Krzysztof Penderecki, the composer of the works on this album, first gained recognition at the Warsaw Autumn Festivals in 1959 and 1960, quickly becoming a key figure in the European avant-garde.
Performer Biography
Antoni Wit has made over 200 recordings, including an acclaimed series for Naxos, and has received six GRAMMY® nominations for his recordings of Penderecki's works.
Performer Biography
Antoni Wit, the conductor on this album, is a highly regarded Polish conductor who won second prize in the International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin in 1971.
Performer Biography
The Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra continues a long tradition of individual artists from the full Warsaw Philharmonic forming their own chamber ensembles, with its current iteration reactivated under the patronage of Antoni Wit.
Composition History
The six works for strings on this album span over three decades of Penderecki's career, representing each of his main stylistic phases.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Penderecki's compositional style evolved from an early 'sonorist' musical language, known for its keen expressivity, to a later phase where he engaged deeply with post-Romantic tradition and synthesized modern and traditional aesthetics.
