Penderecki: Partita for harpsichord, electric guitar, bass-guitar, harp, double bass and orchestra

Krzysztof Penderecki (b1933) first came to international prominence with his Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima of 1960 (track 2 on disc 1 of this set). This lead to more success with the choral work St Luke's Passion. Now established as one of Poland's most important modern composers, Penderecki was at the forefront of a 1960s resurgence of avant-garde music from a country which at that time, it should be remembered, was under a repressive communist government. As well as Penderecki composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, Grazina Bacewicz, Kazimierz Serocki, Tadeusz Baird and Henryk Górecki took the West by storm. The works in this set all date from 1959-74 at a time when the composer was at the height of his new-found celebrity. Many of these 1970s recordings were made within just a year or so of their completion, quite a rare occurence for contemporary music at the time. Hollywood has made wide use of Penderecki's work in films like The Shining, The Exorcist, Shutter Island, Fearless and Children of Men.

Each of these six orchestral works bears the imprint of Penderecki’s greatness as a composer. Fonogrammi alternates piquant sonorities, pulsating vehemence and moments of great intimacy. Intensity accompanied by neo-Romantic elements can be heard in The Awakening of Jacob whilst Anaklasis is a stunning example of juxtaposed, multiple sound patterns. De natura sonoris I explores more improvisational, jazz-influenced areas, as does the richly orchestrated Partita. The Horn Concerto, composed in 2008, offers an evocative landscape, glacial, powerful, yet wistful.

Penderecki’s orchestral works are some of the most sonically spectacular of our time. He is one of the greatest of living composers and his music appeals to those who are fascinated by his earlier, more sensational works as by his later, more neo-Romantic turns of phrase.