complete recital program - George Mason University School of Music

Ich will nicht, hab’ genug! I don’t want to; I have enough!
Wer mir beim Trinken nicht pariert, Anyone who doesn’t keep drinking
with me
Sich zieret wie ein Tropf, And refuses like a ninny,
Dem werfe ich ganz ungeniert, I throw, quite unashamedly,
Die Flasche an den Kopf. The bottle at his head.
Und fragen Sie, ich bitte, And would you ask me please,
Warum ich das denn tu’? Why I do that?
‘S ist mal bei mir so Sitte, It’s simply my custom:
Chacun à son goût! Each to his own taste!
Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)
Variations on a theme of Paganini
Wariacje na temat Paganiniego (1941)
Witold Lutoslawski was a polish composer, pianist, and conductor. He
began to study the piano at the age of six and studied theory and composition
with Maliszewski at Warsaw Conservatory and in Hamburg. As
many other musicians, his career as a composer was interrupted with the
outbreak of World War II. During the German occupation of Poland,
the Germans had banned public concerts so that he worked as pianist in
Warsaw cafés with another composer, Andrezj Panufnik. The duo made
over two hundred arrangements, from Bach to Debussy and Ravel. Unfortunately,
the only composition of his to have survived from this period
is the Variations on a Theme of Paganini for two pianos (1941). 1
In this piece, Lutoslawski follows the scheme of Paganini’s wellknown
Caprice, but added a harmonic dimension to it. He recalled: “As
a basis I took Paganini’s 24 th Caprice for solo violin and my Variations
closely follow his model. In each Variation I translate the violin line for
the keyboard. Polyharmony often occurs between the two keyboards but
tonality remains a clear force with frequent traditional dominant-tonic
cadences.” In 1977, he revised these variations as a Concerto for Piano
and Orchestra, asked by the pianist, Felicja Blumental, who gave the first
performance two years later, with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. 2
1 “Lutoslawski, Witold,” The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev., edited by Michael
Kennedy. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.mutex.gmu.edu/
subscriber/article/opr/t237/e6318 (accessed April 10, 2011).
2 “Lutoslawski – Variaion on a Theme of Paganini for Two Pianos,” edited by Felix Aprahamian,
Chester Music Online,
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