TITANS

Our meeting took place in Lviv at the recent 3rd International Festival dedicated to the outstanding Polish pianist, conductor, composer, and public figure Ignacy Paderewski. The core event of the forum was the artistic soiree of two outstanding representatives of present-day Ukrainian and Polish music cultures, Myroslav Skoryk and Krzysztof Penderecki. Each one of them conducted their works on the stage of the Lviv Opera House. Myroslav Skoryk conducted the performance of his ninth violin concert and premiere of the Concert for viola with orchestra performed by the orchestra INSO-Lviv, soloists Andrii Bielov and Valentyna Pryshliak. The symphonic-choir fresco by Krzysztof Penderecki Credo conducted by the author was performed by the same orchestra, the National Choir of Ukraine “Dumka,” the children’s choir “Radunytsia” and Polish singers.

The Day talked to the maestro after the concert.

“A COMPOSER OFTEN IS A SILENT WITNESS OF THE EVENT. WITH THE HELP OF HIS ARTISTIC WORKS HE TRIES TO GIVE A SOUNDINGTO HIS VOICE”

Mr. Penderecki, as is known your family and your childhood are connected with Ukraine, with Lviv. After a long break you visited it already at a considerable age, being a composer of world renown. That was in 1999, the year when your famous Credo premiered in Lviv and in Kyiv. Why hadn’t you come earlier?

“I always rejoice when my music is performed in different countries of the world. But there are places that are dear to me, where I want to return, and Lviv is one of such places. My family roots and childhood memories are connected with this city. This is the place where my grandfather studied, where one of my uncles lived, and as a boy I spent vacations with my mother there. At the moment nearly 30 people with the surname Penderecki are residing in Lviv. Numerous members of my family are still living in Lviv region. But my family tree is multinational, including Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, and Armenians. My father, a Ukrainian, was born in Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region. I have always wanted to go to Ukraine, but it was impossible in the time of the USSR: all cultural exchanges were realized only through Moscow. When I showed desire to go to Kyiv or Lviv, I got a refusal. But now I have an opportunity to visit Ukraine and work with your wonderful musicians, in particular, the choir Dumka, which sounds like a highly professional orchestra that is well prepared, self-confident, has beautiful voices, and it is easy to work with it.”

Your music is well-known throughout the world. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Ukrainian composers, although their works deserve world recognition. Do you know any of your Ukrainian fellow composers?

“You’re right. Ukrainian composers are known probably in a narrow music circle. Personally I think that Borys Liatoshynsky, with whom I had an honor to communicate personally, was a very good composer. However, he was considered a formalist in the former USSR. Fortunately, the period of pressing and bans in Poland didn’t last as long as in your country. Of course, we had composers who wrote the so-called ‘Zhdanov music,’ ordered social realism works.”

The successes of current creative activity of Ukrainian composers can be largely attributed to Liatoshynsky. Notably, Ukrainian composers received the first information about the new music of the 20th century through the Polish culture, in particular, owing to the well-known festival Warsaw Autumn.

“This festival played an important role in the 1950s-1960s. It was an enclave of modern culture and, at the same time, a satellite of European music, where the creative works from East-European countries, as well as the new music of the Soviet camp countries, could be performed and heard. But the Warsaw Autumn is exhausting itself, like any creative process. An artist must look back – at what existed before him. This is a part of creative development of a composer. Music is changing, it is like a labyrinth, we are moving in one direction or another, till we find a way out. I listen attentively to old-time traditions. My avant-garde opuses finished back in the early 1970s. Moving away from avant-garde is typical of many composers. Every one of us is to some extent a romantic, and without melody there is no music, no matter what it is like.”

Whom do you consider to be your greatest predecessors?

“Bach! Composers changed, well-known, understanding, but Bach has always remained the top composer for me. Bach was a genius polyphonist. Maybe what I am saying is old-fashioned talk, but this is my conviction, and it won’t change.”

There is much spiritual music in your creative work, and it is ecumenical.

“Yes, sacral music takes an important place in my life, it is very important for me. My father was a Greek-Catholic and when I was a child he took me to the church. Hence my interest to Orthodox music. I am a Catholic believer, but I compose music for various religious denominations. For there is one God, and it is not important in what language His name is pronounced: German, Latin, or Hebrew. Along with my works Passions for Luke, Te Deum, Kaddish, Seven gates of Jerusalem, Polish Requiem, there are Orthodox Matins, Glory to Saint Daniel, Cherubic Hymn based on Old Slavonic church texts. But Credo is the most important work for me. It is a very private recognition of my faith. This work is not connected with any ideological or political connotation. Speaking about the works connected with certain events, this is my Polish Requiem. I wrote it at a request of the leader of Solidarnosc Lech Walesa. Every part of the Requiem is dedicated to certain events and personalities. In particular, there is the theme of Katyn, which is very personal for me, because my uncle in Lviv headed the headquarters of the army, and when the Soviet forces entered the city, we was immediately arrested and tortured to death in Katyn. Agnus Dai is dedicated to the decease of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who saved with his life an Oswiecim prisoner, and I wrote Dies irae in 1984 as a tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Polish revolt against Nazi occupation. I dedicated my Chaconne to the memory of John Paul II.”

So, your music is a response to certain events, to what touches you the most.

