosawski versus Postmodernism), in: Witold Lutosawski i jego wkad do kultury muzycznej
XX wieku, ibid., pp.534.

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planes do not start and do not finish simultaneously, but overlap and thus create
chain-like relations.
An orchestration device that distinguishes both succession and simultaneity
of sound planes becomes a crucial means of highlighting the chain technique that
consists in connecting compositional segments in a specific way. The overlapping
pitch aggregations (chain links) are characterised by separate timbres (the end of
one note structure co-occurs with the next one that brings distinctive instrumental
tone-colour).
Linking musical thoughts in a chain-like fashion, which had appeared in
Lutosawskis oeuvre as early as in the Concerto for Orchestra, became a frequently applied strategy of the mature and late period of the composers work.
Nevertheless, it was only in the case of three compositions Chain 1, Chain 2, and
Chain 3 that this compositional solution was indicated in the title.
The two-layer texture
Illustrated below is Chain 3 (from no. 4) in which the heterophonic layers have
been contrasted with respect to pitch organisation, time and timbre: one plane is
scored for three clarinets, whereas the other is for four cellos (Ex. 3).

Ex. 3. Chain 3: the chain-like link between heterophonic sound layers (no. 4); the two-layer
texture shaped from the leading plane of melody and the chord-based background (often in
strings).

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In the section taken from Interlude, as quoted below (Ex. 4), in the background
of the layer formed by strings, sound the motifs of piccolo and xylophone. Strings
are assigned with a sequence of eight-note chords and form a backdrop for melodic figures engaging the remaining notes of the twelve-note chord performed by
pairs of instruments.

Ex. 4. Interlude: a two-layer texture that involves melody and chords; splitting the texture
into three diverse dimensions of rhythm, pitch organisation and timbre.

The three-layer texture

The three-plane orchestration structure takes various forms, be it one that
underscores the so-called local harmony, that is the ingredients of a twelve-note
chord that sound in distant registers, or one that develops three melody planes.
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In Paroles Tisses, in the part shown in Example 5, the sound structure focuses
on the local harmonies the parts of harp and the opposing violins and violas that
become the note source for the tenor solo. The local harmonies give the impression
of a wide musical space.

Ex. 5. Paroles Tisses: three dimensions of timbre.

A similar method of emphasising local harmonies with instrumental setting

can be seen in Les Espaces du Sommeil (in the middle movement, Adagio, built on
three components: harmony created in strings, generated by a twelve-note row and
interval pairing 2+3; baritone line, which downloads its notes from the harmony
of strings; and instrumental tone-colour rendered by diverse trios wind instruments enriched by glockenspiel, or piano, or celesta or harp).12 The phenomenon of
local harmonies arises between the layer of strings and the layers of other instruments.
The vital role of instrumentation in highlighting the three-layer pitch organisation of a piece is also perceivable in polyphonic systems. An exceptionally preciselyshaped structure of this kind appears in Symphony no. 4, in the part covered
by numbers 6473. 13
Compare with the description in: Charles B. Rae, Lutosawskis Sound World:
AWorld of Contrasts, in: Zbiegniew Skowron (ed.) Lutosawski Studies, New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001, pp. 2833.
13
Compare with Alicja Jarzebska Problem ksztatowania continuum formy w IV Symfonii Lutosawskiego (The Question of Shaping the Form Continuum in Lutosawskis Symphony no. 4), Muzyka 40/12, 1995, pp. 13554.
12

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The four-layer texture

The four-layer organisation, comprising planes of polyphonic structures, is less
frequent than the two- and three-layer textures, exemplified by Symphony no. 3.
The initial part of the piece contains three heterophonic layers scored for different
sets of wind instruments (piccolo 1, three oboes 2, four horns 3) as well as for
strings centred upon E3 in octaves that stand for the harmonic dimension (Ex.6).

Ex. 6. Symphony no. 3: a four-layer texture.

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Decorating with the use of timbres

Lutosawskis works display the aforementioned device of enriching, or adding colour to strictly ordered layers of pitch organisation with a structure of purely
tone-colour nature, of unspecified pitch or with a timbre detail of specified pitch
that represents a kind of value added to the main layout of timbre. Those are the
timbre added values that decide about the great beauty of musical moments (very
short structures) of a piece.
The phenomenon of decorating a horizontal plane with a layer of tone-colour
set for percussion has already been presented with the Cello Concerto, after no. 47,
where the cello is accompanied by the bass drum and small cymbals (Ex. 1).
An example of timbre detail of specified pitch will be shown in parts of Symphony no. 3 (Ex. 7 no. 4142) and Chain 1 (Ex. 8). In the part of Symphony no. 3
presented below, the added value of timbre is formed by individual notes: B2 in the
cello and B4 in the marimba, which enrich the first and the last notes of the piano
phrase and the first note in the melody of the clarinet (Ex. 7).
In Chain 1, in turn, the so-called timbre points are scored for marimba, whose
part covers notes incorporated from the layer that belongs to the bassoon, viola
and cello. However, the marimba emphasises only two pitches. (Ex. 8)
As has been proven in the previously mentioned examples, orchestration devices play a double role in Lutosawskis music: first, they become details extending the colour range; second, they take the form of the key idea or an intrinsic
ingredient of a piece, if linked to a characteristic pitch organisation and meant to
distinguish an element of the system.
Let me relate here the definition of the key idea used by Lutosawski: What
are the key ideas and key thoughts? It may be easy to explain them if we refer to
the music of, for instance, the 19th century, as those were, simply, melodic themes
[...]; whereas the key idea of today is a set of notes interlinked with each other
more than with any other context in which they appear [...]. It has to be endowed
with an attractive force independent of the context [...] it has to exist on its own,
not as it is placed before or after something. 14 Such phrasing suggests that the
key idea would be equal in rank with a theme that is a structure containing notes
crucial to a piece of music. Lutosawskis compositional drafts let us resolve that
those were not only linear structures but also chords, rhythmic patterns and types
of texture that he noted down as key ideas.15
Lutosawksis words in Krystyna Tarnawska-Kaczorowska (ed.), Witold Lutosawski.
Prezentacje, konfrontacje, interpretacje (Witold Lutosawski. Presentations, Confrontations, Inter
pretations), Warszawa: ZKP, 1985, p. 185; transl. AG.
15
Martina Homma, Vogelsperspektive und Schlsselideen. ber eininge Aspekte der
Kompositionstechnik Lutosawskis anhand kompositiorischer Skizzen (Birds-eye view and
key ideas: On aspects of Lutosawskis compositional technique as seen in the sketches), in:
Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Rainer Riehm (eds), Musik-Konzepte 7173, Mnchen, 1991, pp. 34, 35.
14

