This disc is not described as ‘Volume 1’, but it would be good to have a new Lutoslawski series to complement that from Naxos. Arion includes three of the works found on the most recent Naxos CD (A/03), and the contents of both are a bit too miscellaneous to make listening straight through a wholly satisfying experience. Arion’s playing order is also less than ideal. But it’s the performances and recordings which count most, and these are generally commendable.

In the disc’s most substantial piece, the Funeral music for strings, Sinfonietta Cracovia playswith exactly the kind of well-focused homogeneity the score requires, and Robert Kabara gives the music’s very explicit polarities and symmetries a strong dramatic profile. The concerto for oboe and harp is also well played, though the expansiveness of the performance tends to underline the score’s rather episodic formal procedures.

Of the other three pieces, the relatively early Overture comes across strongly, a good example of how Lutoslawski could turn his doubts about neo-classicism to positive use. The familiar Dance Preludes for clarinet and strings are less well-characterised than in other recordings, but the impassioned cello playing of François Salque in the short Debussy-inspired Grave compensates in its vibrancy and eloquence.

Like all the works on the disc, the Grave is closely recorded in a warm acoustic, the effect of which can seem artificial at times but which certainly brings the textural sophistication of Lutoslawski’s music into the open. Otherwise, my only reservation concerns the very poor editorial control in evidence in the accompanying booklet.