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Livre pour Orchestre is organised into four ‘chapters’ separated by three interludes (short melodic fragments ‘ad libitum’ and not conducted). Lutoslawski has said that the music of these interludes is deliberately insignificant, serving merely as points of relaxation for the audience. Each interlude lasts about twenty seconds; the first is scored for three clarinets, the second for two clarinets and harp, and the third for harp and piano. In the first chapter, the strings predominate with plaintive, questioning glissandi framing an episode for brass and percussion. Chapter 2 is more dynamic: it begins with the glittering sounds of plucked strings and pitched percussion, followed by longer and more loquacious contributions from wind and brass. Chapter 3 incorporates aspects of both the preceding chapters. Only gradually does one realise that the third interlude, far from being insignificant, is growing into something much larger – into the final chapter, which emerges as the interlude isntrument
