Penderecki
Symphony No. 6 ‘Chinese Songs’; Trumpet Concertino*; Concerto doppio**
*David Guerrier (trumpet); Aleksandra Kuls (violin); **Hayoung Choi (cello); Norrköping Symphony Orchestra/Antoni Wit
Naxos 8.574050 60:54 mins
Krzysztof Penderecki’s list of numbered symphonies reached eight – the composer, who died in 2020, never wrote an anticipated ninth – but paradoxically the last to have been completed was the Symphony No. 6. Subtitled ‘Chinese Songs’, it had the longest gestation and was premiered in Guangzhou in 2017. Whether or not it was intended as something valedictory – a tolling bell is heard in the last movement, ‘The Flute Song of Autumn’ – it’s hard not to recall Mahler’s leave-taking with Das Lied von der Erde, particularly since Penderecki draws on the same collection of ancient Chinese poems, translated into German by Hans Bethge.
A distinguished Penderecki interpreter, Antoni Wit – who has recorded more of the composer’s music than anyone else – now adds the Symphony No. 6 to his otherwise complete set of the symphonies, and makes a strong case for the work. Continuing in the ‘song-symphony’ form that Zemlinsky and Shostakovich developed out of Mahler, the haunting score sets eight poems and introduces interludes on the traditional Chinese two-stringed erhu. The baritone Jarosław Bręk is a solid soloist, bringing out the melancholy tone of the texts.
The other two scores are less significant, but they receive excellent performances from Wit and a tautly impressive Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Featuring some dazzling playing from David Guerrier, the perky Trumpet Concertino (2015) sounds like a throwback to Soviet socialist realism, yet the lyrical Concerto doppio (2012) for violin and cello – Aleksandra Kuls and Hayoung Choi well matched as soloists – finds Penderecki in more personal voice. John Allison