Penderecki: Magnificat / Kadisz
Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933): Magnificat (1973/74); Kadisz (2009)
Wojtek Gierlach, Bass; Male vocal ensemble; Olga Pasichnyk, soprano; Alberto Mizrahi, tenor; Daniel Olbrychski, speaker; Warsaw Boys’ Choir; Warsaw Philharmonic Choir; Warsaw Philharmonic Men’s Choir; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; Antoni Wit, cond.
Naxos 8.572697
Called “a sonic broom” that “sweep all before them,” Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and former Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, Antoni Wit, again come together as the powerhouse duo that has been featured on several successful Naxos recordings. This latest album features two works that are separated by 35 years, during which time Penderecki made a decisive break with the post-war European avant-garde. In the Magnificat, chilling instrumental clusters, spectral sounds and impassioned rhetoric unite with tonality and counterpoint to deliver a work of monumental emotional power. Written to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Kadisz is among the most distinctive of Penderecki’s later choral works in the stark contrasts between drama and sombre reflection of its individual sections.
[Sources: press release, naxos.com/ecard, naxos.com]