Called "Korean", even though the name does not appear on the score, Krzysztof Penderecki's "Symphony No. 5" was commissioned by the International Cultural Society of Korea for the 50th anniversary of liberation of Korea from the Japanese occupation.
Called "Korean", even though the name does not appear on the score, Krzysztof Penderecki's Symphony No. 5 was commissioned by the International Cultural Society of Korea for the 50th anniversary of liberation of Korea from the Japanese occupation, and was premiered by the Korean Radio Symphony Orchestra under the composer on 14th August 1992.
Although a single-movement work, Symphony No. 5 has a highly varied structure, whose highlight - and a reference to the occasion for which it was composed - is the incorporation of an old Korean patriotic song, banned under the Japanese occupation. A symbol of Korean independence, the tune uses just three sounds: b, f and c.
This is how Tadeusz Zieliński comments on Symphony No. 5 in a latest study of Penderecki's instrumental music:
"Despite the rough surface, 'Symphony No. 5' is a monumental romantic drama rich in deep emotions, great emotional contrasts, exuberant pathos as well as scherzo-like playfulness, various tangled motifs, rich and varied colours. Somewhere there lurk the spirits of Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss and Shostakovich behind the dramatic pulse of this (and of the earlier) symphonies. One may therefore say that this music is turned towards both history and modernity, what with its bold sound language that is radically remote from the tradition" (Tadeusz A. Zieliński, "Dramat instrumentalny Pendereckiego", PWM, Kraków 2003, p. 94).
And this is how Penderecki himself speaks about his symphonic music:
"If someone had the idea of calling my symphonic works 'cathedrals of uselessness', they should know that I gave up the world-saving temptation long ago. I am keen, however, to save the things which are the most important to me in the artistic and human dimensions" (Krzysztof Penderecki, "Labirynt czasu. Pięć wykładów na koniec wieku", Presspublica, Warszawa 1997, p. 61)
Prepared by the Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers' Union, April 2004.