Krzysztof Penderecki - A sea of dreams did breathe on me... (Antoni Wit)

Information

Composer: Krzysztof Penderecki

• Part I 'The enchanted garden'
• Part II 'What is the night saying?'
• Part III 'I visited you in these near-final days...'

Olga Pasichnyk, soprano

Ewa Marcinie, mezzo-soprano

Jarosław Bręk, baritone

Warsaw Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra

Antoni Wit, conductor

Date: 2015

Label: Naxos

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Review

Commissioned for the final concert of the Chopin bicentenary celebrations in Warsaw five years ago, Penderecki’s extended song-cycle takes time to establish its connection with the great Polish composer himself. But several numbers in the final section are drawn from Cyprian Norwid’s celebrated poem Chopin’s Piano, in which Poland’s sufferings are symbolised by the fate of the composer’s piano – thrown out of a first-floor window by tsarist troops – and which also invokes in the enduring spirit of his music itself.

This is the most monumental section of a work that right from the almost impressionistic lightness of its opening lives up to its subtitle, ‘Songs of reflection and nostalgia’. Arranged with gathering intensity, the 21 numbers comprising the cycle are all drawn from Romantic and contemporary Polish poetry, much as German poems served as the foundation of Penderecki’s Eighth Symphony of 2005.

Scored for soprano, mezzo, baritone, chorus and orchestra, the music is attractive but never obvious; as the tone darkens, especially in some of the baritone solos, the music almost recalls the vocal settings of late Shostakovich. The mezzo is heard first, and Ewa Marciniec sings warmly, yet it is perhaps Olga Pasichnyk who makes the most moving impression with her searing soprano. Antoni Wit and his Warsaw Philharmonic forces once again serve the composer strongly. The work can also be recommended as an attractive anthology of Polish poetry: Adam Mickiewicz, no less, is included, but fewer listeners will be familiar with Tadeusz Mici´nski, from whose lines the piece draws its title.

— John Allison

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Krzysztof Penderecki (23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer. After graduating from the Academy of Music in Kraków, he began teaching there and gained international recognition. His innovative compositions, characterized by experimental sonorities and distinctive orchestral techniques, include Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, St. Luke Passion, Anaklasis, Utrenja and Polish Requiem. His output also include 5 operas, 8 symphonies, concertos, chamber works and numerous choral compositions. Penderecki received many prestigious honors, including 4 Grammy Awards.

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Antoni Wit (born 7 February 1944) is a Polish conductor. Educated in conducting at the Academy of Music in Kraków and in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, he also holds a law degree from Jagiellonian University. Following success at the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition, he led major Polish orchestras, serving as director of the Warsaw Philharmonic from 2001 to 2013 and later as music director of Spain's Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra. Wit has made over 200 records, earning numerous international awards, including a GRAMMY Award, for his acclaimed interpretations of Polish and classical repertoire.

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