Lutosławski Cello Concerto Nicolas Altstaedt, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dima Slobodeniouk

[@garyscheele5118]

In 1980, as a US student studying in Paris, I got to hear Mstislav Rostropovich play this piece. It is one of my concertgoing experiences I will never forget.

[@normanddorais]

Solid gold music by Lutoslawski and magnificently played by Nicolas Altstaedt.

[@domr3753]

Lutoslawski once said about his Cello Concerto that its about an individual vs the masses, the cello vs the orchestra as it gets quite chaotic and frenzied starting at 17:02 with continued attacks by the orchestra onto the cello, as the cello kind of laughs it off by playing quite calmly at 18:27 as if those attacks were nothing, then after continued attacks this eventually builds to the ultimate climax at 21:57 as the entire orchestra and horn section BLAST OUT one very loud single note for 10 long seconds hoping it would finally defeat the cello once and for all but they fail.

[@maxbezel]

I like that description. It's pretty much how I felt listening to it for the first time. To me there was also a comical element, how the lone cello held its own against all of those cacophonous voices and just determinedly carried on. I also appreciated that the flutes were, at times, somewhat in sympathy with the cello. The concert with Miklós Perényi on Cello, Simon Rattle conducting, esp seems to play on that theme as Miklós seems to embody the 'everyman' holding his own. But it's only available on the Berliner Phil paid app.

[@JoshuaWhittle]

Excellent performance of this Lutoslawski masterpiece

[@huguesreiner5107]

Genial musicien. Composition extraordinaire. Chef épatant. Orchestre engagé !!

[@tommartin8700]

Excellent. Good old Lutoslawski.

[@SergiuszWrotek8]

Late 60s, Lutosławski at his best in my opinion❤

[@Scriabin_fan]

It blows my mind how Lutosłwaski makes this entire masterpiece out of just one repeated note at the start.

[@SergiuszWrotek8]

Exactly;)

[@guimaravilhas]

Que maravilha de concerto! Esse cabra no violoncelo é descomunal! E a orquestra impecável! Muita emoção!

[@michaelrosa2015]

Remarkable about this work is the exploration of sonorities and how they are produced. Immediately the cello is playing an open D string ostinato if you will which is developed in the course of an elongated cadenza. Juxtaposition against trumpet fanfare of sorts plays to the contrasts between instruments introduces the orchestra. The contrasts of sound & dynamics is a theme throughout the work. I love works which push the limits of sound and the Lutoslawski is among my favorite concertos for that reason.

[@locksh]

Just astounding piece of music. What an outrageous musical discovery it is for me. Unbridled genius and I do not say that lately. Few are the pieces that leave you hooked from start to finish, most seem to exhaust the themes and main ideas fairly quickly, or not utilize them in a way that is ultimately gripping. This piece however, and I listened to it very closely many times, is just a rollercoaster ride from start to finish with no dull moments. Every part has its own beautiful nuances and the dissonance is just utterly beautiful. It sounds like an anxiety attack, at times like a psychotic break even, and to me this is one my favorite sonatas and one of the most original (big emphasis on original) pieces of classical music ever written. I also love how it's trademark Lutoslawski and not yet another experimental composer - he has his own mannerisms. The only other sonata that gripped me in the same way is Kodaly's Cello Sonata which, while not as experimental perhaps, just oozes unbelievable amounts of musicality in every turn. Eastern Europe produced some of the most utterly astounding composers of our modern times, it never ceases to amaze me. Lutoslawski, Kodaly, Bartok, Ligeti, Penderecki, and the list goes on...

[@paulfreeman4900]

This is now standard repertoire. Amazing.

[@romeoharold2183]

Instablaster

[@christopherhill2786]

incredible that there was hardly anyone in the audience!

[@benjamin9901]

First time I hears this piece, and I like it very much. Wonderful cello performance

[@AndrewRudin]

What a thrilling moment it is, at about 6:38, when the lamenting cello and the other strings become one in purpose, then to be violently opposed by the tutti orchestra and its objecting outcry. What a great piece... and a great human document. A totally thrilling performance!

[@honeymoonvera]

Oh my god Nicolas ... you're incredible... I luv you boy😍

[@dougo891]

Heard Slava play this with Polish Radio Symphony, Maksymiuk conducting about 1982 in Pasadena, CA Unforgettable moment.. This too, is another great performance✔✔✔✔

[@StashWyslouch]

How does this only have 3.6k views. Masterful and awesome quality! What a piece!!!!

[@Cellooboy]

Thank you for the reupload! The previous video in 3D was a nightmare

[@JoshuaWhittle]

The only complaint I have about this performance is that it wasn't long enough This was a singularly stunning performance, thanks so much Nicolas Altstaedt for uploading

[@황성곤공연예술학과]

I analyzed this piece for the entrance exam of my master's program.

[@michaelrosa2015]

What were conclusions from a form and analysis perspective?

[@황성곤공연예술학과]

@@michaelrosa2015 Basically you can classify many motivic materials and see how and where they were spread throughout the entire piece.

