Concerto for Orchestra by Polish composer Witold Lutosławski was written in the years 1950–54, on the initiative of the artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Witold Rowicki, who became its dedicatee. The three-movement, thirty-minute long work represents, along with Lutosławski’s First Symphony, created in 1947, the last stage and a crowning achievement of his early folkloristic style. But whereas the symphony is reminiscent more of the neoclassicism of Albert Roussel and Igor Stravinsky (the latter’s music was labeled “formalistic” and for the course of several years was banned from performance in Poland), the Concerto clearly exhibits a noticeable relation with folk music: the use of folklore intonations, which very much resemble the style of Bartok, is masterfully applied to Polish material. Both scores exhibit certain common features, which undergo further development in Lutosławski’s later work: virtuosic orchestration, abundance of contrasts, absence of symmetric or permanent structures (the phrase length is unequal, interrupted rhythm, principle of structuring the greater form after the narrative models with neutral exposition, fascinating plot twists, gradation of suspense and impressive denouement.)

Having written a number of small-scale folkoristic pieces for various instruments and their combinations (piano, clarinet with piano, chamber ensemble, orchestra, human voice with orchestra), Lutosławski decided to apply his experience of stylisation of Polish folklore in a bigger work. At the same time, however, the Concerto for Orchestra differs from these earlier pieces not only in that it is of more extended duration but also in the way melodic themes are treated. The composer moulded them into a different reality, lending them new harmony, adding atonal counterpoints, turning them into neo-baroque forms.

The piece is scored for three flutes (two doubling piccolo), three oboes (one doubling cor anglais), three clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), four horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, snare, tenor and bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, tam-tam, xylophone, bells, celesta, two harps, piano and strings. The three movements are:

Intrada: Allegro maestoso — a sort of extended two-subject overture on a threatening ostinato drum beat. It is an opening, similar to that of Brahms’ First Symphony.

Capriccio notturno ed Arioso: Vivace — the Capriccio is an airy, virtuoso scherzo, the main subject of which is intoned by the violin, followed by the remainder of the strings and woodwinds. It is followed by an expressive Arioso initiated by the brass section. The recapitulation of the capriccio is intoned by the cellos and the harp, the theme bowed, then in pizzicato.

Passacaglia, Toccata e Corale: Andante con moto – Allegro giusto – in three sections: The Passacaglia, a set of variations on a pensive theme played by the double-basses, followed by a vivacious and dynamic Toccata and the instrumental Corale. The Corale’s second appearance produces a solemn finale of monumental texture. The musical material for the Corale is taken from a nineteenth-century collection compiled by Polish ethnologist Oskar Kolberg. The piece ends with a dramatic flourish and climax from the entire orchestra

Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra premiered in Warsaw on 26 November 1954 and brought him to prominence in the West. However, once Lutosławski embarked on a style marked by heavy aleatoricism in the early 1960s, he attempted to distance himself from the Concerto for Orchestra, although he was awarded the State Prize of 1955 for the composition. In 1967, Lutosławski conducted his Concerto for Orchesta in Copenhagen and thereupon received the Danish Leonie Sonning Foundation Prize amounting to 10 000 dollars.