From Warsaw to Darmstadt and Back
Penderecki, Górecki, Lutosławski, and New Music
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In the second half of the 20th century, the music scene in Poland differed fundamentally from that of the other Communist states. Polish composers quickly dispensed with the precepts of Socialist Realism and caught up to New Music. They visited the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music and presented their works at the internationally renowned festival Warsaw Autumn. Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki were soon considered the most radical representatives of the Polish school of composers. When they abandoned sound-oriented sonorism, they were reproached. The career path of Witold Lutosławski, who was ten years older and who designed a unique form of contrapuntal work by means of a “controlled aleatoric”, ran more of a straight line.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2012, pp. 73–84)