This recording of Sir Andrzej Panufnik's last composition was made the day after the world premiere, given by the same artists, in June 1992, but there's no trace of 'the morning after' in this performance. Rather, there's a special feeling of spontaneity, as well as an appropriate spirit of dedication, which serve the work well.
Panufnik's music never lacks certainty of purpose. There can be a shortage of memorable ideas, but in this concerto strength of feeling, and mastery of form and texture, show him at his most convincing. There are two movements, Adagio and Vivace, whose strong contrasts create a well-matched balance of opposites. The Adagio emerges almost reluctantly from silence in an arch of sustained intensity whose lyric line is Panufnik's inspired response to Rostropovich's fervent, richly refined tone. The Vivace is a muscular scherzo in which the small orchestra is used with particular freshness as both foil and support to the soloist. Towards the end an extended cadenza hints at the possibility of reverting to the mood and material of the Adagio in a palindromic reprise, but Panufnik resists the temptation and concludes, tersely, in the movement's own Vivace vein.
This is as direct and decisive a musical last word as could be wished for, and its strength is enhanced by the conviction of the performances and the well-balanced fullness of the recording.'