When Witold Lutosławski was born, his native Warsaw (and much of Poland) was under Russian domination. The future composer, one year old when World War I broke out, grew up in the newly independent Poland, a democratic state that, however, ceased to exist when, in the fall of 1939, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia attacked the country almost simultaneously from opposite sides. Surviving World War II under extremely dramatic circumstances, Lutosławski emerged as Poland’s most prominent composer just as the country came under Communist rule in 1947. In the 1950s and ‘60s he achieved international fame with such innovative scores as Jeux vénitiens (“Venetian Games”) and Livre pour orchestre (“Book for Orchestra”). He maintained a busy international schedule as a composer and conductor for the rest of his life and received many prestigious prizes, including the Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville, of which he was the first-ever recipient in 1985. He lived to see the end of Communism in his country and died in Warsaw at the age of 81.

A landmark in Lutosławski’s career, the First Symphony is the culminating work of the composer’s first creative period. Begun during World War II and finished after war’s end, it still shows some influence from Stravinsky or Prokofiev; yet there is no question that Lutosławski had found his own voice as a composer in this, his first substantial work for orchestra.

Lutosławski retained his fondness for the symphony as a genre his entire life (he completed his fourth and last symphony in 1992). This is remarkable since most composers, especially those with avant-garde leanings, thought the symphony to be too old-fashioned to be relevant to modern times. As a young man, Lutosławski felt that the symphony was the ultimate test of artistic maturity. He particularly admired French composer Albert Roussel (1869-1937) whose Third Symphony, premiered in Boston in 1930, made the traditional four-movement symphonic form sound fresh by using complex harmonies and maintaining a vigorous rhythmic drive.

Lutosławski managed to do something similar in his First. The work has all the hallmarks of a traditional symphony: its four movements contain a great deal of thematic contrast and development, powerful climaxes and introspective lyrical episodes. The young composer handled his large orchestral forces masterfully, with many attractive solos for the concertmaster, the first horn and the first oboe, to name but a few. The harp, celesta and piano create several magical, haunting moments. At the same time, Lutosławski uses an advanced harmonic language, displays plenty of youthful energy and, in general, succeeds at “pouring new wine into old bottles.”

After several interruptions during the war, Lutosławski finished his symphony in 1947; it was first performed on April 6, 1948, in the southern city of Katowice. The conductor (and the work’s dedicatee) was Grzegorz Fitelberg, a veteran musician who had been at the forefront of Polish musical life since the beginning of the century. Yet the piece did not go over well; the timing couldn’t have been worse. Only two months earlier, the Soviet Communist Party had issued an infamous resolution, condemning all the major composers in Russia–including Shostakovich and Prokofiev–of “formalism,” an ill-defined but fearsome charge. The Polish Communists obviously had to follow “Big Brother” and swiftly proscribed the new symphony, which was certainly no mass song for the workers and peasants written in honor of Stalin. At a repeat performance in Warsaw, some influential Russians ostentatiously walked out. The symphony could not be performed in Poland for ten years–not until the political climate had changed and deviations from the dictates of orthodox “Social Realism” became acceptable again.