On this day,

November 23, 1933

Polish composer and conductor

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki

was born

n Dębica, Poland

Among his best known works are Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, his St. Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. Penderecki composed four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works.

Penderecki left us last March.

Some of Penderecki’s music has been adapted for film soundtracks.

The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) • Wojciech Jerzy Has
Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime (1968) • Alain Resnais
The Exorcist (1973) • William Friedkin
The Wanderers (1979) • Philip Kaufman
The Shining (1980) • Stanley Kubrick
Heavy Metal (1981) • Gerald Potterton
Inland Empire (2006) • David Lynch
Children of Men (2006) • Alfonso Cuarón
Katyń (2007) • Andrzej Wajda
Shutter Island (2009) • Martin Scorsese
Demon (2015) • Marcin Wrona
Twin Peaks (2017) • David Lynch
Black Mirror ‘Metalhead’ (2017) • David Slade

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❝ For me, music is pure abstraction.❞

❝ Listening to classical music is like reading philosophy books, not everybody has to do it. Music is not for everybody.❞

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❝ In my own works I am an obsessionist. Though I write humorous music too, much of it has been obsessed by death and the tragic.❞

Listening to:

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Metamorphosen – Violin Concerto Nº2

Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin • MDR Sinfonieorchester • Dir. Mariss Jansons
Recorded: Leipzig, Gewandhaus, 24.06.1995

and

6. Andante con moto

again from Metamorphosen – Violin Concerto Nº2

with Krzysztof Penderecki directing the London Symphony Orchestra,

again with Anne-Sophie Mutter

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Enjoy!

✽

Stay Safe!