Andrzej Panufnik - Concertos & Symphony No. 10 (Alexander Walker)

Information

Composer: Andrzej Panufnik

• Symphony No. 10
• Violin Concerto
• Cello Concerto
• Love Song (arr. for cello, harp & strings by Andrzej Panufnik)

John Mills, violin

Bozidar Vukotic, cello

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Alexander Walker, conductor

Date: 2026

Label: Resonus Classics

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This album presents Andrzej Panufnik’s late London-period works, defined by a disciplined pursuit of formal clarity and expressive restraint. Symphony No. 10, his final symphony, reflects his use of geometric structuring, unfolding as a continuous form in which structural precision generates cumulative emotional impact. The Violin and Cello Concertos, composed for Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich, emphasize transparency and lyrical directness over virtuosity, with a vocal quality in the solo writing. The programme concludes with Love Song in an arrangement for solo cello, harp, and strings, highlighting Panufnik’s characteristic economy, refinement, and compositional balance.

Andrzej Panufnik (1914–1991) was a Polish-born British composer and conductor known for his distinctive modern style and wide-ranging output. Trained in Warsaw, Vienna, Paris, and London, he also studied conducting with Felix Weingartner. During World War II, he worked in the Polish underground music scene, though many early works were lost in the Warsaw Uprising. After postwar success as a conductor in Poland, he defected to Britain in 1954 due to artistic restrictions and later became a naturalized British citizen. Panufnik served as musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra before focusing on composition, producing ten symphonies and numerous orchestral, chamber, and vocal works characterized by formal precision and structural innovation.