This disc comes with the imprimatur of the Polish Ministry of Culture and the two works included encapsulate the differences in Lutoslawski’s music before and after the ‘thaw’. The Concerto for Orchestra (1950-54) is the more conservative of the two in style but it remains a fine achievement, in no way put in the shade by the greater radicalism of the Cello Concerto written 20 years later.

Antoni Wit has recorded these works before, as part of his Naxos series with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. I’ve not heard that version of the Concerto for Orchestra but this one is certainly excellent, making the most of the expansive inevitability of the work’s design while highlighting its dramatic twists and turns. If either or both of the fine, long-established recordings under Tortelier (Chandos, 4/96) and Barenboim (Erato, 8/93) are on your shelves and you’re now interested in an alternative, this one can be warmly recommended.

With the Cello Concerto, too, memories of other versions are bound to arise. Among the best, there’s a searing account from dedicatee Rostropovich conducted by the composer (EMI, 11/02), or Pieter Wispelwey (Channel Classics, 7/99); Andrzej Bauer in the Naxos series (10/98) is also excellent. Rafal Kwiatkowski (b1978) comes from a younger generation, and while the work clearly has no technical terrors for him, he is not quite as charismatic in its more flamboyant episodes as those other cellists. Where he excels is in passages requiring a sense of vulnerability, and the marvellous moment when the soloist merges with the orchestral strings in a long, lamenting line is a high-point. The disc is very well recorded and worth investigating, especially if you want to explore how the estimable Wit’s interpretations sound alongside his earlier Naxos versions.