Its first performance occurred on March 26, 1958 in Katowice by the National Polish Radio Orchestra under the direction of Jan Krenz, who commissioned the piece to honor its dedicatee, Béla Bartók (Harley 1998–2003).
Typical of 20th-century music, the piece uses mixed meter, in this case beginning in 5/2 then shifting for a measure (bar) to 3/2 with a steady pulse of half-note (minim) = 88.
This section features a technique that Lutosławski would later call "chain form," which also occurs in his "Passacaglia" from his Concerto for Orchestra.
By this Thomas is referring to Lutosławski's future preference for writing twelve-tone chords that present systematic vertical intervallic configurations.
In any event, in this piece the wide registration gradually collapses inward onto a single pitch that initiates the final section.