Krzysztof Penderecki: Sextet, String Trio, Cadenza, Per Slava, Divertimento

Chronique

Krzystof Penderecki's music has undergone important stylistic changes since the days of his breakthrough work Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960). Not least of these is his adoption of a more open tonality and a return to traditional forms and expressions, as is evident in his works of the 1980s and beyond. Yet one aspect of Penderecki's music that has remained consistent is his extraordinary handling of sonorities and advanced techniques, particularly with string instruments. The chamber works from his mature period demonstrate the same close attention to creating innovative sounds and timbres that made his early works seem utterly revolutionary. Now, with the passage of time, it is apparent that Penderecki's spiky effects in the String Trio (1990-1991), and elaborate contrapuntal voicings in the Cadenza for viola (1984), Per Slava (1986), and the Divertimento for cello (1994) are fully in line with the modernist chamber tradition, and that Penderecki's development is evolutionary. Even the Sextet for clarinet, horn, string trio, and piano (2000), for all its avant-garde frenzy and menace, is a tour de force of instrumental colors and textures that only a master orchestrator could accomplish. The members of the Prazak Quartet and their guests deliver vigorous performances in these 2005 performances, and Praga's multichannel DSD sound is spacious and resonant.
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