Royal Philharmonic Society

The Cello Concerto was commissioned from Lutosławski by the Royal Philharmonic Society, and that was the first instance since the Second World War that a non-British composer had been approached with such a proposition. The Concerto was performed in the autumn of 1970, and the soloist was Mstislav Rostropovich, who was also awarded the society’s Gold Medal. Sixteen years later, Lutosławski himself received the same distinction. The medal (commemorating the Society’s commissioning of the Ninth Symphony from Beethoven), regarded as the highest English decoration for music, was presented to Lutosławski by Michael Tippett. Unlike many other distinctions, this medal is not awarded on a regular basic, but only when the committee decides that a worthy candidate has appeared.