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Ex. 7. Symphony no. 3: timbre details in cello and marimba.

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Ex. 8. Chain 1: timbre details in the marimba part.

Speaking of the key idea in the context of orchestration I do not refer to the
composers drafts and notes, but rather to the general notion of a key idea. I understand the phenomenon as a vital construction element of a work that reappears
in the course of action. In Lutosawskis pieces the key idea pertaining to orchestration usually recurs in its variants, and its aim is to emphasise the main elements
of the composition.
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To conclude, I would like to comment on a few other aspects of Lutosawskis

style of orchestration. Next to pinpointing the vital role of instrumentation in
distinguishing entities that create the form of a piece and in making the co-occurring timbre planes more flexible, it is worth noting several orchestration devices
of unusual charm, regardless of their relation to form or pitch organisation. They
reappear in numerous pieces and make Lutosawskis style easily recognisable in
auditory perception.
The unusual angle of the style in question has been determined by harmonies
scored for string instruments, to name but a few. They make up static layers, e.g. in
Symphony no. 3 (Ex. 6), or languidly floating planes , as in Interlude for orchestra
(Ex. 4). To this group belong the variants of instrument sets much favoured by the
composer, including harp, piano, and tuned percussion: xylophone (xil), glockenspiel (cmplli), tubular bells (cmpne), marimba (mar), vibraphone (vibr) and celesta
(cel). The frequency of employing the timbre produced by this group present in
many compositions by Lustosawski will be demonstrated by Symphony no. 3.
The following timbre combinations have been employed in the composition: ar+pf
(no. 1, 2, 1014, 9394), xil+cel (no. 8), xil+cel+pf (no. 9), cmplli+vibr+cel+ar (no.
10), mar+vibr (no. 25), xil+mar+vibr+ar+pf (no. 26), xil+mar+cmplli+pf (no. 3738),
xil+mar+cmplli+cel+ar+pf (no. 39), cel+ar+pf (no. 40), mar+pf (no. 41), xil+mar
(no. 42, 70/71), xil+cmpne+pf (no. 42), xil+pf (no. 43, 72), mar+cmpne (no. 61), xi
l+mar+cmplli+vibr+cmpne+pf (no. 62), xil+cmplli+pf (no. 63), xil+mar+cmpne+pf
(before no. 73), cmpne+cel+pf (no. 76), xil+mar+cmlli+cmpne+pf (no. 77), mar+ar
(no. 84), cmpne+ar (no. 87); cel+ar (no. 91); cmplli+vibr+cmpne+ar+pf (no. 95
96), vibr+cmpne+ar+pf (no. 97), xil+mar+cmplli+vibr+cmpne+ar+pf (no. 99),
xil+mar+cmplli+vibr+pf (no. 100101). The variety of instrumental combinations
is one of the sources of the richness of timbre in this composition.
In addition, Lutosawski ascribed a decisive role in his works to percussion instruments of unspecified pitch. Apart from the above mentioned decorative role,
they perform the important function of shaping the musical plot, especially with
the characteristic interventions that separate its flow. They make a colourful episode for the whole music narration (e.g. in the first chapter of Livre pour Orchestre
before no. 107), or an unexpected accent of a climax, e.g. in part one of the Double
Concerto (no. 24), and they frequently attract the audiences attention with a carefully ordered rhythmic pattern, e.g. in Jeux Venitiens, part 4, bar 101131 (Ex. 9).
To signal the meaning of percussion instruments in Lutosawskis oeuvre
one cannot overlook the decisive role of this section in Le Grand Combat of Trois
Pomes dHenri Michaux because it arouses deep emotions for the listener and adds
to the plot of the poem.
Incidentally, it should be mentioned that the characteristic timbre present in
the music of Lutosawski stems not only from the choice of instruments but also
from the use of articulation and dynamic devices. One of the most commonly distributed is glissando in strings, often played ppp p, as in the introductory episodes
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Ex. 9. Jeux Venitiens, part 4, bar 101131: structured rhythmic timbres

in the percussion section.

of Mi-parti (up to no. 15) and at the end of Dolente in the Double Concerto (no.
48 and 49), in which the twelve-note chords are linked through string glissandi.
The orchestration in Lutosawskis compositions displays the composers inventiveness when using traditional instruments. At the same time, it enchants the
audience with its beauty. The majority of Lutosawskis orchestration ideas are
directly linked to the pitch organisation of a piece and underscore its systemic
aspects. All in all, the instrumental tone-colour solutions, both in the form of
key ideas and those of a decorative nature, are memorable and can be considered
attractive music phenomena, regardless of the underlying logic behind the note
arrangement.
transl. Agnieszka Gaj and Alexander Pettett