Panufnik created his own language of composition which enabled him to create a specific emotional ambiance, always based on a very precisely planned and consistent structure.
Arithmetic and geometry were his tools. Before writing anything, he would draw a diagram, a sort of skeleton, which he filled in with notes throughout the process of composing. It gave him control over the balance between emotional and intellectual elements and Sinfonia di sfere may serve as the perfect example. It was written in 1974 – 1975 without any external motivation, which was often a source of inspiration for Panufnik.
Sinfonia di sfere – The Symphony of Spheres – my fifth symphony – is an abstract work and musical structure, created under the influence of geometry’s beauty and mystery. The title itself has nothing to do with the mystic philosophy of Pythagoras (Music of Spheres), nor with astrology (unlike Gustav Holst’s works inspired by the planets). In this piece, the idea of spheres has a double application. First of all, it is about the spheres of contemplative thoughts and feelings. Then, spheres were used as a geometrical figure, which contains and organises the music material.
This material can be also described using spheres: the sphere of harmony – based on two chords (nine minor thirds / two whole tones and eight major thirds / three minor thirds), built in symmetry. The sphere of rhythm – four groups of six notes each. The sphere of melody – based on a musical cell of three notes, constantly transposed, reversed and substituted. The sphere of dynamics – the use of swapping, symmetrically placed credscendi and diminuendi. The sphere of tempo – parts of slower and faster tempos, graduated appropriately. Finally the sphere of a form – a modified sonata cycle.
In the sphere of the orchestral sound, four brass instruments – trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba – are approached as solo instruments. An even more important role is played by twelve untuned drums, four for each drummer (I chose drums for their almost magical, primeval proprieties. In prehistoric times they were used for sending messages to distant lands or evoking the strongest emotions ). The three drummers are visibly separated on stage and placed on in the shape of a triangle: in the foreground on the left, in the back in the middle, in the foreground on the right. The sound of their drums constantly circles the orchestra – clockwise or counter clockwise – and is often colourised by piano parts.
The structure of the symphony can be presented in the form of a geometrical figure, consisting of three spheres, where each of them contains a lesser, concentric sphere. (…) I envisaged, that listeners’ perception as a sort of a disc that moves gradually from zero to the first, lower semicircle of sphere I, then to sphere II – still being affected by sphere I, it continues its rise through the second sphere’s upper structure and then goes higher and higher, through subsequent spheres, to the very end of the symphony. I hope that by this means, the listener would experience a feeling of entering the spheres of contemplative thoughts and emotions.
Sinfonia di sfere, completed in 1975, was performed in Poland for the first time no sooner than in 1994, after the composer’s death. The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra presented it at the Warsaw Autumn Festival under Antoni Wit’s baton.
Polish Music Information Centre, Polish Composers association, January 2004, Translated by W.O.