Krzysztof Penderecki - Te Deum (Antoni Wit)

Information

Composer: Krzysztof Penderecki

• (01) Te Deum
• (04) Hymne an den heiligen Daniel
• (05) Polymorphia
• (06) Polskie Requiem: Chaconne

Izabela Kłosińska, soprano; Agnieszka Rehlis, mezzo-soprano
Adam Zdunikowski, tenor; Piotr Nowacki, bass

Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra
Antoni Wit, conductor

Date: 2007
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557980

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Review

The intensely conservative musical language adopted by Penderecki for his setting of the Te Deum (1980) might be fitting, given his aim of marking the appointment of the theologically conservative Pope John Paul II. But even John Paul might have raised an eyebrow at the composer’s radical strategy of turning this hymn of praise into a sombre, occasionally hectic lament. The music, sounding more self-pitying than reverent, drags its way forward as if in penance for all the sins of mankind, and there’s little even these dedicated performers can do to give it the spark of life.

The other three works go some way to restoring one’s faith in the composer’s judgement. Polymorphia for strings (1961) is a classic example of his early brutalism, and the consonance, tacked on at the end after 11 minutes of strident dissonance have culminated in a positive tsunami of sound, is one of the most bizarre examples in all music of a composer’s misplaced sense of humour. Hymn to the Blessed Daniel (1995) has no humour, but a good deal of energy gives its fervent celebration (in Old Slavonic) of a Russian saint some genuine impact, despite the stop-go structure. Finally, it’s back to Pope John Paul II with the recent Chaconne for strings in his memory. This risks blandness but, in the end, character wins out over cliché.

Antoni Wit makes sure that the performances of the three shorter works bring maximum animation to the musical processes, and the robust recordings keep in step.

-- Arnold Whittall, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classical-music.com/review/penderecki-18
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs57980a.php
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Nov07/Penderecki_TeDeum_8557980.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/Jan08/Penderecki_TeDeum_8557980.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.557980&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Deum-Polymorphia-Polish-Requiem-Chaconne/dp/B000U7V9EY

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Krzysztof Penderecki (23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) is a Polish composer and conductor. He studied music at Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Music in Kraków. Penderecki has composed four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works. Among his best known works are Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, his St. Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. In 2012, The Guardian called him the Poland's greatest living composer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Penderecki
http://www.krzysztofpenderecki.eu/en/

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Antoni Wit (born February 7, 1944 in Kraków) is a Polish conductor. He studied with Henryk Czyż, Krzysztof Penderecki and Nadia Boulanger. He has recorded over 90 albums, most of them for the Naxos label, and many of them with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, of which he managed and was artistic director from 1983 to 2000. Since year 2002 he has been music director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Wit specializes in the works of Polish composers such as Henryk Gorecki, Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski and Krzysztof Penderecki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Wit

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