Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra / Alexander Liebreich

After starting to write music with folk and neoclassical leanings, Witold Lutosławski latched on to international trends in the contemporary music of his day. He was regarded as one of the leading lights of the Polish and European avant-garde, and is fêted today as a modern classic. His Concerto for Orchestra dates from the early 1950s and was written under the influence of the Stalin regime. The three-movement concerto can definitely be seen as an expression of political resistance.

Krzysztof Penderecki, the most famous living Polish composer, celebrates his 85th birthday in November, and continues to arouse interest in modern music with his excitingly unorthodox works. »Never write a superfluous note« was the motto of Andrzej Panufnik, whose compositions anticipate the minimalist style. His »Lullaby« of 1947 is based on a single four-note motif: hypnotic music that opposed the cultural politics of the time.