Polish music tonight at the Rabrrrrrr household - Penderecki and Gorecki

[Rabrrrrrr]

The Penderecki Polnishes Requiem (which is absolutely beautiful through and through), the Gorecki Symphony No. 3, and now some Gorecki string quartets.

[disillusioned1]

1. Wasn't Tchaikovsy (sp) Polish? n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. No, Tchaikovsky was Russian

:-)

Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.

[Squeech]

2. How about Lutoslawski?

He wrote a Concerto for Orchestra that rivals Bartok's, and a Requiem also inspired by Bartok. And I think I have a violin concerto around the house too. (Mrs. Squeech has a bunch of stuff piled up in front of the LP shelves, so I can't tell you for sure what I have, sorry!)

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. I might have something by him, I'm not sure

I'm familiar with the name, but not very familiar with his music.

[Squeech]

7. He was the generation before Penderecki

My understanding is that he was generally recognized as Poland's best 20th century composer before Penderecki showed up and blew everybody's mind (and helped Lutoslawski get over his crush on Bartok).

I think I first heard his music on the B side of a Penderecki LP.

Penderecki is the more original composer, however. I remember I once saw some of Penderecki's music in score. In some of his pieces he tells the violins to play a huge tone cluster, assigning a different note to each violin. This is represented on the staff as a huge blob of black, covering the range of notes he wants played. It sounds as scary as it looks.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. I've seen Penderecki's score for "Threnody for Hiroshima" too

That also is full of lines and blocks and blobs.

And Crumb's score for "Black Angels" - forget it! Talk about bizarre.

[ironflange]

12. That's a typical looking Crumb score

I've fiddled around with "Makrokosmos," it's a lot of fun.

Ever heard any Szymanowski? Lush, juicy stuff.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Oooh yes - his Stabat Mater is woooooooooooow

Had the pleasure of hearing a performance of that in the Princeton Chapel in a concert that was the Stabat Mater and Durufle's Requiem.

An incredible space for those two pieces. Friend of mine was conducting it, and she told me to sit way back in the balcony. And damn, we were far away, but she was right - screw being able to see. The sound, by the time it got back there, was incredible.

made me an instant Szymanowski fan. (I was already long a Durufle fan)

[hippiechick]

3. The Gorecki # 3 is awesome ...

I remember having to write a final essay exam for Historical Perspectives on Social Change (college) ... I gathered my notes, put on my headphones w/ Gorecki streaming in, and the next thing I knew I had written 15 pages ..

Got an "A", too :)


:hippie:

[FuzzySlippers]

5. Oh damn, that reminds me!

I missed Lawrence Welk tonight.

[babylonsister]

18. Sadly, I saw part of that..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Penderecki rocks.

A bazillion years ago, I actually got to be in a choir performing the St. Luke Passion. Way cool. Way hard, but way cool.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. That would be cool - he writes for voices in such an amazingly different

way, and gets incredible sounds from them.

What were the markings like on the score?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Mostly traditional notation,

lots of densely clustered voices. There was some notation showing vocal slides and shouting, but I don't remember quite what they looked like. This was a long time ago -- 1969. Carnegie Hall, believe it or not, we did the New York premiere with Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra (I was in a college choir that got to be part of this). We had to use pitch pipes sometimes to find our notes. It was very hard, but really fun -- I just found the program I'd stashed away - it was March 6, 1969. Damn, I'm old. Is Penderecki still working? Says he was born in 1933, so he should still be around.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Sounds pretty cool! Were you using pitch pipes during the performance?

I could see the need for them...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Yes, very subtly.

But we got pretty good at finding our pitch in the midst of the blur. I think I could still sing parts of it -- wish I still had the score. I do have an old LP of it, though.

[alfredo]

11. Saw Penderecki with Yo Yo Ma.

That was a real hoot. He confused the hell out of that central Kentucky audience.
I loved it.


Tonight it is Miles Davis "On The Corner." Yesssssssss

[Bluebear]

14. Andrzej Panufnik - Sinfonia Sarca

another modern Polish gem.