# Concerto For Orchestra Showdown: Bartók vs. Lutosławski



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

vs.










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Let's see how these two composers' do against each other. Each of them wrote a successful _Concerto for Orchestra_ that are both still widely performed today. Which work do you prefer over the other? I realize that there are many other works with the title _Concerto for Orchestra_ like Kodály, Shchedrin, Petrassi, Hindemith, etc., but I'm leaving these works out of the poll, so things are less complicated. Anyway, have fun!


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Lutosławski for me. I am a Bartók fan, but his CfO is one of his works that I've never gotten much out of; for whatever reason, it just never clicked for me.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

flamencosketches said:


> Lutosławski for me. I am a Bartók fan, but his CfO is one of his works that I've never gotten much out of; for whatever reason, it just never clicked for me.


You and I are of the same mind. I remember hearing the Bartók some 11-12 years ago when I first started to seriously get into classical music and I remember not thinking much of the work then or even now and I love Bartók's music dearly. I just never connected with his _Concerto for Orchestra_. Lutosławski's _Concerto for Orchestra_, however, blew my mind the first-time I heard it and it still does. I recall reading that Lutosławski didn't like this work of his, but, make no mistake, he wrote a masterpiece here or, at least, IMHO, he did.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I love them both, but if I have to choose one it would be the Bartok.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Although Bartok's 'Concerto For Old Men' (as described by the late, great Oliver Knussen) is not quite as wacky as Luto's, I have to give it the nod; if for no other reason than the last movement of Luto's really out-stays its welcome. Even his revision only cuts out a few bars.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I have to agree with some of the above sentiments - I’m a huge Bartok fan but I don’t think his Concerto for Orchestra is in the uppermost tier of his works (I prefer Music for SPC in terms of his orchestral stuff). However, I’ve come to like it a lot more lately due to the Ivan Fischer/Budapest performance - what a recording! Lutoslawski’s work may not be in the style that he is most known for, but I think it may be a fuller realization of Bartok’s vision of a folk-inspired orchestral showpiece. So that’s what I voted for.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Bartok's by far. It's become my favourite orchestral work by anyone. I feel the Lutoslawski takes a lot of detours, and doesn't really get that far in the end.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Bartok's _Concerto for Orchestra_ is an excellent work, perhaps not in the very highest tier of Bartok, but it is up there. (In this sense I see it as similar to Piano Concerto No. 3).

That said for me the Bartok easily surpasses the Lutoslawski, the latter composer I've lost interest in over the years. He has his moments, but I haven't found his music has held up very well over-all after repeated listening, nowadays I rarely listen to it. Of course, your mileage may vary.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

tdc said:


> Bartok's _Concerto for Orchestra_ is an excellent work, perhaps not in the very highest tier of Bartok, but it is up there. (In this sense I see it as similar to Piano Concerto No. 3).
> 
> That said for me the Bartok easily surpasses the Lutoslawski, the latter composer I've lost interest in over the years. He has his moments, but I haven't found his music has held up very well over-all after repeated listening, nowadays I rarely listen to it. Of course, your mileage may vary.


I actually think the _Piano Concerto No. 3_ is better than the _Concerto for Orchestra_. Also, if Bartók had lived long enough to complete his _Viola Concerto_, I imagine this would've been another fantastic work from this composer's mature period.


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## Superflumina (Jun 19, 2020)

Too close to call. I had the luck of seeing Antoni Wit conduct Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra. Didn't really know the piece well before and it blew me away. Bartók's Concerto is great too of course.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

I love both works dearly, but I'd choose Bartók's any day. Now, if I'd be forced to choose between the Bartók and Lutosławski's 3rd symphony - not so sure anymore! I really love his early concerto for orchestra but it's the later stuff that I love him so much for.


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## Gray Bean (May 13, 2020)

I have loved the Bartok for years. My favorite work of his is the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste. In fact, the Reiner CD of these two works is a desert island disc. I have several recordings of the Lutoslawski but don’t know it well enough to compare. I will remedy that!


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

I prefer Bartok and I recommend the very refined and tense recording by Dorati and the RCO, even when compared with Ivan Fischer/BFO, which is also great:


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## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

For me, the grandiose and driven opening of the Lutoslawski beats the Bartok, which I have never really grown to love.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The Bartók and Lutosławski Concertos for Orchestra. Ah!

One is a great 20th century orchestral showpiece which holds its own against nearly anything else the century has to offer musically. The other is one of the great masterpieces in the history of orchestral music, as well as being a great 20th century orchestral showpiece which, in the realm of the sublime, could arguably be the single greatest musical work of the century. So, though I love both of these pieces, my choice of a preference is easy. And it remains in the handful of works I would consider (which I can actually bubble down to two) as the best representative work of the 20th century, and if the spaceship were leaving in ten minutes and I had to choose just one disc to take with me to preserve the century's finest work, I would likely leave the Stravinsky _Rite_ behind and take the Concerto for Orchestra. It is simply that fundamental.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

SONNET CLV said:


> The Bartók and Lutosławski Concertos for Orchestra. Ah!
> 
> One is a great 20th century orchestral showpiece which holds its own against nearly anything else the century has to offer musically. The other is one of the great masterpieces in the history of orchestral music, as well as being a great 20th century orchestral showpiece which, in the realm of the sublime, could arguably be the single greatest musical work of the century. So, though I love both of these pieces, my choice of a preference is easy. And it remains in the handful of works I would consider (which I can actually bubble down to two) as the best representative work of the 20th century, and if the spaceship were leaving in ten minutes and I had to choose just one disc to take with me to preserve the century's finest work, I would likely leave the Stravinsky _Rite_ behind and take the Concerto for Orchestra. It is simply that fundamental.


You didn't say which one you chose.


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