Panufnik: a celebration - Concert Two by Panufnik, A., Aπό (2015/2015), αγωγός Łukasz Borowicz, City Halls, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Inspired by Elgar’s work of the same name, Polonia was Panufnik’s joyful rejoinder to the English composer’s overly noble vision of his homeland and opens the concert with energetic swagger. Panufnik revised his Piano Concerto twice after its premiere in 1962. Here, with Ewa Kupiec as soloist, its brilliant colours and mysterious second movement will have you spellbound. Two symphonies close the weekend: Panufnik’s Tenth written for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the end of his life, and the Sinfonia Sacra, a vision of Poland in the Middle Ages that alternates military vigour with passages of deep meditative spirituality.