Witold Lutosławski was commissioned to write his Concerto for Orchestra in Stalinist post-WWII Poland. Modelled to some extent on Bartók’s famous work of the same name from 1943, the Concerto was a turning point for Lutosławski, and one that came about, as he put it, “as a result of my episodic symbiosis with folk music and in a way that was for me somewhat unexpected.” It took four years to complete, and it’s an exuberant, exciting work, written in 1954 to put a then-young Warsaw Philharmonic through its paces.

Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, in his 16th season with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conjures instrumental passages of great beauty, verve and dynamism. However, in similar manner to its earlier namesake, there is plenty of darkness bubbling below the surface. It’s paired with Schoenberg’s 1937 orchestral arrangement of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No 1, the original of which is so expansive as to be a logical choice for further development.

It is supremely lyrical, bursting with tunes, and this arrangement mitigates the contained intensity of the original in favour of a more accessible treatment. Again, the FWSO is in its element, especially rollicking through the final ‘gypsy rondo’ movement....