Penderecki's Violin Concerto was first performed by its dedicatee Isaac Stern in 1977, and Stern subsequently recorded it with the Minnesota Orchestra under Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (CBS Masterworks—LP only—nla). It's a work that has divided the critics, not only over the question of whether or not Penderecki's rejection of his earlier radicalism and adoption of a quasi-late-romantic style is a good thing, but also on the issue of whether the composer succeeds in the difficult task of sustaining a sufficiently strong musical flow over an unbroken span of 42 minutes. (The score claims 35: Stern's performance was almost 38 minutes.)
My own response is negative. Though recognizing sensitively diverse textures and a skilfully varied form, I find it hard to warm to a work that seems to be trying so determinedly to solicit an emotional response from the listener, while failing to offer basic ideas of sufficient character and power. Part of the problem is one of sheer length, but for me the overwhelming drawback is the lack of convincingly memorable material in the early stages. There's no mistaking the serious, striving tone, but one has only to compare this violin concerto with Britten's (a work comparably dominated by lament) to appreciate the difference between a style effortfully straining to mould an identity and one in which strong character and deep feeling are present in abundance.
Ironically, the music might work better if it were more reminiscent of a late-romantic master—Mahler, or even Shostakovich: but in shunning pastiche Penderecki has sacrificed personality. As its duration indicates, the performance is deliberate to a fault, but Christiane Edinger is a strong, pure-toned soloist, in a forwardly-balanced but by no means restricted acoustic. Even if the Katowice orchestra is not world class, the composer's experienced hand as conductor presumably ensures that this, ten years on, is how he wants the work to sound. Division of opinion about that work will doubtless continue!'