Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, photo credit: Czesław Czapliński/FOTONOVA / East News; Krzysztof Penderecki, photo credit: Jan Morek /Forum; Witold Lutosławski, photo credit: Juliusz Multarzyński © IMIT
National Audiovisual Institute has launched the Three Composers website with the goal of popularizing the work of contemporary Polish composers: Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, and Krzysztof Penderecki.
The three composers’ achievements cannot be overstated. Witold Lutosławski’s music remains a perfect example of the “contemporary classical style” and demonstrates the most important aspects of contemporary composition; harmony, melody, and form. Similarly, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki has enriched Polish music in the mid-1990s, primarily with his original approach to sound, honesty of artistic expression, and depth of spiritual reflection. Finally, Krzysztof Penderecki incoporated into his pieces novel solutions regarding sound, texture, and notation, allowing his name in the 1960s to became almost synonymous with the Polish (and not only Polish) avant-garde.
Covering a total of 320 recordings and 380 entries, the website is home to the largest publicly available repository of the work of these three composers, including great concert and theatrical pieces alongside scores for film, theater, and radio, as well as popular songs. Majority of the online collection comprises recordings from the archives of Polish Radio, digitized at the initiative of the National Audiovisual Institute as part of the Culture+ Long Term Program.
A visually-enhanced timeline as well as a a glossary of terms associated with the work of the three artists, place major events in their lifetimes within historical and cultural context of the 20th and 21st centuries. Entries devoted to individual pieces are enriched with contextual material such as the composers’ own statements about the work, and opinions by critics, musicologists and family members. An insightful comment is by young Warsaw-based composer Jagoda Szmytka, who notes:
Szmytka:
“Taking into consideration the political climate in which they composed their pieces, one might claim that the desire for freedom was one of the driving forces behind their work — and at once a quality of Polish music in general.”
2013, designated the Year of Witold Lutosławski by the Polish Sejm, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the composer, as well as the 80th birthdays of the latter two. By making this internet project a part of this year’s commemorative program, the English version of the site hopes to reach an international audience and show that contemporary music need not be impenetrable and hermetic, as illustrated by the works of these three outstanding Poles.
Visit Three Composers
Edited by E.M., 03/12/2013