Mid-century, Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991) was probably foremost among a group of Polish composers that included Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Bacewicz and Gorecki. After defecting in 1954, he did not find the Western musical world particularly welcoming, which is a shame because his music was – and is – as catchy and engaging as anything written in the 20th Century, despite the complex theory that girds it. Not counting the large body of work completed before WWII, which burned, he wrote 10 symphonies, five concertos, and a sizable body of chamber music while living in England. And it’s all really good, at least everything I’ve heard so far. It is music that people who are not classical music fans would like. Or love.
Panufnik’s life story is worth reading about. He survived WWII in Poland, playing underground concerts in Warsaw as part of a piano duo with Lutoslawski (classical music is the jazz of Europe, it is worth remembering…) and writing anthems for the resistance, the most famous of which can be heard in this program. All of his work up to the war’s end, however, was incinerated, and he had to start over. Stalinite art censors in Soviet-bloc postwar Poland drove Panufnik to defect, which – for the youngsters out there – was dangerous and complicated. Settling in the U.K. (he was regarded as suspicious by American authorities, then in the McCarthy-ite commie-hunting frenzy…), he faded into the background, despite support from no less then Ralph Vaughan Williams and commissions from the world’s top conductors and orchestras. He was, in the end, appreciated in England towards the end of his life, and was knighted; in Poland, which he returned to only after the Soviet bloc collapsed, he is a giant. He is considered a top-tier composer in Europe, moreover.
Panufnik’s daughter Roxanna (1968- ), meanwhile, has established herself as one of England’s preeminent composers on her own merits. Her chamber music, songs and choral works have been recorded by labels like EMI, BIS, Signum and Chandos.
This is a great show, featuring music by both father and daughter.
Roxanna Panufnik – Memories of My Father; I. O Tu, Andrzej
Brodsky Quartet w/ Robert Smissen (va) & Robert May (c)
Messages: Chamber Work for Strings, Andrzej & Roxanna Panufnik
Chandos
Andrzej Panufnik: Suita polska, “Hommage à Chopin”: I. Andante (Arr. R. Panufnik)
Clare Hammond
Reflections – Solo Piano Works of Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik
BIS
Andrzej Panufnik: Suita polska (Hommage a Chopin) (1949)
(version for flute and string orchestra)
Lucasz Borowicz: Polish NRSO w/ w/ Lukasz Dlugosz (f)
Andrzej Panufnik: Symphonic Works, v. 3
CPO
Andrzej Panufnik: Sinfonia rustica (Symphony No. 1, 1948/1955)
IV. Allegro
Lukasz Borowicz: Polish Radio SO
Andrzej Panufnik: Symphonic Works, v. 2
CPO
Andrzej Panufnik: “Warszawskie dzieci” (Children of Warsaw)
Sara LeMesh (soprano) and Allegra Chapman (p)
live performance
Youtube
Andrzej Panufnik: Violin Concerto (1971)
Piotr Plawner w/ Jürgen Bruns: Kammersymphonie Berlin
Polish Violin Concertos
Naxos
Roxanna Panufnik: “Zen Love Song”
Barnaby Smith: VOCES8 and Kiku Day
Roxanna Panufnik: Love Abides
Signum
Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No. 10 (1988, rev. 1990)
Kazmierz Kord: Warsaw National PO
A. Panufnik Cello Concerto & Symphonies 3 & 10
Accord (PL)
| Andrzej Panufnik: Cello Concerto (1991, premiered 1992) Mstislav Rostropovich w/ Hugh Wolff: London SO NMC Panufnik Cello Concerto (single) NMC |
A. & R. Panufnik: Modlitwa
Brodsky Quartet w/ Robert Smissen (va) & Robert May (c)
Panufniks Chamber Music
Chandos
Concentration Camp 