The Warsaw Autumn Festival

October 25, 2022, 8:00 pm

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Witold Lutosławski
Witold Lutosławski (Photo: Karol Langner, via Wikimedia Commons)

Though Poland didn’t escape communist rule until the 1980s, Stalin’s death in 1953 led to the relaxing of some laws regarding culture and politics. Created in 1956, the Warsaw Autumn Festival is the largest annual international Polish festival of contemporary music and has long been one of the most important events for the development of Poland’s composers. In this program for Polish Heritage Month, host Adela Skowronski takes a look at three of the most influential composers whose works premiered in the first years of the festival: Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Górecki, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Playlist

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) (excerpt)
Penderecki, Krzysztof
Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra/Krzysztof Penderecki
EMI
CDM5-65077-2

“Scontri” – Collisions, Op. 17 (excerpt)
Górecki, Henryk
The Polish National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice/Jan Krenz
Olympia Compact Discs

Six Children’s Songs
#6, “The Birds’ Gossip”
Urszula Kryger, s; Polish National Radio Sym/Antoni
Naxos
8.555763

Dance Preludes
Lutosławski, Witold
Eduard Brunner, clarinet; Bavarian Radio SO/Witold Lutosławski
Philips
416 817-2

Piano Concerto (excerpt)
II. Presto – Poco meno mosso – Lento
Lutosławski, Witold
Krystian Zimerman, p; Berlin Phil/Simon Rattle
DG
4794518

Violin Concerto No. 2, “Metamorphosen”
I. Allegro ma non troppo
Penderecki, Krzysztof
Anne-Sophie Mutter,v;London Sym Orch/Krzysztof Penderecki
Hommage à Penderecki – Anne-Sophie Mutter
DG
4835163

Symphony #3, Op 36, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”
Lento e largo—Tranquillissimo II
Górecki, Henryk
Dawn Upshaw, s; London Sinfonietta/David Zinman
Nonesuch
79282-2

Piesn Cherubinów
Penderecki, Krzysztof
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir/Penderecki
Warsaw Philharmonic: Penderecki Conducts Penderecki Vol. 2
Warner Classics
0190295819552