Krzysztof Penderecki: Piano Concerto "Resurrection" & Symphony No. 2 "Christmas" (Live)

Album review

The Warsaw Philharmonic is releasing another programme recorded during the 2021/2022 season, devoted to the music of Krzysztof Penderecki. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor Andrzej Boreyko chose two works by Penderecki that represented a return to tradition in his creative process.

The Second Symphony, "Christmas" was written around the turn of 1980 to a commission from Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. This work refers stylistically to the music of Anton Bruckner, and it is hard to discern here any of the avant-garde means of expression typical of Anaklasis or Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima. Its gloomy, reflective character evokes the atmosphere in Poland at that time rather than the Christmas mood suggested by the title. The "Resurrection" Piano Concerto was born – in the composer’s own words – "of a neoromantic spirit". Twenty years since its first performance in New York (Emanuel Ax, The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch), this work has become a staple in concert halls around the world, appreciated by audiences and performers alike. In December 2007 the Irish pianist Barry Douglas, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Krzysztof Penderecki, presented the work in its new version. And it is in that form and with the same soloist that the Concerto was recorded during concerts at the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. © CD Accord