crocodile 8,012 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Multiple Polish outlets reported that he passed away this morning. I has been confirmed by the organisation led by his wife. https://nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/polish-composer-penderecki-dies-at-86-after-long-illness/amp RIP. He really made his mark in the history of music. I had a privileged of seeing him three times live. While his early experimental music is what most people know I actually like his later more neoromantic works as well. Karol John, Chen G., The Illustrious Jerry and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thor 7,504 Posted March 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 29, 2020 Damn! In terms of classical music in the last 100 years, it doesn't come much bigger than Penderecki. I wrote a small obituary, in Norwegian, here:https://montages.no/nyheter/krzysztof-penderecki-1933-2020/ I remember sitting just 5 meters away from him in Krakow a few years ago, I believe the first time he visited the festival himself. Goldenthal, who was also a guest there and sitting next to him, was basically reduced to a fanboy all night. Alas, I never got to meet or interview Penderecki myself, but I was honoured just being in his presence. crlbrg, SteveMc, The Illustrious Jerry and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,333 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 To my surprise, this is the only CD I have of him: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc 2,674 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post karelm 2,913 Posted March 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 29, 2020 His impact on film scoring was just as great as his impact on 20th century composers. His music was used effectively in Kubrick's The Shining, Children of Men, Shutter Island, Twin Peaks, and much else. His early concert work, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, practically invented its own notation system and that approach to composing was very influential in the 50's and 60's. He abandoned the avant-garde around mid-1970's and turned to Neo-romantacism around that time. For a jarring stylistic listening experience, listen to his Symphony No. 1 from 1973 and Symphony No. 2 from 1980, the former being of his earlier style and the latter being from his Neo-romantic style. Sweet photo that represents the breadth of his reach - Penderecki with Goldenthal. Corellian2019, SteveMc, The Illustrious Jerry and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 RIP. He opened all sorts of new tools and parameters for contemporary composers to build on. Though his later works deserve more credit than they get. His viola concerto is great! SteveMc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 RIP. One of the absolute greats of the last 100 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pawel P. 738 Posted March 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 29, 2020 I had an interview with Maestro eight years ago. Extremely nice man. During the interview, I asked, among other things, whether he was tempted to write something for a film himself, since his music was used by great directors, such as Kubrick, Scorsese or Wajda. "I don't want to waste time," he replied. "Besides, it would be a transition to the 'other side', which I don't want to do. "Other side?" I asked. "Look at John Williams. He composes very good music, various symphonies and concertos, he is comprehensively educated, he conducts, but everybody knows him only as a film composer. Similarly Ennio Morricone - even when he writes a mass, it's not as good and known as his film music. I think I'll stay on this side!" https://kultura.onet.pl/muzyka/gatunki/klasyka/szkoda-czasu-na-film/jn34jqn Gnome in Plaid, WilliamsStarShip2282, The Illustrious Jerry and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John 2,032 Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Rest in peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SteveMc 2,674 Posted March 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 29, 2020 1 hour ago, Pawel P. said: I had an interview with Maestro eight years ago. Extremely nice man. During the interview, I asked, among other things, whether he was tempted to write something for a film himself, since his music was used by great directors, such as Kubrick, Scorsese or Wajda. "I don't want to waste time," he replied. "Besides, it would be a transition to the 'other side', which I don't want to do. "Other side?" I asked. "Look at John Williams. He composes very good music, various symphonies and concertos, he is comprehensively educated, he conducts, but everybody knows him only as a film composer. Similarly Ennio Morricone - even when he writes a mass, it's not as good and known as his film music. I think I'll stay on this side!" https://kultura.onet.pl/muzyka/gatunki/klasyka/szkoda-czasu-na-film/jn34jqn Pity this perception of a divide that still exists, and I'm afraid that the pop composers who dominate film scoring do things no favors. But it's very refreshing to hear a great recognizing greatness when he hears it. The Illustrious Jerry, Chen G. and Holko 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnome in Plaid 219 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I think he truly was the greatest composer of the post-war era. I find everything he wrote phenomenal, even the post-1970 works that didn't get the same degree of critical attention. 