Pendercki's Symphony No. 6

Synopsis

In all, Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki completed eight symphonies, and in 2013, to celebrate his 80th birthday, there appeared a box set of recordings billed as his “complete symphonies,” all conducted by their composer. But while that “complete” set included Symphonies Nos. 1-5 and 7&8, it was missing No. 6. The reason? Although Penderecki had begun work on his sixth symphony years earlier, it remained unfinished when the set was issued.

Fast forward to today’s date in 2017 for the out-of-sequence premiere of Penderecki’s Symphony No. 6, given in China by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. The venue was apt, since the symphony was subtitled Chinese Poems, and included settings for baritone and orchestra of eight ancient Chinese poems — with a Chinese instrument, the erhu, providing solo interludes.

Curiously, Penderecki chose to set German translations of the Chinese poems, translations published back in 1907 in the same collection Gustav Mahler had sourced for his unnumbered song-symphony Das Lied von der Erde, the Song of the Earth. And it’s probably no coincidence that Penderecki’s Symphony No. 6 sounds very much like he was trying to channel both the spirit and sound world of Mahler’s early 20th century song-symphony into own his 21st-century one.

Music Played in Today's Program

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020): Symphony No. 6 (Chinese Poems); Stephan Genz, baritone; Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot; Wojciech Rajski, conductor; Accord ACD-270

On This Day

Births

• 1914 - Polish composer and conductor Andrzej Panufnik, in Warsaw

• 1919 - Czech-born American composer Vaclav Nelhybel, in Polanska

• 1945 - English composer and conductor John Rutter, in London

Deaths

• 1813 - Belgian-born French composer André Grétry, 72, in Montmorency;

• 1892 - Irish-born American bandmaster and composer Patrick Gilmore, 62, in St. Louis

Premieres

• 1909 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera The Golden Cockerel, posthumously, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Oct. 7)

• 1962 - Barber: Piano Concerto, with soloist John Browning and the Boston Symphony conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. This performance was the second concert scheduled at the newly-opened Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center in New York City.

• 1965 - George Rochberg: Black Sounds for winds and percussion, on a Lincoln Center television broadcast (as a ballet by Anna Sokolov under the title The Act)

• 1992 - Tobias Picker: Bang! by the New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur onducting (A New York Philharmonic 150th Anniversary commission)

• 1994 - Zwilich: American Concerto for trumpet and orchestra, at the inaugural concert of the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, by the San Diego Symphony, JoAnn Faletta conducting, with soloist Doc Severinson

Others

• 1947 - German-born composer Hans Eisler is questioned about his former membership in the Communist Party by the House Committee on Un-American activities. Eisler had been a member of the Party in the 1920s, left Germany when Hitler came to power in 1933, and had been working in Hollywood on film scores and as the musical assistant to Charlie Chaplin. He left the U.S. in 1948 and settled in East Germany — where he composed that country's national anthem.