Abstract
This Brunch & Lunch Concert is dedicated to the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (*1933), one of the most successful contemporary composers of his generation. Although he was one of the torchbearers of the avant-garde in the early 1960s, he left his experimental phase behind him shortly after that, returning to a more tonal musical language that sought contact with tradition. His works are often used in films, as in in Kubrick's «The Shining» or Scorsese’s «Shutter Island.» His compositions have also become world famous thanks to the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, with whom he has enjoyed a long collaboration. In the 1950s, the Sonata for Violin and Piano and the 3 miniature per clarinetto e pianoforte were composed, the Duo concertante (2010) with violin and double bass as well as a work for string trio and clarinet (1993) have an unusual instrumentation. The latter was composed on Lake Geneva, and was influenced by Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, whose world-weary spirit Penderecki wanted to capture with his own clarinet quartet. Besides the Cadenza per viola sola, performed here in a version for violin, the program closes with the brilliant virtuoso chamber music work Blätter eines nicht geschriebenen Tagebuch, in a version with double bass (2014), which features reminiscences of the waltz and elements from Eastern European folk music.