David Dalle
Thursday April 7th, 2016 with David Dalle
Penderecki symphony cycle; Polish and Klezmer music; Getatchew Mekurya

Today we continue my Penderecki symphonic cycle with his 1st symphony. The cycle started out of order as I began with his ‘Christmas’ Symphony no. 2 on Dec. 24th. Penderecki’s 1st symphony was composed in 1973, when he was 40 and a mature and established composer (7 years after his tremendously successful St. Luke Passion which we heard two weeks ago). Penderecki describes his 1st symphony as a summary of all the avant-garde technique he had worked with over the previous 20 years, though truly an avant-garde work with a large orchestra with the strings often playing divisi and greatly enlarged percussion section and which begins with the sound of a whip being stuck repeatedly, it also references classical symphonic form in its 4 movements and reference to sonata form with the 1st movement being the exposition, followed by the inner 2 movements being the development, and the final movement being the recapitulation. It also marked an ending, as Penderecki abandoned much of his avant-garde language, that by the time of his 2nd symphony from 1980 it belonged to a different sound world. So this 1st symphony remains a unique landmark in Penderecki’s career and it is intense and wonderful. We will also hear Polish and other music in a set organized around the moody and virtuostic pieces taken from The Cracow Klezmer Band’s 2007 live recording “Remembrance”, including some Itzhak Perlman who just celebrated his 70th birthday and from the great Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya who died this past Monday at 81. Getatchew Mekurya took the declamatory and improvised a capella vocal Ethiopian "Shellela" genre and translated it to the saxophone and a big band sound in the 1950's, becoming extremely popular in Ethiopia for decades both as a soloist and accompanying many great singers. We were very fortunate to hear him perform in Ottawa in 2010. Listen to Penderecki's 2nd symphony here: http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/105/25196.html Listen to Penderecki's St. Luke Passion here: http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/105/26464.html