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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
These two works represent Panufnik at the extremes of his mature style. The concerto is percussive and relentless while the symphony, his last, alternates between slow, stern reflection and powerful swathes of cramped symphonic brutalism. It is not music for the faint-hearted, being deeply concentated and serious, but it repays repeated listening and eventually persuades one that this is true symphonic thought. The last ten minutes build up to a cataclysmic climax, most impressive.
The performances are authoritative: the composer's last recording (he died soon after). This is music which will hang in the balance as far as posterity goes, but it could not be presented more persuasively than here with the orchestra at full throttle. For those new to this composer it might perhaps be better to try the Sinfonia Rustica on EMI (also conducted by Panufnik) which is much more obviously accessible, but the 9th is impressive nevertheless.
The performances are authoritative: the composer's last recording (he died soon after). This is music which will hang in the balance as far as posterity goes, but it could not be presented more persuasively than here with the orchestra at full throttle. For those new to this composer it might perhaps be better to try the Sinfonia Rustica on EMI (also conducted by Panufnik) which is much more obviously accessible, but the 9th is impressive nevertheless.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I agree 100% with Guy Whit's review. The concerto is indeed very spiky and percussive (shades of Bartok in the searching slow movement) but the big difference between the two works here is that, however tonally stretched, the concerto has distinctive melodic themes and easily identifiable cells. It's an impressive performance by Ewa Poblowcka and superbly recorded. If anything, the symphony is more tonally grounded than the concerto
The symphony, not quite his last word in the medium, refines Panufnik's thinking from his middle symphonies. In these, geometry and structure in general are all. The form is built around the passions and thinking of Panufnik so - ideally, the form carries the expression. there is no real sense of clear thematic development but you do sense an inexorable movement and inevitability in flow of the music. This formal discipline reminds me of Robert Simpson to a degree.
Undoubtably the symphony is tough going but it is a mighty edifice and, I think, more approachable than some of the middle symphonies. To sustain interest, as he does, for over forty minutes in a single movement is an impressive achievement. It is a work that will catch the attention first time and reward repeated hearings.
One little bonus from Panufnik's unfortunate departure is that he didn't get to write the programme notes. It is true that the notes included are completely useless; full of hyperbole and verbosity but short on specific description of either work. This is actually a bonus because Panufnik did have a habit of providing detailed notes, with diagrams, illustrating the formal logic of his works. I think it much better that the works be allowed to speak for themselves. It think both works are strong enough to do that.
I agree with Guy Whit that only time will tell with Panufnik's work but there is certainly plenty of strong and worthy music to get your teeth into here.
The symphony, not quite his last word in the medium, refines Panufnik's thinking from his middle symphonies. In these, geometry and structure in general are all. The form is built around the passions and thinking of Panufnik so - ideally, the form carries the expression. there is no real sense of clear thematic development but you do sense an inexorable movement and inevitability in flow of the music. This formal discipline reminds me of Robert Simpson to a degree.
Undoubtably the symphony is tough going but it is a mighty edifice and, I think, more approachable than some of the middle symphonies. To sustain interest, as he does, for over forty minutes in a single movement is an impressive achievement. It is a work that will catch the attention first time and reward repeated hearings.
One little bonus from Panufnik's unfortunate departure is that he didn't get to write the programme notes. It is true that the notes included are completely useless; full of hyperbole and verbosity but short on specific description of either work. This is actually a bonus because Panufnik did have a habit of providing detailed notes, with diagrams, illustrating the formal logic of his works. I think it much better that the works be allowed to speak for themselves. It think both works are strong enough to do that.
I agree with Guy Whit that only time will tell with Panufnik's work but there is certainly plenty of strong and worthy music to get your teeth into here.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
modern, but not aggressively so, and music of great dramatic impact
1 Sep 2008
Format:Audio CD
Panufnik's music is modern, but not aggressively so. It isn't Boulez, Xenakis, Carter, it isn't the Penderecki from the 1960s and early 1970s, let alone Ferneyhough. Panufnik's music is bound in tradition (the motoric and nervous scherzo that forms the Symphony's middle section harks back to a tradition originating in the one from Beethoven's 9th, and exemplified by Bruckner, Walton (in his 1st Symphony), Britten (in the Sinfonia da Requiem for instance), Tippett, Simpson), but it isn't backward-looking either: it isn'the music of, say, David Diamond or of the later Penderecki. I'd rather put Panufnik in a broad category including composers like Robert Simpson, William Schuman, Alan Pettersson. I wouldn't say that Panufnik's personal mixture of tradition and modernism attains results as original and personal as Lutoslawski's or Dutilleux', but his music is highly dramatic, effective and enjoyable, and the two works contained on this disc are two good examples.
