Krzysztof Penderecki - Symphony 4: Adagio - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The best proof that Mieczyslaw Weinberg's music has fortunately and deservedly been experiencing a renaissance in recent years is another album devoted entirely to the person of this composer. This album entitled Weinberg • Sonatas for Violin and Piano was created on the initiative of violinist Michal Kowalczyk and pianists Dagmara Niedziela and Mateusz Rozek. The focus of the artists' interpretative vision is the multidimensionality of the composer's sound language, resulting from both the composer's tragic life experiences and him being rooted in three different cultural traditions. Each of the sonatas featured on the album seems to fully resonate with the events that were accompanying it's creation in terms of emotional expression. The recorded works, although they have just begun to make a regular appearance in concert programs, are undoubtedly a staple of the 20th-century chamber music.

Five compositions from three decades are brought together here representing all of Penderecki's creative periods. This provides an interesting possibility for reflection. The series of works begins with the 1983 Concerto for Viola, music by the composer at the age of 50, reflecting the current position of his compositional work a pluralism which combines all the possible aspects of his earlier writing experience. This began in 1959 with InchStrophesInch, his first point of contact with the west European avantgarde. This however had no further consequences, because Penderecki had already in 1965 in his Capriccio for Oboe condensed his very personal and bold experiments with material in the border region between sound and noise. Similarly in 1973 at the age of 40 when he wrote his little Intermezzo for Strings, he had already written his First Symphony, the emphatic work of his middle period. Only thereafter came the surprising shift in style - Penderecki's Inchromantic phaseInch - one of the results of which is the Concerto for Viola. Tabea Zimmermann viola / Mariusz Pedzialek oboe / Olga Szwajgier soprano / Amadeus Kammerorchester Posen / Agnieszka Duczmal conductor.

Krzysztof Penderecki is one of the most famous and prominent living Polish composers. Symphonies have a special place in his legacy, but until now have never been recorded in a series under his artistic direction. In celebration of his 80th birthday, DUX presents the best performances of his works with the Sinfonia luventus. His great musical authority influences the young musicians' energetic and fresh sound.