[@michaelrosa2015]

@@황성곤공연예술학과 What I find fascinating about this work is to consider how Lutoslowski heard it, that is, within his mind.

[@michaels.7562]

Preparing for the performance tonight of Sol Gabetta with Bamberg Symphony...

[@honeymoonvera]

The greatest💙

[@황성곤공연예술학과]

A masterpiece using aleatoric compositional technique!

[@yehoshuakopyrin2129]

It is actually like machine sounds or some mechanism.

[@КонстантинС-ц2ю]

Great performance!!! Very impressive! :)

[@marcelaolivareshintze6568]

Excelente! Musica llena de sonoridades juxtapuestas, superpuestas.....dee enorme riqueza. Fantástico cellista!

[@Antipaavi]

Thanks for uploading this. Great performance! I was all sweaty when the music ended.

[@domicdom2483]

I LOVE AT 17:01 and 17:33 the way all hell breaks loose and everything becomes very chaotic and frenzied like in real life sometimes, then the orchestra starts its frenzied attack towards the cello at 18:08. then the cello starts playing quite calmly at 18:27 as if saying to the orchestra you don't scare me, then the orchestra continues its attack at 18:33 and so on. Then at 21:55 THE ULTIMATE CLIMAX occurs where THE ENTIRE orchestra extends 1 VERY LOUD continuous note up to 22:08. I heard other versions extend that note even longer.

[@schneiderFFF]

The reason the note is extended in different versions is because in the full score is says "12-15" which means to be played 12 to 15 beats, if you didn't know

[@caiogracco9129]

Amazing.

[@Tony-md7dr]

This is like Shostakovich on steroids.

[@windowtrimmer8211]

The cello wins in the end. Great!

[@stevengelineau4273]

Magnificent

[@mdlg-nx6jp]

19:26 glass braking😂 seriously I really like this concerto ❤

[@locksh]

19:17 Holy hell. Just wow

[@slydec.1958]

Maryvonne Kendergi brought me here.

[@yowzephyr]

1:00 is a good place to start. ^

[@JoshuaWhittle]

This gets REALLY good at about 13:00

[@honeymoonvera]

😁🤭

[@JoshuaWhittle]

The cello he is playing is really old, you can tell just by looking at it I'd love to know who made it

[@alastairbissland8449]

Altstaedt plays a Giulio Cesare Gigli cello from Rome around 1760

[@scardanelli7295]

@@alastairbissland8449 It is Nicolas Lupot 1821. Nicolas Altstaedt played on the Gigli from 2013-2018.

[@schneiderFFF]

Damn 5:33

[@tadeuszvonmoltke9648]

ULTRA

[@veloavtor8853]

похож на Шнитке

[@jamesryan8395]

reminds me a lot of a musical mosquito

[@cellokid5104]

Not really a fan of the piece, still a nice rendition

[@horsthornung2424]

SORRY BUT I STILL PREFER "SWEETS FOR MY SWEET" BY THE SEARCHERS

[@judgedayan9934]

Not music, just jumbled noises. Sort like the chatter from a mental institution.

[@Iggy473]

hideous

[@skafanderwrocaw5118]

Because those times in Poland were hideous? Composition is sometimes more than the sum of sounds. Please consider that the piece involved the opposition, cello vs orchestra, individual person vs system (total). Lustosławski and Rostropovich worked behind the Iron Curtain, which had its implications. Please read an opinion of a music critic Oskar Łapeta: www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/images/Sezon_2022-2023/omowienia/20_01_23_Tristan_i_Izolda__www.pdf Google translation: "Witold Lutosławski's Cello Concerto was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Gulbekian Foundation, and the artist dedicated this composition to the outstanding cellist Mstislav Rostropowicz. This artist, valued for his phenomenal technique, told Lutosławski when writing the concerto: “Don't think about the cello. Cello - that's me. Write music." However, the result must have surprised him, as he found the concert difficult and demanding. Although Lutosławski was as far from illustrative and programmatic as possible in his work, the epic and dramatic nature of this work provoked numerous questions from Rostropowicz about the composer's intentions. When, in response, the cello suggested a conflict between the solo cello and the orchestral ensemble, the cellist immediately recognized it as a symbol of the individual's struggle against the oppressive communist regime. Rostropovich, then strongly defending the writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was repressed by the Soviet authorities, decided to treat this work as a political manifesto. The way of shaping the music helped him in this a narrative in which the thought spun by the solo instrument is interrupted in an extremely suggestive way by the sharp entrances of the orchestra"...

[@sennewam]

The greatest insult to music possible. Congratulations, Nihilism.

[@txikilin]

Hahahahaha. The painful world we live in.

[@D1scNStuff]

i like it

[@hetmanjz]

Quit grandstanding beyond your means already.

[@michaelrosa2015]

I think a most challenging aspect of this work is to frame it in terms of a narrative. I read a comment where the individual regarded it as symbolic of oppression of people's and that had not at all occurred to me. Honestly I have not a clue as to what the work represents. Perhaps that is it's mystery...

[@sennewam]

​@@michaelrosa2015 rape. I'm pretty sure it's rape.