Now we know that Lutoslawski's Fourth Symphony was his last composition, it's easy to hear its serenely autumnal opening as a valediction. More than that, however, it seems to embody the final, fully achieved stage in Lutoslawski's reinterpretation of Polish music's romantic past, from Chopin to Szymanowski—a process of reinterpretation that created certain problems in the Third Symphony and Piano Concerto, but which in the Fourth Symphony lies at the heart of a satisfying new synthesis.
This work is not as rhythmically flamboyant as many of Lutoslawski's earlier successes, but there is a firmly-sculpted structure and the symphonic argument is energetically sustained. The harmony still has an abrasive edge yet, as the build-up to the main climax reveals, Lutoslawski's capacity for generating personal and eloquent melodic spans is fresher and more persuasive than ever. The vehement final stages, rather reminiscent of the end of the Third Symphony, may be an under-motivated addition, but that's a minor quibble which is unlikely to diminish one's enjoyment and admiration of the symphony as a whole.
This first recording conveys the spirit of a subtle and brilliantly crafted score, even though, by definition, Salonen's reading is not the fruit of long acquaintance. The recording may not bring the orchestra far enough forward for some tastes, but it has spacious clarity as well as spatial depth. In an ideal world, Sony Classical might have asked Salonen and his team to make a new recording of the Third Symphony. This one would not be a first recommendation on its own—that prize now goes to Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—but it remains acceptable in this context, along with the atmospheric account of one of Lutoslawski's finest vocal works, Les espaces du sommeil. '