This Catalyst CD is the welcome reissue of a Conifer recording from 1991 (Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No. 9 / Piano Concerto), but unfortunately the liner notes of the reissue are very disappointing, giving only general considerations on Panufnik and his compositional attitude but very scanty on the specifics of these two works. The original Conifer had fascinating explanations by the composer himself, including a diagram of the Symphony's highly elaborate rainbow-shaped architecture. Playing by ear the lengthy (40+ minutes) 9th Symphony (1986/90) consists of long adagio sections, some of great dramatic impact and high-octane intensity, others more mysterious and mystic, framing a motoric, nervous, sardonic, brassy scherzo (16: 25 to 23:23), all playing without break. These long adagio sections may be somewhat too long-drawn for their basic material, but they do elicit a mood of lulled fascination. On Catalyst as well as on Conifer the Symphony has only one cue point, which is ridiculous.
Dating as it does from 25 years before the Symphony (1962 - it was revised in 1982), I half-expected the Concerto to be a step back stylistically - but it isn't really. The nervous, pounding and busy (and also short: 4:20) first movement and the violent and motoric framing sections of the finale announce the Symphony's scherzo, while the sparse and mysterious instrumental filigree of the central slow movement (brooding mood, sparse textures, minimal events) and the finale's middle section (an adagio rising to an intense climax announcing the return of the motoric music) are very much in the same mood as the Symphony's framing adagios. They also establish a nice bridge to the composer's earlier compositions, as his 1947 Nocturn (Andrzej Panufnik: Nocturn / Rhapsody / Symphony 2). The Concerto is not extraordinarily original, but very pleasant. Peter Mennin's Piano Concerto comes to mind.
These composer-conducted recordings were made a few months before Panufnik's death. Needless to say, they are authoritative. But the original liner notes make the original Conifer release preferable if you can find it at affordable prices.
This Catalyst CD is the welcome reissue of a Conifer recording from 1991 (Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No. 9 / Piano Concerto), but unfortunately the liner notes of the reissue are very disappointing, giving only general considerations on Panufnik and his compositional attitude but very scanty on the specifics of these two works. The original Conifer had fascinating explanations by the composer himself, including a diagram of the Symphony's highly elaborate rainbow-shaped architecture. Playing by ear the lengthy (40+ minutes) 9th Symphony (1986/90) consists of long adagio sections, some of great dramatic impact and high-octane intensity, others more mysterious and mystic, framing a motoric, nervous, sardonic, brassy scherzo (16: 25 to 23:23), all playing without break. These long adagio sections may be somewhat too long-drawn for their basic material, but they do elicit a mood of lulled fascination. On Catalyst as well as on Conifer the Symphony has only one cue point, which is ridiculous.
Dating as it does from 25 years before the Symphony (1962 - it was revised in 1982), I half-expected the Concerto to be a step back stylistically - but it isn't really. The nervous, pounding and busy (and also short: 4:20) first movement and the violent and motoric framing sections of the finale announce the Symphony's scherzo, while the sparse and mysterious instrumental filigree of the central slow movement (brooding mood, sparse textures, minimal events) and the finale's middle section (an adagio rising to an intense climax announcing the return of the motoric music) are very much in the same mood as the Symphony's framing adagios. They also establish a nice bridge to the composer's earlier compositions, as his 1947 Nocturn (Andrzej Panufnik: Nocturn / Rhapsody / Symphony 2). The Concerto is not extraordinarily original, but very pleasant. Peter Mennin's Piano Concerto comes to mind.
These composer-conducted recordings were made a few months before Panufnik's death. Needless to say, they are authoritative. But the original liner notes make the original Conifer release preferable if you can find it at affordable prices.
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