This Week in Classical Music: November 23, 2020.Penderecki.When three year ago we publishedan entry on, the great Polish composer was alive and, as we thought then, well.Penderecki died earlier this year, on March 29th, not of Covid-19, but after a long illness.Our previous entry stopped at 1975 and we mentioned that around that time Penderecki’s music changed in many significant ways: before that he was an exponent of the avant-garde, exploring new sonorities, new instruments and textures, whereas after 1975 he moved to much more traditional, melodic 19-century idiom.It’s interesting to note that the Grove article on Penderecki is divided into “Music up to 1974” and “Music after 1975.”By the mid-1970s Penderecki was spending much of his time in the US, where he held a Yale University residence.This was a life unknown to regular Polish citizens.Despite all the censorship and general lack of freedom, the Polish government recognized the value of Penderecki as a representative of Polish culture (very much as the Nazis did in the 30s with some of their musicians, and as the Soviet Union did, even if not allowing them the same freedoms as the Poles).Penderecki could travel and live abroad; he was even given a manor in Lusławice, outside of Krakow, where he created a beautiful garden and later a music festival.It was during his tenure at Yale that he turned away from the 12-tone music back to the melodically based compositions.The first significant work in this new style was the 1976 Violin Concerto no. 1, written for Isaac Stern (here it is, performed by the violinist Kim Chee-Yun with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, conducted by Antoni Wit,)Also, around that time the Lyric Opera of Chicago commissioned Penderecki an opera to commemorate the US Bicentennial.Even though Penderecki delivered it two years late, Paradise Lost, as the opera became known, was successfully staged in Chicago and a year later, in 1979, in La Scala.He also increasingly turned to arge-scale choral works: Te Deum, written in1978-80, and Polish Requiem, 1980-84.The Lacrimosa part of the Requiem was the first to be composed; it was dedicated to Lech Wałęsa and written to commemorate those killed in the uprising of 1970.Penderecki then expanded it into a full-length Requiem.Here is Lacrimosa with Jadwiga Gadulanka, soprano, and Krzysztof Penderecki conducting the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Krakow.Another choral piece, Credo, was written in 1998 and received a Grammy award.Penderecki also wrote several symphonies, the last one, no. 8, subtitled "Lieder der Vergänglichkeit" (Songs of Transience) was completed in 2005 and then expanded in 2007.A prolific composer, Penderecki wrote several operas, a large number of vocal and choral music and several violin sonatas and quartets.Very little of his music was written for the piano.
Lest we forget: another prominent composer of the 20th century, Alfred Schnittke was also born this week, on November 24th of 1934.And so was Jean-Baptiste Lully, on November 28th of 1632.
Penderecki, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: November 23, 2020. Penderecki. When three year ago we published an entry on
, the great Polish composer was alive and, as we thought then, well. Penderecki died earlier this year, on March 29th, not of Covid-19, but after a long illness. Our previous entry stopped at 1975 and we mentioned that around that time Penderecki’s music changed in many significant ways: before that he was an exponent of the avant-garde, exploring new sonorities, new instruments and textures, whereas after 1975 he moved to much more traditional, melodic 19-century idiom. It’s interesting to note that the Grove article on Penderecki is divided into “Music up to 1974” and “Music after 1975.” By the mid-1970s Penderecki was spending much of his time in the US, where he held a Yale University residence. This was a life unknown to regular Polish citizens. Despite all the censorship and general lack of freedom, the Polish government recognized the value of Penderecki as a representative of Polish culture (very much as the Nazis did in the 30s with some of their musicians, and as the Soviet Union did, even if not allowing them the same freedoms as the Poles). Penderecki could travel and live abroad; he was even given a manor in Lusławice, outside of Krakow, where he created a beautiful garden and later a music festival. It was during his tenure at Yale that he turned away from the 12-tone music back to the melodically based compositions. The first significant work in this new style was the 1976 Violin Concerto no. 1, written for Isaac Stern (here it is, performed by the violinist Kim Chee-Yun with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, conducted by Antoni Wit,) Also, around that time the Lyric Opera of Chicago commissioned Penderecki an opera to commemorate the US Bicentennial. Even though Penderecki delivered it two years late, Paradise Lost, as the opera became known, was successfully staged in Chicago and a year later, in 1979, in La Scala. He also increasingly turned to arge-scale choral works: Te Deum, written in1978-80, and Polish Requiem, 1980-84. The Lacrimosa part of the Requiem was the first to be composed; it was dedicated to Lech Wałęsa and written to commemorate those killed in the uprising of 1970. Penderecki then expanded it into a full-length Requiem. Here is Lacrimosa with Jadwiga Gadulanka, soprano, and Krzysztof Penderecki conducting the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Krakow. Another choral piece, Credo, was written in 1998 and received a Grammy award. Penderecki also wrote several symphonies, the last one, no. 8, subtitled "Lieder der Vergänglichkeit" (Songs of Transience) was completed in 2005 and then expanded in 2007. A prolific composer, Penderecki wrote several operas, a large number of vocal and choral music and several violin sonatas and quartets. Very little of his music was written for the piano.
Lest we forget: another prominent composer of the 20th century, Alfred Schnittke was also born this week, on November 24th of 1934. And so was Jean-Baptiste Lully, on November 28th of 1632.