Włodzimierz Kotoński

Born in 1925 in Warsaw, he is considered one of the key figures of the Polish avantgarde of the 1950s and 60s. He was professor of composition and director of the Electronic Music Studio at the Music Academy in Warsaw for several decades (he retired in 1995). Many of his students achieved international recognition. He also lectured
as visiting professor in Stockholm (1971), Buffalo (1978), Los Angeles (1982), Jerusalem (1990) and Seoul (1994­95). He made his name as the author of the first electronic piece in Poland ­ Study for One Cymbal Stroke (1959). He has collaborated with electronic music studios in Paris, Bourges, Stockholm, Freiburg (Germany) and Buffalo.
His writings include: Muzyka elektroniczna (Electronic Music, 1989 and 2002), Instrumenty perkusyjne we wspó1czesnej orkiestrze (Percussion Instruments in the Contemporary Orchestra; 1st ed. 1963; translated into German, Hungarian and Ukrainian), and Leksykon wspó1czesnej perkusji (A Lexicon of the Modern Percussion, 1999).
In 1974­75 he was Head of Music of Polish Radio. In 1983­89 he served as President of the Polish Section of iscm. He was a co-founder of the Summer Courses for Young Composers in Kazimierz Dolny.
His honours include the Prize of the Polish Composers1 Union (1976), the Award of the Minister of Culture and Art, First Degree (1989 and 2000) and the Prix Magisterium in Bourges (1998).

Selected works (since 1980): Autumn Song for harpsichord and tape (1981), Terra incognita for tape (1984), Lyric Scenes for nine instruments (1986), Tlaloc for harpsichord and percussion (1987), Birds for clarinet, cello and piano (1987), Bucolica for solo flute (1989), La gioia for string orchestra (1991), Winter Journey for chamber ensemble and tape (1995), Symphony No. 1 (1995), Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1996), Sex-tet for Wind Quintet and Piano (1998), Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) for amplified harpsichord and electronic layer (1988), Variable Structures for clarinet, trombone, piano and cello (2000), Symphony No. 2 (2001), String Quartet No. 1 (2002), Wilanów Landscapes for string quartet and flute (2002); electronic pieces: Study for One Cymbal Stroke (1959), Microstructures (1963), alea (1970), Euridice (1970), Les Ailes (Wings, 1973), An Obliterated Trace (1982), Antiphonae (1989), Tierra caliente (1992).

Concerto per clarinetto e orchestra was written at the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003. The piece is partly an outcome of my earlier explorations of the clarinet in the field of chamber music (Pour quatre, Midsummer, Variable structures) and partly a result of my fascination with the richness of the clarinet, which seems to have no equal among woodwind instruments. Close contact and cooperation with my former student, the composer and excellent clarinettist Pawe1 Mykietyn, proved to be of great assistance. It helped me gain insights into the technique of playing the clarinet and the diverse character of its sound. This contributed significantly to the final shape of the score.
The concerto has a classical three-movement structure. The first movement ­ sonata allegro with a slower introduction and a slower coda which is mostly a mirror image of the former ­ is the most important and expanded of the three. The hallmark of the second, cantilena-like movement is a dialogue between a narrow, movable cluster of strings and a solo instrumental part which proceeds beneath and then above the string layer. The third movement, the Finale, is mainly semiquaver-based material, in which the clarinet enters into a dialogue with runs played by the orchestral instruments.
The durations of successive movements are approximately as 1:0.62, which corresponds to the relation of the so-called golden section. Each movement is shorter than the preceding one.

The work was written thanks to financial support from the Ministry of Culture and its Fund for the Promotion of the Arts.
W1odzimierz KotoYski