photo courtesy of Wikipedia – by Reijo Koskinen / Lehtikuva

by Ben Hogwood

On this day in 1970, the first performance took place of a remarkable new work from Witold Lutosławski. The Cello Concerto was written for the great Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Sir Edward Downes at the Royal Festival Hall.

Here is a more recent account from the fine cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk:

Published post no.2,687 – Tuesday 14 October 2025