Penderecki, Krzysztof – “Matrix 5” – [EMI]

lombard   4/12/2011   A Library, CD

This release from 1994 culls together compositions from 1959-1974 from Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. This is classical music for those who are not the faint of heart. Dramatic, intense, scary, stormy, and cinematic–I am not surprised to hear that Penderecki’s work has appeared in such films as The Shining and The Exorcist, as well as in several David Lynch movies. There’s a satisfying tension in each piece that certainly calls to mind horrors both real (“Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima”) and imagined. One of my favorites is “Canticum Canticorum Salomonis,” which utilizes prettier sounds and instruments that pleasantly ring through the piece (celesta, harp, harmonium). Yet at the same time that composition also has a looming darkness as if one is in a haunted mansion. It’s beautiful and creepy. Perfect for KFJC.