Krzysztof Penderecki

LP version. Unique film music recordings by one of the greatest Polish composers of the 20th century: three very different pieces written between 1964 and 1966, whose sound and style are still fascinating today.

In the 1960s Krzysztof Penderecki happily flirted with the world of film music. He was especially fond of short forms, which gave him much more freedom as a composer. His collaboration with the Educational Film Studio (Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych, WFO) in Łódź in that decade produced three entirely different works. Malarze gdańscy, Interpretacje and Passacaglia na Kaplicę Zygmuntowską share a subject, art, yet each film brought a completely different idea of how to score it. The first shows Penderecki the explorer, immersing classical music, light music and even jazz in the equipment of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio. Interpretacje is a fascinating study of the sound possibilities of string instruments, while Passacaglia is a choral mystery play that refers, with real nobility, to the 17th century.

Interpretacje contains the complete soundtracks Penderecki composed for the WFO. All the material was remastered from the original tapes in the studio's archive, and the insert includes rare stills and an essay on the composer's film music. The album continues the series uncovering the rich musical archives of the WFO in Łódź, a many-threaded journey into a factory of the unexpected where artists as different as Zdzisław Szostak, Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Kuźniak and Krzysztof Komeda tested what they could do. The programme: Malarze gdańscy (1964, tracks 1 to 7), Interpretacje (1965, tracks 8 to 10) and Passacaglia na Kaplicę Zygmuntowską (1966, track 11). Limited edition of 250 copies on black vinyl.