Bacewicz, Lutosławski & Szymanowski

Music Director Thomas Søndergård conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a programme showcasing three leading composers from twentieth-century Poland. Polish music was flourishing at that time, yet the country was going through unimaginable political turmoil, having to endure the Nazi and Communist occupations. Despite this, composers Szymanowski, Bacewicz and Lutosławski reshaped Polish musical identity, each with their own language. Moving from her early neo-classical style towards something more complex, bold and colourful, Bacewicz wrote the defiant Overture for Orchestra in occupied Poland in 1943. In the sensual King Roger (1926), performed here in a new arrangement by Ian Farrington, Szymanowski blended late Romanticism with Mediterranean and Polish influences. Lutosławski pushed Polish music beyond Romanticism, embracing folk traditions and modern techniques. His Symphony No. 3 (1983) became a powerful symbol of freedom in Poland and marked a key moment in his late symphonic style.