Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No. 1 "Sinfonia Rustica" (1948, rv. 1955)

Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by / Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio Polaca dirigida por Lukasz Borowicz.
I. Con Tenerezza (0:00)
II. Con Grazia. (8:14)
III. Con Espressione (13:11)
IV. Con Vigore (17:30)
Andrzej Panufnik belongs to the same generation as Witold Lutoslawski, yet unlike his youth friend, never went into extreme, radical styles, much in spite he fled to the Capitalist West where he lived with greater creative freedom. His Sinfonia Rustica was his first canonic Symphony. Panufnik had already composed two wartime symphonies and an oratorio named Symphony of Peace, which were subsequently withdrawn and destroyed because they were “impure”. This is a symphony composed over musical, folk, natural and pictographic motives from Northern Poland into a surrealist-nationalist piece that soon came into fire by Polish Communist art bureaucrats, precipitating Panufnik’s escape into exile.
Andrzej Panufnik pertenece a la misma generación de Witold Lutoslawski, pero a diferencia de su amigo de juventud, nunca llegó a desarrollar un estilo tan radical, muy a pesar de haber escapado al oeste capitalista donde vivía con mucha mayor libertad creativa. Su Sinfonía Rústica fue su primera obra del canon. Panufnik ya había compuesto dos sinfonías durante la guerra y un oratorio llamado Sinfonía de la Paz, mismos que fueron destruídas por considerarlas “impuras”. Esta sinfonía fue realizada sobre motivos musicales, folclóricos, naturales y pictográficos extraídos de la parte norte de Polonia en una obra surrealista y nacionalista que pronto fue atacada por los burócratas del arte de la Polonia comunista, precipitando su escape al exilio.
Image/imagen: Storks / Alondras. Jozef Marian Chelmonski. 1900.

[@hectorbarrionuevo6034]

Love this Symphony: his harmonic language is accessible, as it features dissonance but is not overtly harsh or continuous! Features some pitch imitation which is a great means of unifying the music and providing a textural link to the distant past in music history! The orchestral writing is colorful at times. Enjoyed it !!

[@carlosserrano3823]

Your comment nudged me to try Panufnik. Was not disappointed.Thanks.

[@hectorbarrionuevo6034]

@@carlosserrano3823 Carlos, my pleasure, and thanks !

[@artaristo]

An archaic music that sounds as a modern style music - Beautiful !!! AFFABLE !!!

[@sergioazevedo7390]

great work, together with nº3, the favourite among Panufnik's symphonies

[@applecutterman]

I like this one and number 3 as well. Though number 2 is my favorite.

[@sergioazevedo7390]

@@applecutterman Yes, for me the better are nº1, 3, 6 and 10 :)

[@whitebarkpine]

Wonderful symphony, thanks for posting it!

[@gabrieru1983]

sublime como siempre.......

[@kuang-licheng402]

a great composer

[@arekkrolak6320]

Panufnik symphonic works are very good in general, sometimes they need some time to listen to before revealing their complete beauty

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

The Sinfonia Concertante for flute, harp and strings is outstanding in many ways.

[@kuang-licheng402]

very good

[@marcbadet7639]

Prokofiev n'est pas très loin

[@Gorboduc]

For some reason the first person I think of is William Grant Still...

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

He was nowhere near as good as this.

[@philipczaplowski8156]

He was an excellent composer. I prefer the earlier works. When he adopted Modernism I think he is less convincing. Just my opinion. :-)

[@nicholas72611]

booooooo

[@sergioazevedo7390]

Yes, I agree, some techniques are not natural for him, he was a folclorist and a neoclassicist, and he felt compeled to "modernise" his language to be up to date, but it sounds forced.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

@@sergioazevedo7390 But his methods of construction remain fascinating, and his music can still be very expressive. But yes, when music is hard to listen to, it is less effective.

[@sergioazevedo7390]

@@nonenoneonenonenone I agree that the methods are, by themselves, interesting, but music and arts in general, never were a question of more or less interesting methods of building a work. Some of the most fascinating composers never had a "method", or even a system, composers like Debussy or Stravinsky, for example. The methods of Webern are more rigorous, more fascinating, perhaps, but I doubt he wrote better music than Debussy and Stravinsky because of that. Methods are building blocks for inventing music, but was remains in the end, in my opinion, is the music itself, and what I sense in Panufnik is that the more rigorous he applies his methods, the less interesting is the music. In the end, each one of us will prefer this or that Symphony, in my case I prefer nr 1, 3 and 10 because I ear music in them, only music, not the "bricks" he used to compose...

[@RichardASalisbury1]

Philip Czaplowski: Who is "he"? I assume you mean Panufnik.