Polish Contemporary Music across Europe with Friends

Gorecki, Lutosławski and Szymanowski were prominent Polish composers. Gorecki's Three Pieces in Old Style of 1963 use ancient musical idioms; the contemplative outer movements sandwiching a dance which conjures up the Renaissance. Lutosławski's Cello Concerto was written for Mstislav Rostropovich, the soloist's music at once fiendishly demanding and emotionally powerful. Premièred in 2009, English composer Peter Maxwell Davies' Overture, 'St. Francis of Assisi' delivers a heady cocktail of haunting plainsong and orchestral fireworks. We close with Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No.2, a work characterised by Polish folk music and featuring an infinitely inventive solo violin line.