“I am a person who takes many things to heart, responses and recreates this. I have a work dedicated to Hiroshima [Lamentation for the Victims of Hiroshima. – Author], and I         feel like a witness of the events, as if I experienced them personally. A composer is often a silent witness to the events, and through his creative work he tries to show his attitude to what is going on and in such a way gives his voice a sounding, and this is a deeply personal thing. My music is above all experiencing emotions. It has a shape and essence, but this is the music essence. Music is not an illustration of concrete events, and reflects the inner state of a person. It is not an art presenting something. You can entitle a work, like, for example, the same Hiroshima. People who listen to this work say that they here a bomb explosion or the sound of a plane shot down, although I didn’t put any of this into music.”

You have been a rector of Krakow Conservatory for 14 years. And last year the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center of Music opened in Luslawice. What would you recommend to your students and young composers?

“It is impossible to teach composition. But I would advise the first and foremost to thoroughly study countermelody and polyphony. This has always been my forte. I have been forced to write fugues. Fortunately, in my student years in Krakow Conservatory these subjects were taught brilliantly, because the best specialists from Lviv, Warsaw, and Poznan moved to Krakow. I am deeply thankful to my professors who taught me these fundamentals of composition, it is thanks to them that I compose music. These subjects are very complicated, but extremely important for music. Not harmony, which is a gift of nature and is not as important as countermelody and polyphony. A young musician must learn to hear the music simultaneously on several lines, levels, and plans. Orchestration is extremely important as well. As a former rector, I very much regret that the time for teaching these subjects is being reduced: it used to be three years, and now it is 1.5 year, or a year at all. But namely they are the key subjects for understanding of ancient music and creation of modern music. And this is my recommendation not only to the students, but teachers as well. I have been waiting for the opening of the abovementioned center for 14 years, but it was built over 16 months. It takes a hectare in the field where cows used to graze. It has everything, a luxurious concert hall for 600 places, a sound recording studio, numerous classrooms, and a hotel for talented students from all over the world. The center was built mainly using the EU grants, the rest 15 percent was allotted by the Ministry of Culture of Poland. The center was opened by children’s orchestra: its participants were winners of scholarship of the Ministry of Culture of Poland – children between 7 and 12, gathered based on competition from entire Poland. They performed in a wonderful way, and this was my purpose, to show what we created this center for.”

“YOU SHOULDN’T REFUSE FROM THE PAST AND TRADITIONS; YOU SHOULD SIMPLY DEVELOP THEM, LOOK FOR YOUR OWN POSSIBILITIES OF EXPRESSION”

Ukrainian classic composer Myroslav Skoryk joined our conversation.

Mr. Skoryk, why did your creative meeting with Penderecki take place namely in Lviv? What is your attitude to the creative work of your Polish colleague?

“We did this in Ukraine because namely there Ukraine and Poland united. The Polish-Ukrainian music dialog in Lviv has historical traditions, Back in 1796 the Polish composer and conductor Jozef Elsner founded the Music Academy in Lviv. In 1868 Polish pianist, conductor, and student of Chopin Karol Mikuli headed the Galician Music Society in Lviv, and in 1919 well-known Polish composer, conductor, and pedagogue Mieczyslaw Soltys became its director, whereas the society changed its title into the Polish Music Society. For many decades Polish and Ukrainian music figures have been working in Lviv. Incidentally, Pole Ignacy Paderewski also came from Ukraine where he was born and brought up. In the same way Penderecki: in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast there is a village where all residents are Penderecki, and they are all red-haired like Krzysztof.

“I have known Penderecki’s music for a long time. I like his creative work. He has a style of his own. Probably, not all periods of his creative work are close to me, but his music of the 1960s, above all Lamentation for the Victims of Hiroshima produced a special impression on me. I very much like his violin concert, which had an influence on me, when I was writing my first concert for violin with orchestra. Personally I have never been fond of avant-garde. I could use some of its achievements, but I have never been attracted to self-sufficient avant-garde. I have always been convinced that you cannot refuse from the past, the traditions; you should simply develop them, find new embodiment, look for your own possibilities of expression. I think that music shouldn’t be subdued to any streams or directions. The composer should care about his particular style. I don’t know whether I have succeeded, but I have always sought this.”

Krzysztof Penderecki thinks that a composer is a silent witness of evens. How does your music “respond” to events?

“All people react to the reality. You cannot get away from it. The same refers to composers. Everyone has a present day of his own, but there are reminiscences, which intertwine and should respond in the soul of the audience. Indeed, my music reflects what is going on, although I’m not doing this on purpose. Although I don’t have a program, but hopefully the audience will be able to hear in my music an echo of my feelings and impressions connected with what is going on around me. Importantly, the performers should bring these feelings to the audience. The wonderful orchestra INSO-Lviv, extremely talented Ukrainian soloists Andrii Bielov and Valentyna Pryshliak have brightly revealed my idea, images, which I think have found response among the audience. I am pleased that these are very young musicians: the orchestra, Valentyna Pryshliak who is studying in Switzerland, and Andrii Bielov who is working in Germany and has tours in many countries. So, the lack of knowledge about Ukrainian composers in the world is compensated by the recognition of our talented performers who play in all corners of the world. It is also important for me that the one who listens to my music found in it a reflection of his own feelings. Creative work is an individual sphere, a very personal and delicate one. In a word, listen to the music!”