On May 16, the new website dedicated to composer Sir Andrzej Panufnik—www.panufnik.polmic.pl—was officially unveiled in the Chamber Hall of the Warsaw headquarters of Polish Music Publishers PWM. Created by the Polish Music Information Centre in Warsaw (POLMIC) to celebrate Panufnik’s centenary, the site features musical excerpts and detailed biographical information as well as an extensive photo collection from the family’s personal archives. Following the unveiling, there was a concert of Panufnik’s music performed by Janusz Wawrowski – violin, Magdalena Bojanowicz – cello and Bartłomiej Kominek – piano. The event took place as a part of the Warsaw Musical Encounters Festival.
Below is an excerpt of a review written by Adrian Thomas, a British musicologist whose career has been dedicated to Polish music. Read the full text on Thomas’ blog at onpolishmusic.com:
One of the most valuable initiatives of the Polish Music Information Centre (POLMIC), in conjunction with the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP) and other institutes and publishers, is a series of composer websites. The first, in 2012, was devoted to Kazimierz Serocki, and the second, in 2013, to Tadeusz Baird. Today, it is the turn of Andrzej Panufnik, in his centenary year. With the launch last year of the threecomposers.pl website at NINATEKA (Górecki, Lutosławski, Penderecki), there are now accessible sources in English and Polish for six of Poland’s most distinctive composers of the second half of the twentieth century.
The leading light of the editorial team on the Panufnik site is Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska (she was closely involved involved in its predecessors). The three POLMIC sites have similar formats, although the Panufnik site is more extensive. It has eight principal sections, most with several sub-sections: Life, Timeline, Work, Musical Inspirations, Places, Gallery, Bibliography, Discography, plus a featured work, in this case Sinfonia sacra.
It looks as thorough and informative as its predecessors. There are, for example, excerpts from most works at the top of their individual entries, which give useful background information on compositional circumstances, Panufnik’s concept and reception. There is even information on the mass songs (with pages from the published scores). The six entries under Musical Inspirations are useful little essays and a new feature (Places), possibly taking its cue from the mobile app released a year ago for Lutosławski’s Warsaw, explores half-a-dozen locations in each of Poland and Great Britain that were significant to Panufnik.
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[Sources: polmic.pl, onpolishmusic.com]