Whether the Panufnik centenary can revive his reputation is doubtful, but this CD underlines the Polish conductor-composer’s ability to write music of depth, poetry and emotion.

Comprising a pair of BBC Symphony Orchestra studio performances recorded shortly before his death in 1991, it profiles the elegiac power of the Bassoon Concerto in a heartfelt reading by Robert Thompson, who commissioned it.

The symphony (Sinfonia di Speranza) is an equally thoughtful, if more long-winded, exploration of Panufnik’s metaphysical preoccupations.

He prefaces both works with a short spoken introduction.

Panufnik

Symphony No 9, Bassoon Concerto

Andrzej Panufnik

(Heritage)

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