Andrzej Panufnik at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, 1990., photo by Aleksander Jałosiński / Forum
The London Symphony Orchestra, directed by Michael Francis, will perform two works by the Polish composer on this occasion: Sinfonia Sacra (Symphony No.3) (1963) and Lullaby for 29 string instruments and two harps (1947).
The concert will also feature compositions by Antonin Dvorak – Symphony No. 9 in E Minor - From the New World, and Violin Concerto in A Minor. The solo part of the concert will be performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Andrzej Panufnik was creating orchestral works throughout his life; he composed as many as 12 symphonies (two of them vanished during the Second World War), 7 instrumental concertos, and a number of character pieces – conceived for an orchestra, but intended as less formal pieces. The latter group includes the Lullaby for strings and harps. Panufnik is said to have been haunted by the piece at the moment when he “was looking at the water of the River Thames, and was concurrently reminded of the folk tune Przyjechał do niej (He Came to Her)” (Małgorzata Komorowska, Ruch Muzyczny no. 19, 2001). The piece derives from the 1940s, a very early stage of Panufnik’s activity, during which the composer was consequently fulfilling two of his major artistic needs (which to a certain extent were contradictory): that of experimenting and of rooting his work in musical tradition.
Sinfonia Sacra was composed for the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Polish state. It contains quotations from Bogurodzica, the oldest Polish hymn, and from the Hours of the Virgin (Godzinki) service. It acts as an expression of Panufnik’s patriotic and religious feelings. Panufnik tended to be more attentive to the spiritual and emotional subject matters than to the purely technical aspects of composing music.
The Panufnik Centenary, featuring a series of events to celebrate the composer’s centenary of birth, is organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Calendar of events of Andrzej Panufnik Year is available at panufnik.com.
Editor: AG, 18.12.2013
Translated by AM, 19.12.2013