Andrzej Panufnik - Symphony of Peace

[markniew]

Few month ago very  interesting discussion took place under the thread:
Is it right to revive works withdrawn by their composers?

I wrote then the following:
And what about the music composed during the oppressive times? when the composers had to write their music in accordance to instructions or "right" rules? the question is following: is their music always worse or less interesting because their did fulfill such immoral orders? We know from hearing that quite often compositions written in above circumstances are not bad. composers in fact tried in many cases to compose engaging their real talents and using their cunningness to not betray themselves. I mean that they made some concession towards ,,superiors" to have a chance to publish or  to have their compositions performed but their music kept good standard. Of course when the music was based on propaganda texts or were provided with political title (for example To the Memory ..[of local political hero or important event)] critisizing was/is easy. But in case of pure music it is more difficult to accuse the composers of not being strong enough to resist as the music itself is not easy to be literally translated.  However despite all that a number of works created in such circumstances were withdrown by the composers from their opus lists or were re-written. Do we have right to know such music /or their initial versions?
In my opinion we have right to know them because that shows us also the broader context of composers and their music. Few days ago I mentioned about one of such stuff - the Symphony of Peace by Andrzej Panufnik. It was few years ago broadcast by radio here in a program devoted to such music. Must say that in my opinion reputation of Panufnik did not suffered

Few days ago the issue of Panufnik was touched in Downloads Duscussion/Polish Music.

I will uplod the Symphony of Peace - the work composed in 1950/51. The idea of the piece glorifying peace was suggested to the composer during his stay in Moscow in 1950 at the session??? of the peace supporters.
Symphony was premiered in Warsaw on 25 May 1951 at Warsaw Philharmonics.
Composition was applauded by the critics however there were some reseravtions regarding utilising medieval themes what was seen as too religious. Because of that the piece was awarded only with the second rank state prize in music.

All these facts I have taken from the commentary given during the broadcast of the piece in 2003 (can be heard unfortunately only in Polish)
Interesting thing is that material of the Symphony of Peace was then reused by Panufnik in his Sinfonia elegiaca.

Enjoy the music

[BFerrell]

Where did you post the link?

[Mark Thomas]

It's here. Reply #83.

[jowcol]

Few month ago very  interesting discussion took place under the thread:
Is it right to revive works withdrawn by their composers?

In my opinion we have right to know them because that shows us also the broader context of composers and their music. Few days ago I mentioned about one of such stuff - the Symphony of Peace by Andrzej Panufnik. It was few years ago broadcast by radio here in a program devoted to such music. Must say that in my opinion reputation of Panufnik did not suffered [/i] [/color]

Few days ago the issue of Panufnik was touched in Downloads Duscussion/Polish Music.

I will uplod the Symphony of Peace - the work composed in 1950/51. The idea of the piece glorifying peace was suggested to the composer during his stay in Moscow in 1950 at the session??? of the peace supporters.
Symphony was premiered in Warsaw on 25 May 1951 at Warsaw Philharmonics.
Composition was applauded by the critics however there were some reseravtions regarding utilising medieval themes what was seen as too religious. Because of that the piece was awarded only with the second rank state prize in music.

All these facts I have taken from the commentary given during the broadcast of the piece in 2003 (can be heard unfortunately only in Polish)
Interesting thing is that material of the Symphony of Peace was then reused by Panufnik in his Sinfonia elegiaca.

Enjoy the music

Thank you very much.  I believe that it is right to listen to such works, as long as you understand the artist's concerns.

We would not have much of Kafka's writings we if had listened to his wishes.. and that would have been a loss.

[markniew]

As an amendment to earlier posts - duplication of the post included today in the Polish Music Duscussion thread.

Today I have found an interesting article on the situation in Polish music at the end of 40s /beginning of 50s, including preparations for the 1st Festival of Polish Music where the state authorities requested the composers to write /present new music for this occasion (meeting precisely indicated expectations). Many pieces declared to be composed are mentioned. Some were materialized while others did not. A part of composers names are not known today. Some of the mentioned and composed music is not known (at least to me, and not issued). Note that a number of music composed for the purposes of the festival have been uploaded in this forum. Interesting is a case study on Panufnik and his Symphony on Peace (also uploaded before).

I am quite sure that the situation in Poland was to some extent typical for the countries subordinated to Soviet Union. Because of that I duplicate this post in two threads.

http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/issue/5.1.02/thomasfile.html