This is one of the major twentieth-century oboe concertos, and is a leading component of the very small repertory of oboe-harp concertos. Furthermore, it is one of the most important examples of the very advanced serial style that essentially ruled in the 1970s.

It was commissioned by Paul Sacher, the conductor of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, who commissioned many of the major small-orchestra works of his time. He requested it for his fellow Swiss musician, oboist Heinz Holliger, who asked the composer to include an obbligato part for his wife, the harpist Ursula Holliger. Although the commission was offered in 1972, it took a long time to complete, and was not ready for performance until 1980, when it was given in Lucerne with Sacher, the Holligers, and the Collegium Musicum. The work reflects its long gestation period by including elements of the composer¹s middle and later style periods.

The concerto is twenty minutes long and is in three movements. It is scored for the soloists, twelve strings, and two percussionists. The material is generated from a single 24-note row, comprising a twelve-tone row and its retrograde inversion. The row favors thirds as a predominant interval, which allows hints of a feeling of tonality. Although Heinz Holliger is known as the master of (and inventor of several) avant-garde playing techniques for the oboe, Lutoslawski makes very little use of these in this double concerto.

The first movement is in two stages, marked "Rapsodico" and "Appassionato." In the first sub-section, the two soloists function as the concertino instruments of a Baroque concerto grosso, while the strings and the percussion fill the ripieno function. (What this means is that parts for solo instruments contrast and alternate with parts for a full ensemble sound.) While the strings¹ parts are written with the full twelve tones, the harp is given a maximum of seven pitches and the oboe the other five notes. This part ends with a cadenza from the two soloists, with their tempo choices left free so that their parts coincide in different ways in performance. The "Appassionato" stage of the first movement uses flowing contrapuntal lines in the strings. This ends in a twelve-note aggregate chord played pizzicato.

The second movement, marked "Dolente" (Sadly), begins with another unmeasured duet for the soloists. Sighing grace notes are a feature of the long, sad melodic lines of this movement. Lutoslawski keeps the soloists standing apart from the rest of the ensemble by not assigning them any notes that are being played by the "harmony."

The final movement is marked "Marciale e grotesco." This does not mean that the movement is a "grotesque march." It means that it is in two sections, one "martial" and the other "grotesque." The first two sections are in the duple meter of the march. One is for orchestra and oboe, the other for orchestra and harp. Both instruments play in the third main section, which is where the grotesque elements begin to appear. The other two parts reach a climax , and function as a coda, respectively.

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