This album was one of the last projects Krzysztof Penderecki worked on before his passing early this year (2020), with an orchestra he has long been associated with, the Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow (Sinfonietta Cracovia), under chief conductor Jurek Dybał. The main attractions here are three of Penderecki’s four Sinfoniettas, the third is a first recording of this piece in its new arrangement.
The three Sinfoniettas are all works that originate from chamber compositions – The first, titled “Sinfonietta for Strings,” but contains long concertante-like segments for viola, was originally a string trio. Compared to earlier recordings of the work, the performance here is less audacious and sound fuller in the thick opening chords. The orchestra, so it seems, feel comfortable with the music and is less inclined to project its dissonances, as Antoni Wit did in his Naxos performance. The results sound more modest, though the viola solo is the most impressive out of both Wit and Penderecki’s version, taken from a gala concert in 1993 and released on Sony. The contrapuntal second movement, with its echos of Prokofiev, is more natural than the almost violent gala version, with impressive unity and separation of voices between the groups.
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The 1993 gala concert included a recording of the lovely Clarinet Quartet, here given in its version for clarinet and strings orchestra, played by Daniel Ottensamer. The new version wisely kept the original chamber version in the quiet segments, as in the first movement – using only single instruments from each section. The more dynamic movements are expanded to a full string orchestra, making this a sort of a clarinet concerto. Compared to Wit’s version from the same Naxos release, Ottensamer is a superior soloist, dispatching the difficult parts with ease and gives a profound execution of the quiet moments – you’ll be hard pressed to find a clarinetist that can give such a hushed playing while maintaining the instrument’s velvety tone, like in the closing Larghetto.
Sinfonietta No. 3, “Leaves of an Unwritten Diary” works extremely well in its new arrangements, again cleverly combines solo and group playing based on the original Third String Quartet. It’s the most melodic work here, and contains some hints from the composer’s earlier pieces from this album, which makes for a suitable ending. The performances are helped by a state-of-the art recording engineering, made at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice, Poland – it is immediate, detailed, with a deep bass and natural ambiance – all highlighting Penderecki’s ingenious contrapuntal writing and dynamic range.
“Three Pieces in Old Style,” the oldest work here (1963), was originally written as music for the film “The Manuscript Found in Saragossai,” and is a somewhat cynical take on early classical style. I was less taken with the Sinfonietta Cracovia’s approach of playing these movements in early performance practice, robbing the work from a bit of humor. Here Antoni Wit is preferable. The strings arrangement of the originally a cappella “Agnus Dei” from the Polish Requiem is a dedicated tribute to this great contemporary composer. Recommended.
Penderecki – 3 Sinfoniettas, “Aguns Dei”, Three Pieces in Old Style
Daniel Ottensamer – Clarinet
Sinfonietta Cracovia
Jurek Dybał – Conductor
Sony Classical, CD 194397965223
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