Track Listing

1. Anaklasis, for string orchestra & percussion
2. Threnody (for the Victims of Hiroshima), for 52 strings
3. De Natura Sonoris I, for orchestra
4. Capriccio for violin & orchestra
5. Canticum canticorum Salomonis, for chorus & orchestra
6. De Natura Sonoris II, for orchestra
7. Fonogrammi, for flute & chamber orchestra
8. The Dream of Jacob, for orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58722 in Music
• Released on: 1994-03-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
This collection of Krysztof Penderecki's music encompasses one of New Music's most intense, even extreme pieces: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Played in the extreme registers by 52 string performers, this piece came off in every way as a careening lamentation. Decrying the bombing of Hiroshima at a time when it was still a historical blue ribbon on the war chest of the U.S., Threnody was unforgettable for its vast ranges of sound colors, from the quietest and most brittle to the most raging, swirling bruises imaginable. UNESCO officially selected the composition as one of the finest works of 1961, emblazoning Penderecki's name and the composition's flagrant intensity around the musical globe. The remaining pieces on the CD make this a stunning collection, much of it having functioned as the musical background for The Shining. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

THIS IS MUSIC!
This is THE essential collection of Penderecki works, concentrating on the youthful, ferocious instrumental pieces of the 1960s, along with a sample of his choral writing ("Canticum canticorum Salomonis"). Penderecki has gone through many stages since then, most recently as a somewhat conservatised elder statesman for 20th century Eastern European music. Most of his work is excellent, but for my money nothing compares to the intensity and imagination of "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima," one of the most terrifying, beautiful pieces of music of all time.

Look, the number of people who abhor this kind of stuff must be several billion. Ignore them. Yes, this is unforgivingly dissonant, elitist, at times physically painful music (as any piece about the bombing of Hiroshima should be), but if you listen and you let it draw you in, it can remind you (or teach you for the very first time) that there are places music can take you, states that music can put you in, that the vast majority of "music lovers" will never understand. But that's okay, there's plenty of PRODUCT out there for them. If you want to hear something truly genuine, if you want to immerse yourself in one of the great creative imaginations of our era, listen to Penderecki.

This IS music.

Horror has never been so clearly expressed...
I am not usually a fan of so-called "avant-garde" music. Though this may fit into that category, everything that Penderecki does seems to be used as a form of expression. What is he trying to express? Horror.

The very beginning of "Threnody" makes one flinch. I remember turning up the volume quite loud when listening to this, and upon doing so, I was in for quite a surprise. I had never heard music quite like this before. "Threnody" starts with a high, shrill note in the violins, and the rest join in. By the time this section is over, just about anything else that follows seems tame.

What amazed me was, although the work was brutally dissonant at times, there was a beauty in the dissonances. The jarring harmonies all seemed to fit in place. They made sense, though they might have been painful to listen to.

The capriccio was fascinating. The violinist was quite good, both technically and expressively. This piece is quite difficult to describe. The term "capriccio" makes one think that it is supposed to be humorous in some way... and in a sense it is, but in a way that is almost terrifying.

The Canticum Canticorum Salomonis was beautiful and haunting. The voices, like spirits, surround you, crying, gasping, whispering, and moaning. At times there seem to be tonal influences, though they are rare. Overall, this is probably my favorite track on the CD.

I would definitely recommend this CD, even to those without much experience with atonal music, if they are willing to give it a try. It really is beautiful, though the beauty can only be found when one realizes that this music is not supposed to be "pretty", it isn't supposed to be tonal, and it IS supposed to contain strong dissonances. That is how it gets its point across, and in that sense, Penderecki knew what he was doing.

Fragments of the better Penderecki.
This is, with no doubt, one of the most interesting CDs dedicated to the polish composer Krzysztov Penderecki, under the own composer as conductor, a very usual fact anyway in most of his CDs (DG, Chandos, Sony, Erato, Argo, Orfeo...).

The works here recollected come from the period in which I think Penderecki gave his best, and this is something I talked to him in person, in a way of asking him for going back to '60s innovation, vanguardism and a bit of wildness... but it's clear Mr. Penderecki is now in other way very different from the works this CDs presents.

From all this compositions the Threnody is the most popular and known, and probably one of his best ever works. The piece is presented in this version full of desesperation and chaos, controlled chaos, of course. I know Wit's version for Naxos and I really have to say this EMI one is the best I've listened. It's very graphycal to compare this version and Wit's one saying that this is watching and listening Hiroshima bombing from the ground of the own Hiroshima, while Wit's one is like watching it from the Enola Gay, as listening it from a distance, more clear, more controlled, but with no fear, horror, pain... If you want to feel the work and cry with it this is your version. I had a conversation with Krzysztov about this comparation, which he liked very much... and agreed.

The rest of the CD presents marvellous works, as the impressive Capriccio (Were the hands of the violinist complete after this playing?... I doubt it), which is one of the most difficult works for violin ever composed, with incredible entrances of the orchestra, specially metals.

You can listen too De Natura Sonoris I & II, which Stanley Kubrick took to his marvellous film The Shining, where this music finds an incredible home with fantastic Kubrick's direction and with the outstanding Nicholson's interpretation.

The only reason why I don't give this CD five stars is because I think the orchestra could be even better (It could be amazing to listen this works played by the Berliner Philharmonic ind a clear DDD recording), but the way they play, the sense is wonderful because it have the taste of the moment, the way of playing and feeling the music in the sixtees.

Anyway, I don't know any other version better for this works.