There can’t be many more exuberantly inventive or sheerly enjoyable orchestral showpieces than Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Written for Witold Rowicki, who gave the world premiere in November 1954 and went on to make an infectiously characterful recording of it with the Warsaw National PO eight years later, the work demands high levels of discipline, stamina and coordination, in which respects neither of these latest contenders is found wanting. Alpha’s co-production with NDR brings a vividly natural concert-hall balance, though the very last ounce of clarity is sometimes lacking; detail is rather more explicit on its Harmonia Mundi rival but there’s rather less in the way of ambient glow.

On this evidence, Miguel Harth-Bedoya has moulded the Forth Worth SO into an impressively proficient band, but I do register an extra imaginative flair and subtlety of touch about Krzysztof Urbański’s conception which is more likely to draw me back for repeated hearings. For home-grown musicality and keen spirit, it’s hard to beat the composer’s own wonderfully unforced 1978 version with the Polish National RSO (last sighted on a low-price Warner twofer), and I also have a lot of time for Edward Gardner’s admirably spry BBC SO account (Chandos, 12/10). Even so, Urbański more than holds his own in a hotly competitive field.

Moving on to the couplings, Harth-Bedoya maintains the swaggering theme by opting for Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s G minor Piano Quartet. The Peruvian puts his eager Texan charges through their paces in what is an eminently enjoyable, unexaggerated account with no want of commitment, as well as a welcome dash of paprika in the zany Rondo alla zingarese finale. In other words, if you fancy this particular pairing, there’s no real need to hold back. Urbański, on the other hand, sticks with the music of his countryman, and procures wholly excellent renderings of the endearingly folksy, deliciously deft Little Suite (whose bright-eyed opening dance bounces along disarmingly) and the hugely invigorating and enviably concise Fourth Symphony (completed in 1992). Indeed, the latter receives such lucid and dedicated advocacy that one hopes for more Lutosławski from this impressive young conductor. This consistently absorbing Alpha release certainly earns its spurs and can be very warmly recommended.