Witold Lutoslawski – Variations on a theme by Paganini for two pianos / Witold Lutoslawski –Variațiuni pe o temă de Paganini pentru două piane

Abstract: Witold Lutoslawski is considered the greatest Polish composer of the 20th century and one of the most prominent European musicians since Bartok, being considered his natural successor. The composer developed Paganini's famous Capriccio with an unbridled and appropriately dark spirit, although the original version for two pianos is framed in a lyrical style. Before he began transcribing the work for orchestra, the composer was exposed to new and exciting possibilities in Darmstadt, where he mastered serialism and aleatorism. Based on the famous Capriccio 24, Lutoslawski creates a set of 11 strict variations and a coda, which closely follows Paganini's model. In each variation the original violin line is ingeniously transposed into piano writing. The tonality, notalways in the original A minor, remains consistent, and the traditional dominant-tonic cadence is often encountered. However, the Neapolitan sixthchord is frequently played over the dominant chord. Keywords: Lutoslawski, Paganini, variation, virtuosity, two piano