- Title: ISRAEL: Penderecki captivates audiences with his Polish Requiem
- Date: 13th February 2014
- Summary: MORE OF DRESS REHEARSAL "POLISH REQUIEM" NOTES HAIFA, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 10, 2014) (REUTERS) AUDIENCE WHO CAME TO LISTEN TO CONCERT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHOSH DUB, MEMBER OF AUDIENCE WHO LISTENED TO "POLISH REQUIEM" CONCERT, SAYING: "It's very interesting, once in a lifetime I think, to have somebody like this conducting his own requiem." PENDERECKI CONDUCTING LAST PHRAS
- Embargoed: 28th February 2014 12:00
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- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Reuters ID: LVADVN8F6WN9HF4ZZM6FG20IGOQ7
- Story Text: Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki tries to paint history in music and inspire audiences with sounds of the modern era but despite having written many works, his Polish Requiem has become a significant calling card.
Penderecki, one of the world's leading living composers, is currently performing his monumental work which has gained rare appeal for modern work with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
"Emotionally I'm very much involved in this piece because, you know, the piece tells us the story about our history and the history of the last decades to which I was a witness, as well. So I think it's very moving for me, again and again doing this piece. It's not just a piece of music, it's a little more," Penderecki told Reuters in an interview during rehearsals in Tel Aviv this week.
He embarked on what evolved into an expansive requiem in 1980 with the small, hauntingly beautiful "Lacrimosa" section which was commissioned for the unveiling of the Solidarity trade union monument at Gdansk shipyards which spearheaded the fall of communist rule in Poland.
Penderecki said it was the idea of then-Solidarity trade union leader and future Polish president Lech Walesa.
Other sections are dedicated to significant events in Polish history such as the Jewish uprising against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto of 1943 (Dies Irae) and the 1940 Soviet massacre of some 22,000 Poles in Katyn (Libera me, Domine).
For a contemporary work of less than 40 years, the requiem's popularity is manifested in the relatively large number of performances it has received.
Penderecki said he has performed it over 100 times.
The Polish Requiem is the latest big setting of the genre that began with Mozart, Italian composer Luigi Cherubini's C Minor composition of 1816 and significant subsequent renditions by Brahms, Berlioz, Verdi and Britten.
Penderecki said he thought that setting to music text from the Catholic mass for the dead has become ever harder and will pose challenges for composers wishing to tackle a future requiem setting.
The sprightly octogenarian said he was constantly at work on three or four compositions.
He has been commissioned to write a major work to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the World War One, which will be performed in Brussels in November.
He is also writing a new opera, "Phaedra" from Greek mythology based on the tale by French 17-century playwright Jean Racin, which has been ordered by the Vienna State Opera.
In January last year, he performed a new Missa Brevis written to mark the 800th anniversary of the founding of St. Thomas's School in Leipzig which has become synonymous with Johan Sebastian Bach, who worked there in the 18th century.
Krakow-born Penderecki said he began composing at age six or seven. His first piece was a Polonaise for violin and piano as a gift for the birthday of his grandmother.
In the subsequent seven decades he has written dozens of compositions, from solo pieces, to large orchestral and choral works. He has also written film scores, including for William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining".
Emerging as a composer of note in the late 1950's and early '60's, he developed into a leading writer of avant-garde music, including electronic works but he was criticised by fellow contemporary composers when he abandoned the harsh sounds of the modern style in favour of less extreme musical forms.
"All my music which I wrote, all the music is played. Of course there are some very avant-garde pieces, very important pieces, I think, and then maybe less avant-garde But I mean, this music is from our time, not talking avant-garde or not, but it's written for people who live now and they understand my music and they enjoy also my music," he said.
Penderecki matured as a composer while Poland was under communist rule but he said he was never obliged or pressured to write according to the dictates of the regime.
He said he feels his music has managed to reach his audience.
"You know, writing music is something very natural because since I was five or six I was already writing music. So, you know, this is the way to communicate with other people. I am not a writer, I'm not a story teller but a composer and I like to communicate to say something
very important. I'm trying to do it," he said.
Penderecki listed "Beethoven, Monteverdi and all the romantic composers" as a main influence on his writing. He has so far written eight symphonies, although the sixth is not complete.
He said he planned to write a ninth one, hinting that he is aiming for the marker laid down by Beethoven and which has been followed by some of the great symphonic composers after him. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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