Welcome to The World and Music of Krzysztof Penderecki, I?m Christopher Coleman from the Department of Music and Fine Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University. In the first episode I discussed how composers are, in some sense, psychologists of sound; using manipulations not only of pitch, but also of activity, volume, tone color and the like to create states of tension and relaxation. It is this that conveys emotional meaning within a work, and in the broadest terms this kind of manipulation is and has been characteristic of composers from at least the Renaissance to the modern day. Now I?d like to continue to pursue these ideas and discuss how audiences come to terms with new sounds to help us understand what we might find unfamiliar, even initially undesirable or unrewarding, in contemporary music. And the music of Penderecki is a perfect place to find this understanding, as it is such a music of emotions.

Let?s open with a short extract from Penderecki?s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra #2, subtitled Metamorphoses. This is one of the works Penderecki will be conducting in concert with the Hong Kong Philharmonic next week, on the 17th and 18th. In this recording the performance is by Anne-Sophie Mutter and the London Symphony Orchestra with the composer conducting. This is a sophisticated example, with many subtle changes of emotion between playful and dramatic states. As you listen, be aware of the overall mood created and ask yourself how that is done. Are there changes in mood, and if so, what makes them occur?

In general, the softer passages with more regular rhythms are less tense--the playful character is created largely with the brisk tempo and shorter notes. As the tempo becomes faster and dynamics become louder, tension increases and the music becomes more dramatic. Part of this is a physiological reaction on our part--loud sounds of any sort create stress and tension--simply walk outside in the city and you will experience this. I don?t mean to imply that the pitches are unimportant in creating the mood--but they are only a single factor, and not, I suspect, the most immediately compelling.

Let?s continue with this same piece and hear a longer passage that occurs later in the work. In addition to those aspects I?ve already discussed, this example shows us how range and register can be used to create tension--as the musical line rises, our sense of tension increases. Again, this is probably at least partly a physiological reaction--we respond to higher sounds the way we do because our voices rise as we become nervous or excited. There is an additional aspect of the unexpected--if the music rises beyond a certain point, we begin to wonder what will happen next. Physically there is a limit to our hearing that a composer or performer cannot go beyond, but we are lead to question how close to that limit they will get, and how they will eventually move away from that limit.

I am, of course, simplifying the issues. There are many passages in all of music that are high and beautiful and not at all tense. In these cases the other parameters --pitch (particularly relations of consonance and dissonance), dynamics, activity and so forth are used in such a way to overcome the innate connection between high register and tension. This rich network of interrelationships is one of the joys of composition, and part of what makes the study of musical expression so very fascinating. Not only are composers psychologists of sound, but they are also magicians of sound, using sleight of hand to draw your attention first one direction, then another, and then give you something altogether unexpected and delightful.

Now we?ll turn to an early work of Penderecki?s, the De Natura Sonoris II (On the Nature of Sound II). This comes from the end of the composer?s experimental period--there are fewer of the harsh shrieks so prevalent in the Threnody to the Vicitms of Hiroshima, but the main interest still lies in the unique sound world Penderecki creates in which tone color plays a more important role than pitch. The piece is essentially a large arch, beginning quietly and growing to an extreme climax, then subsiding as it began. Here is a performance by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra composed by Antoni Wit.

De Natura Sonoris II complete
Track 8: 8:59
Naxos 8.554491 (Penderecki Orchestral Works Vol. 1)

This piece leads us to an examination of how audiences come to terms with these sounds, which initially seem so totally radical. The techniques used in this piece are not substantially different than those used in Penderecki?s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, and yet De Natura Sonoris II has not caught the public?s attention in the same way. Why might this be, when the Threnody is so much more unrelenting, so much more consistently tense and demanding? The answer lies in the public?s understanding of the relationship between the new techniques and sounds and the emotions intended. That the Threnody is a lament for the largest mass death in human history almost requires histrionics for its expression. That this is a new kind of horror calls out for a new kind of declaration; and that the quality of the horror matches perfectly the extreme tension presented in the music is understood, if not appreciated, by any audience member. The connection between emotion and musical technique is arises through the techniques I?ve described earlier, but it is confirmed through the extra-musical means of the title of the piece. The listener knows he is on the right track. But in a piece entitled On the Nature of Sound the listener is given no guidance at all--not only may he not be on the right track, but he may question whether there is any track at all. Without the extramusical confirmation of a title or a song text or a programme, the challenge to the listener to understand the emotional meaning; or to accept that the emotional meaning he does understand is a valid one, is much more demanding. Throughout the history of music composers have often introduced new sounds and techniques in association by some extramusical connection, whether it be the low sonorities in Josquin?s Absalom Fili Mi reflecting the descent into the grave; the cannons and church bells of Tchaikovsky?s 1812 Overture; or as here, in this very short excerpt from the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, where the distorted sounds of winds and strings depict the dance of the witches sabbath.

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Track 5: 8:29--8:50
Philips 434 402-2
(This passage is near the end of the last movement, in which the strings are playing col legno and the woodwinds are trilling most of the notes of the melody)

I have no doubt that had Penderecki kept the original title of the Threnody, that is, 8?37", the piece would not have enjoyed the popular success that it has. As a composition it would be no worse or better than it is now, and certainly the new techniques of sound mass composition that so enamored the avant-garde would have excited that same small group of conniseurs regardless of the title. But the public at large needs confirmation, if not guidance, in a work this new.

From Berlioz?s witches let us turn to Penderecki?s devils. The next extract we will hear is from his opera, The Devils of Loudun, which was premiered in 1969. We?ll hear the ending of the second act--an extract about 11 minutes long. In this selection, without going into detail into the very complex plot, an exorcism is attempted on a young nun who may be possessed, may be schizophrenic or may simply be revolting against the restrictions imposed on her by the convent. This work demonstrates a style of Penderecki?s writing that we?ve not heard on this series before--the influence of Germanic expressionism, especially that of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg.

The Devils of Loudun
CD 1, band 18 (complete)
Philips 446328

Again, the emotional state of the music is confirmed by the extramusical connection of the storyline and text. We just have time for one final example, the fifth movement from Penderecki?s most recent symphony, the absolutely stunning Symphony #7, the Seven Gates of Jerusalem. Here the text is from the Book of Psalms, and the aggressive mood of the music reflects the strength of the Lord in protecting his chosen people, and the strife they have suffered. But when there is a call for peace, the entire tone of the work changes--almost as if there were two different movements juxtaposed into one.

The Seven Gates of Jerusalem
Track 5, complete (16:03)
Wergo WER 6647 2

The fifth movement of Krzysztof Penderecki?s Seven Gates of Jerusalem, in a performance with the National Philharmonic Orchestra Warsaw, Kazimierz Kord, conductor. Thank you for joining me in the world and music of one of the most interesting composers of our times. I hope that you will be able to attend one of the concert of the the Hong Kong Philharmonic lead by Maestro Penderecki on the 17th and 18th of November, and in the workshop presented by RTHK with Maestro Penderecki in conversation with Hong Kong composers on Wednesday, November 15th at 6:30 p.m. Please be sure to join me next week when we examine Penderecki's music of virtuosity.