Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01

Krzysztof Penderecki (Composer), Antoni Wit (Conductor), The National Polish Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: The National Polish Symphony Orchestra in Katowice
• Conductor: Antoni Wit
• Composer: Krzysztof Penderecki
• Audio CD (February 22, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00004D3II
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #162,364 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An auspicious debut for Naxos' new Penderecki cycle, March 18, 2000

By 

Richard A. Cavalla "Rick.C" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01 (Audio CD)

This is a great start, not just to this cycle, but to anyone new to Penderecki. The bulk of the disc is the 45 minute Symphony No. 3, started in 1988 and completed in 1995. Like most of Penderecki's work of the last 30 years, it is very approachable and "neo-romantic", showing hints of everyone from Beethoven to Bruckner to Prokofiev, but mostly centering around Penderecki's unique and deeply personal style. It is certainly wild at times, with conductor Wit pushing the orchestra to its limits, but it is also highly melodic and memorable. Of special note is the virtuoso trumpet solo in the 2nd movement as well as the entire 3rd movement, an adagio that sits at the calm heart of the work; it reminds me of Bruckner with its glowing sonorities and long-breathed, expressive string melodies.
The second half of the disc takes us back to Penderecki's radical work of the 60s. The Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima is a modern classic, scored for 52 strings, though you will swear you hear woodwinds and percussion through Penderecki's revolutionary performance instructions. Their is little melody to be found in the work, but it is intense, harrowing, and gripping. Wit's performance may not be quite as wrenching as Penderecki's own with the same orchestra, but Wit brings out some details I had not heard in this dense score. The two remaining works, Fluorescences and De natura sonoris II, are not as intense as the Threnody, but are similar in their exploration of using unusual sounds in musical ways. Fluorescences features a brief appearance by a typewriter(!), the pounding on its keys in a catchy rhythmic pattern that will make you reassess where noise ends and music begins!
Special note has to go to conductor Antoni Wit and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. They play these works like men possessed, adding to an already impressive recording resume that includes the orchestral works of Lutoslawski, and concertos by Shostokovich and Prokofiev.
Finally, a word of thanks to the recording company, Naxos. Penderecki has been underserved on CD, and I am glad to see any new recordings, let alone at budget price! Why it took this long to get a work as exciting, melodic, and expressive as the 3rd Symphony to reach CD is nearly criminal.
Needless to say, I highly recommended purchasing this disc.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winning CD!, February 27, 2000

By 

Solanales (Saint Paul, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01 (Audio CD)

As an admirer of Penderecki's 1960 composition, "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", I was delighted to see that Naxos has issued a line of this composer's works at a bargain price. The Threnody is incisively played by the strings of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Third Symphony is very approachable, and indeed is almost Beethoven-esque in some of its stylistic elements. The symphony's forceful and demonic final movement (Vivace) is not one you would like to listen to alone in a dark house on a stormy night! "De Natura Sonoris II" and "Fluorescences" round out a generous collection of Penderecki's early and later compositions. The recording has lots of definition and somewhat forward balanced. A CD that is well worth the money!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent "Fluorescences", disappointing "Threnody", August 11, 2001

By 

"uaxuctum" (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01 (Audio CD)

Sorry, but I can't agree with the previous reviews in one aspect: Is it that nobody has listened to Penderecki's own rendering of the astonishing "Threnody"? That one (*) is the now-and-forever reference for that work.

(*) released by EMI on a CD (Matrix series no.5, with superb cover art by artist Peter Nevin) together with some other fine works as "Anaklasis", "Capriccio" and "De Natura Sonoris" I & II; and more recently on a 2-CD set (Double Forte series) together with also "Emanations" and the First Symphony (excellent works previously available separately in Matrix series no.17)

I had listened to that performance quite a lot of times, I knew the whole work by heart (and I had also read its ground-breaking graphic self-speaking score). Then I bought this disc, and I must say I was highly disappointed with Wit's rendering. Well, some timbral aspects of it aren't that bad (in fact, really interesting), but his overall comprehension of the work seems to me quite poor. He and the string orchestra didn't get the right dynamics and seem lost in details while losing the tremendous impact of the whole, as you can get in Penderecki's fabulous rendering. Penderecki's is an overwhelming and neatly tied performance, Wit's one sounds rather like a bundle of lost-in-labyrinth cries.

On the counterpart, I must say that his reading of "Fluorescences" is certainly the referential one. Here Wit really got it right. Every aspect of his performance here is excellent.

For the other two works: the Third Symphony is well performed, but the work itself is not at all comparable to such masterpieces as the "Threnody" and "Fluorescences" (Penderecki's best orchestral scores, along with "Polymorphia"). "De Natura sonoris II", on the other hand, has again been better performed by Penderecki himself in the already-mentioned recording.

So, buy this disc!! Its price is almost laughable, and some of its performances are first-class. But if you're interested in the amazing "Threnody", buy the one in EMI (which is mid-priced, even the Double Forte). And if you can afford it, you'd better buy both!!