Radio Reaction: Penderecki’s experiments in sound
Krzysztof Penderecki (23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020)
Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki died aged 86 yesterday, so today for Radio Reaction we mark his life with some essential listening.
Penderecki was born in Dębica in southeastern Poland. He studied violin and later composition in Kraków. He looked to be destined for a fairly provincial career as a teacher and composer, until he found worldwide fame with Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, written for 52 string instruments. Penderecki, like many other post-war composers, tackled head-on the direst outcomes of conflict and war. He also Dies Irae (Auschwitz Oratorio).
Penderecki used “extended techniques” (unconventional ways of producing sounds from an instrument) to full effect, asking musicians to scrape and scratch, strike and slide to hair-raising effect. He often also wrote using graphic notation, as can be seen in the score for Threnody below, allowing a more spontaneous and physical form of expression for both composer and the massed orchestras he wrote for.
But much as he was at the forefront of the avant-garde, Penderecki looked back to earlier styles too. A devout Catholic, he incorporated medieval chant and hymn tunes into his St Luke Passion (the work itself one big nod to the baroque era and the passions of Bach). Around the age of forty, he felt his experimental period was over, saying he had “discovered everything”. His later style of composition was closer to that of grand romantics like Wagner and Mahler, a period ushered in with his Symphony No. 2. But his later approach disappointed early adopters of Penderecki, who felt cheated by him reverting to outdated modes.
And today it’s certainly his earlier, more sonically adventurous works that have had the greatest impact, offering creative resonance for the likes of Stanley Kubrick (The Shining), David Lynch (Twin Peaks), Scorsese (Shutter Island), and nourishing artists like Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood (in his score for There Will Be Blood), Aphex Twin, and the Manic Street Preachers.
Penderecki was also active as a conductor, won several Grammy awards, and was recognised the world over by institutions including the Royal Academy of Music in London, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and Academy of Arts in Berlin.
Early works:
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Later works:
Symphony No. 2 Christmas Symphony