6 hours ago, Pawel P. said: I had an interview with Maestro eight years ago. Extremely nice man. During the interview, I asked, among other things, whether he was tempted to write something for a film himself, since his music was used by great directors, such as Kubrick, Scorsese or Wajda. "I don't want to waste time," he replied. "Besides, it would be a transition to the 'other side', which I don't want to do. "Other side?" I asked. "Look at John Williams. He composes very good music, various symphonies and concertos, he is comprehensively educated, he conducts, but everybody knows him only as a film composer. Similarly Ennio Morricone - even when he writes a mass, it's not as good and known as his film music. I think I'll stay on this side!" https://kultura.onet.pl/muzyka/gatunki/klasyka/szkoda-czasu-na-film/jn34jqn Didn't he write scores for a few films in the 60s? I was also under the impression he composed some new music for Katyn, but I've only seen the film once and that was when it was released before I really had any knowledge of his music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,504 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 4 hours ago, Gnome in Plaid said: I think he truly was the greatest composer of the post-war era. I find everything he wrote phenomenal, even the post-1970 works that didn't get the same degree of critical attention. Didn't he write scores for a few films in the 60s? I was also under the impression he composed some new music for Katyn, but I've only seen the film once and that was when it was released before I really had any knowledge of his music. Yes, several shorts and documentaries for TV. And a few feature films, mostly smaller Polish films, but also THE SARAGOSSA DOCUMENT, which gained some fame outside Poland. As for KATYN, I think it was mostly existing music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawel P. 738 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Yes. it was. Wajda asked Pendercki if he could write the score for "Katyn" and he agreed at first, but when he saw the movie, some shots seemed too drastic and emotional to him. And this is because his uncle, chief of military staff, was among the more than twenty-one thousand Polish officers murdered by the Russians in 1940. The composer gave Andrzej Wajda full freedom in choosing fragments of his work. Wajda used "The Awakening of Jakub", Symphony No. 2 "Christmas" and Agnus Dei, Lux Aeterna and Ciaccona from "Polish Requiem" . The only movie for which Penderecki composed the score, apart from short experimental productions from the late 1950s and early 1960s, was indeed Wojciech Jerzy Has's "The Saragossa Manuscript" from 1965. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,504 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 In the interviews I've read (including the tidbit posted by Pawel above), Penderecki seemed to have a kind of "Andre Previn"-like relationship to film music. He's done it, but moved on, and in general had a bit of snobby relationship to the artform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brundlefly 2,385 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 12 hours ago, SteveMc said: Pity this perception of a divide that still exists, and I'm afraid that the pop composers who dominate film scoring do things no favors. But it's very refreshing to hear a great recognizing greatness when he hears it. Would there have been a place for him in film music industry? John Corigliano's only score from this decade got rejected... and that's not because the music was bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,511 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 A truly inspiring man. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,193 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 20 hours ago, SteveMc said: Pity this perception of a divide that still exists, and I'm afraid that the pop composers who dominate film scoring do things no favors. But it's very refreshing to hear a great recognizing greatness when he hears it. 9 hours ago, Thor said: In the interviews I've read (including the tidbit posted by Pawel above), Penderecki seemed to have a kind of "Andre Previn"-like relationship to film music. He's done it, but moved on, and in general had a bit of snobby relationship to the artform. At least the snippet above might just refer to why he didn't want to write film music himself, not necessarily to a negative view on the "genre" as such. Perhaps he just felt that writing film music would be too much of a change to his M.O. (modus operandi), hence him calling it "the other side". It doesn't sound like he's critical of Williams and Morricone in that comment, rather that he thought because they were so invested in film music, they were perhaps restricted by it when writing "freely". Previn certainly didn't seem to have a low opinion of good film music (after all, he still conducted some of it long after he'd turned his own back on Hollywood), but rather urged Williams to stop doing it because he thought he could do other great stuff that scoring films kept him from. I'm afraid I still only know Penderecki's music from various film that used it. I don't have anything him in my collection. I should change that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Film Fest Ghent 57 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Very sad news, may he rest in peace. He was already too ill to attend the World Soundtrack Awards last year, but on the occasion of Penderecki's Lifetime Achievement Award, Dirk Brossé conducted "Polymorphia": Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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