Panufnik, Andrzej (1914-1991)
Quintetto academic (10:51) 1952 Publisher: Boosey&Hawkes (c 1954, 1999) excluding Poland
Quasi Preludio
Tryptyk Staropolski
Postludium
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon
This work is the last composition Andrzej Panufnik wrote in Poland before he escaped the communist regime and started to live in England. After the composer arrived in England he never included this quintet in his list of works. He revised it in 1956, with the name changed from “Quintet” to “Quintetto Accademico. The manuscript was found after Panufnik’s death and his daughter Roxanna prepared the score and parts for publishing in 1999. The work represents easily grasped structure and diatonic melodies. The second movement exemplifies Panufnik’s interest in old Polish music, from which he drew his musical ideas in many of his works. Quasi Preludio uses an academic melody, giving the composition a true academic identity, which is only interrupted by the lyrical, folk-like second movement. Interestingly enough the composition ends with the same material as the beginning of the Quasi Preludio, changed only in the way it is backwards, as in a mirror image.
This charming composition presents the performer with some challenges. Quick running notes between the clarinets need to align and be rhythmically accurate for the movement to work. The melody, which is often in two voices, needs to align and be in tune. The instrumentation of the piece is dense and the melodic line is often not marked louder than the other instruments. The second movement is difficult in respect to melody pacing and note leading. However it is beautiful, and if done well it will sound gorgeous.
Grade: V
Recordings: Polish radio recording from 1952 (https://ninateka.pl/kolekcje/panufnik/audio/kwintet-dety-na-flet-oboj-dwa-klarnety-i-fagot)
Sheet music source: boosey.com
Andrzej Panufnik
Born in Warsaw on September 24, 1914 and died in Twickenham on October 27, 1991.
He was a composer and a conductor. He started his musical studies at the Warsaw Conservatory in 1932 as a student of composition with Kazimierz Sikorski and conducting with Walerian Bierdiajew. He graduated in 1936 with degrees in both conducting and composition. From 1937 to 1938 he continued his conducting studies in Vienna and later between 1938-39 in Paris.
During the World War II he stayed in Warsaw and together with W. Lutosławski he performed concerts of arranged music for two pianos. From 1945-46 he was a conductor with the Kraków Philharmonic and a musical manager at Film Company of the Polish Army in Łódź. During 1946-47 concert season he was a music director of Warsaw Philharmonic. In the years that followed he conducted in Berlin, Dresden, Paris, London, Zurich and many other European cities. From 1948 to 1954 he was the Vice President of the Polish Composer’s Union and from 1950 he was the Vice President of the International Conceil de Musique UNESCO in Paris.
In 1954 Panufnik settled in England. He left Poland for artistic reasons and specifically the cultural policy of the Polish socialists. The authorities wanted the composers to create “mass music” instead something more intellectual and ambitious. The authorities decided that Panufnik was politically challenging and publications and performances of his works were banned in Poland. In the beginning he mainly worked as a conductor. From 1957-59 he was the Music Director of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1959-1960 he was a visiting conductor in Buenos Aires.
From 1959 he concentrated on composing. In 1960 Panufnik received a Kościuszko Foundation scholarship to compose symphony for the 1000th anniversary of the Polish state. He named the symphony “Sinfonia Sacra”. In 1961 Panufnik became a British Citizen. From 1984-1990 he was a part of jury for the Prince Rainier Competition in Monaco. In 1977 the ban on Panufnik’s music was lifted in Poland and there was a first performance of his works at Warsaw Autumn Festival. In 1990 Panufnik visited Poland for the first time since he left, at that tie he conducted his works at the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Inn 1991 he received an honorary doctor degree from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and that year he was knighted by the British Queen, receiving the title of “Sir”. Posthumously, also in 1991, he received the Order Polonia Restituta. Panufnik’s output includes 10 symphonies, 2 overtures, 4 concertos, 3 cantatas, and chamber works, vocal and piano music.
Among his major commissions are a Violin Concerto for Yehudi Menuhin, “Sinfonia Votiva” for the centennial season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, “Concerto Festivo” commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, “Arbor Cosmica” for the Koussevitzky Foundation and his 9th Symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Society in London. His writing is characterized by colorful, expressive instrumental writing, clarity of the formal shape, use of Polish folklore.