Chris Mullins:

>At any rate, as a speaker he is informed but dull.  His contention
>last night is that Lutoslawski is already part of the standards rep.

In Europe, maybe.  Possibly in New York, SF, Cleveland, Boston, and
Chicago.

>He mentioned numbers of recordings of certain pieces (how many are NLA?)

I don't know of any that have gone out of print.  In fact, some of them
are being repackaged and sold again.

>He then extolled how the music doesn't do any of those nasty things
>like "compromise to audience taste" - and then a moment later he inissted
>that the music is full of melodic lyricism!!  Well, what the heck does
>he think most audiences want to hear?  Unmelodic anti-lyricism?!

Don't you hate that?  It's someone who uses music to keep others out and
to give himself a place in the sun.  On the other hand, I find Lutoslawski
lyrical, but not melodic, if that makes any sense.  That is, I find
myself moved in a way that, say, the music of Vaughan Williams moves me,
but unlike that work, I don't catch myself humming (or even remembering)
the tunes.

>I'll never forget his talk before a program that included Rach's Third.
>He spoke of us he had long dismiised the piece, but now he had respect
>for it (which means what, I wonder?).

It means he heard that Mahler liked it.

>He also admitted that he is completely unable to write a tune. And then
>he broke down the opening melody of the concerto to show how it was built
>up in phrases, contrasted low and high sections, etc.  - a completely
>superfluous autopsy.  What cannot be analyzed doesn't exist for certain
>music-lovers - and that is so sad to me.

I wouldn't say that.  It's that analysis can sometimes give you insight
into the creative process.  Isn't that worth the trouble?

>But I ask you - if there is a narrative to this piece, how
>modern/contemporary is it?  Isn't narrative supposed to be a
>middle-class narcotic, a contemporary no-no?

Salonen told of the feelings that the music roused in him.  Whether
Lutoslawski had those same feelings is another question.  If the composer
doesn't provide a prose narrative or some verbal clue, you'll never know
what the narrative is or even if there is a narrative at all.  Narrative
isn't necessarily a no-no. Shostakovich certainly used programs.  Oliver
Knussen, a very well-respected British composer, also does.  Of course,
neither resorts to narrative all the time, any more than Mozart did.

Steve Schwartz