Milan

In the autumn of 1989, Witold Lutosławski was preparing a concert of his music at La Scala in Milan. The composer Giovanni Bietti – author of the first treatise of Lutosławski’s music in Italy – accompanied him during rehearsals, listening to how the musicians on one hand were grumbling a little among themselves at the way their guest was conducting and on the other were expressing their appreciation of his music. The programme comprised the Piano Concerto and the Third Symphony. During the concert, as often occurs in Italy, a strike was declared, which added an extra forty minutes to the intermission. Unaware of the situation, Lutosławski, waiting an inordinately long time with Krystian Zimerman for the signal to start the second part of the concert, at one point concluded that the organisational problems were due to his compositions, since he said to the soloist, with a worried expression, ‘I don’t think they like my music’