Lutosławski: Orchestral Works 2

“Gardner and the BBC Symphony, backed up by glittering sound, do [the Symphonic Variations] proud, from the folk-like opening flute theme, through its varied treatments...Lortie is an ideal soloist [in the Concerto], with a clarity of touch familiar from his recordings of the French repertoire, but also the power for the bigger gestures...Again, Gardner leads a detailed, musically sure-paced orchestral contribution.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ****

“in a performance as vivacious and committed as this one, [the Symphonic Variations] comprises a veritable treat...Gardner's conception of the riveting Fourth Symphony (1988-92)...has both infectious involvement and considerable expressive ardour to commend it...Throughout, Gardner secures some first-class playing from the BBC SO; Ralph Couzens's engineering is, needless to say, state of the art.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

“[the Symphony Variations] now sound lush and exuberant...Louis Lortie makes the most of the slightly underwhelming Piano Concerto (1987-88). The jaunty Variations on a Theme of Paganini (1978) – written within a year of Andrew Lloyd Webber's better-known version – and the Fourth Symphony (1988-92) give far more sense of this discreetly quixotic composer.” --The Observer, 8th January 2012