Krzysztof Penderecki: St. Luke Passion

Track Listings

1. O Crux

2. In Pulverem Mortis

3. Stabat Mater

4. Erat Autem Fere

Krzysztof Penderecki: St. Luke Passion, Music, Stephen Roberts [baritone], Kurt Rydl, Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish Radio Orchestra & Chorus Katowice, Sigune von Osten, Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Passion

Krzysztof Penderecki - St Luke Passion, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Polimorphy, String Quartet No. 1, Psalms of David, Dimensions of Time and Silence
Average customer rating:

Chuck Norris once tried to listen to this album while alone in the dark at 11:30 PM. He FAILED.

Get This While You Can

Krzysztof Penderecki - St Luke Passion, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Polimorphy, String Quartet No. 1, Psalms of David, Dimensions of Time and Silence

Manufacturer: Polskie Nagrania - Muza
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Penderecki: Polish Requiem (Polskie Requiem), Dies Irae

Penderecki: Anaklasis; Threnody; etc.

Children of Men (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B0000SVZWY
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Tracks:

Passio et mors domini nostri Jesu Christi "St Luke Passion" (Parts 1-18)

Tracks:

Passio et mors domini nostri Jesu Christi "St Luke Passion" (Parts 19-24),
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Polimorphy
String Quartet No. 1
Psalms of David
Dimensions of Time and Silence

Album Description

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (Tren ofiarom Hiroszimy in Polish) is a musical composition for 52 string instruments, composed in 1959 by Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933), which took third prize at the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composers' Competition in Katowice in 1960. The piece swiftly aroused tremendous interest around the world and made its young composer famous.
The piece--originally called 8'37" (at times also 8'26")--applies the sonoristic technique and rigors of specific counterpoint to an ensemble of strings treated unconventionally in terms of tone production. "While reading the score," Tadeusz Zielinski wrote in 1961, "one may admire Penderecki's inventiveness and coloristic ingeniousness. Yet one cannot rightly evaluate the Threnody until it has been listened to, for only then does one face the amazing fact: all these effects have turned out to serve as a pretext to conceive a profound and dramatic work of art!" Indeed, the piece tends to leave an impression both solemn and catastrophic, earning its classification as a threnody. On October 12, 1964, Penderecki wrote, "Let the Threnody express my firm belief that the sacrifice of Hiroshima will never be forgotten and lost."
The piece's unorthodox, largely symbol-based score directs the musicians to play at various vague points in their range or to concentrate on certain textural effects. Penderecki sought to heighten the effects of traditional chromaticism by using "hypertonality"--composing in quarter tones--to make dissonance more prominent than it would be in traditional tonality. Another unusual aspect of Threnody is Penderecki's expressive use of total serialism. The piece creates an "invisible canon," an overall musical texture that is more important than the individual notes, making it a leading example of sound mass composition. As a whole, Threnody constitutes one of the most extensive elaborations on the tone cluster.

Customer Reviews:

Chuck Norris once tried to listen to this album while alone in the dark at 11:30 PM. He FAILED........2006-07-18

These are some of the best performances of Penderecki's music I know of. You really get a sense of how shocking this music was (and at times, still is) when it first came out (particulary the "crowd" scenes involving the chorus in the "St. Luke Passion" and the high string parts in the "Threnody"). Granted, the sound quality is not the best, but the quality of the performances make up for it. These recordings were made around the time this music was still relatively new (or, as in the case of the St. Luke Passion, when the sheet music was still hot off of the presses), and you can tell. The radical spirit of the music shines through (This WAS the 60's, after all). Be warned: This is not Mozart. It is not "classics for comfort". This is brutal, aggressive stuff. It abandons melody and harmony for a kind of "sound field" approach, not unlike the "monolith" music from "2001: A Space Odyssey". It is an acquired taste. However, those of you who are willing to take the plunge and go in with open minds and ears will be richly rewarded.

Get This While You Can.......2006-06-20

No collection of 20th century classical music is complete without this recording. The sound quality is acceptable considering these are original recordings. This is dark, intense stuff. Mel Gibson ain't got nothin' on this.

Average customer rating:

Wow...

Penderecki: Sacred Choral Works

Manufacturer: Finlandia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Magnificats | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

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Penderecki: Anaklasis; Threnody; etc.
Penderecki: St. Luke Passion
Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01
Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 02
Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4

ASIN: B00005OBR1
Release Date: 2002-02-19

Tracks:

Stabat Mater
Two Choruses From The Passion According To St. Luke: Miserere
Two Choruses From The Passion According To St. Luke: In Pulverem Mortis
Sicut Locutus Est From Magnificat
Agnus Dei
Song Of The Cherubim
Veni Creator
Benedicamus Domino
Benedictus

Customer Reviews:

Wow..........2003-03-05

Before I bought this CD, I was only aquainted with Penderecki's "Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima". These choral works are definatly as intense.
Penderecki uses various techniques, such as speaking, whispering, making staccato hissing-like sounds, and tone clusters to make his music express every emotion of the text. The very intense text of the Stabat Mater calls for emotions so complex, that sometimes even music cannot express them, so Penderecki looks for other ways. He is sure to make your hair stand on end, and intrigue you and absorb you into his world.
The Recording is very good, as is the choir. I would definatly recommend this CD, if you are either a fan of Penderecki, or are looking for something very new.

Average customer rating:

impressive
FANTASTIC RECORDING
Penderecki's Choral Masterpiece - The St. Luke Passion
Wonderful! Highly recommended
Great performance, difficult work, great deal

Penderecki: St. Luke Passion

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Penderecki: A Polish Requiem
Penderecki: Sacred Choral Works
Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 01
Penderecki: Orchestral Works, Vol. 02

ASIN: B0000DJEM2
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Tracks:

O Crux Ave
Et Egressus
Deus Meus
Domine, Quis Habitabit
Adhuc Eo Loquente
Ierusalem
Ut Quid, Domine
Comprehendentes Autem Eum
Iudica Me, Deus
Et Viri, Qui Tenebant Illum
Ierusalem
Miserere Mei, Deus
Et Surgens Omnis
Et In Pulverem
Et Baiulans Sibi Crucem
Popule Meus
Ibi Crucifixerunt Eum
Crux Fidelis
Diidentes Vero
In Pulverem Populus
Et Stabat Populus
Unus Autem
Stabant Autem Iuxta Crucem
Stabat Mater
Erat Autem Fere Hora Sexta
Alla Breve
In Pulverem Mortis...In Te, Domine Speravi

Album Description

Penderecki's St Luke Passion takes as its model the Passions of Bach, the events leading up to the Crucifixion related in an ongoing sequence of narratives, arias and choruses. Its stark simplicity and directness attracted worldwide attention and it was quickly performed many times in Europe and the USA. For many, here at last was a piece of contemporary music which made an immediate emotional impact, and the use of contemporary compositional techniques served only to reinforce the dramatic power of the work. In 1964 West German Radio commissioned a large-scale choral work to commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of the consecration of Munster Cathedral: the Passio et mors Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Lucam, to give Penderecki's St Luke Passion its full Latin title, was the outcome. That the year of its première on 30th March 1966 also marked the thousandth anniversary of the introduction of Christianity into Poland, is a fact of which Penderecki must have been well aware.

Customer Reviews:

impressive.......2007-05-13

Panderecki's passion is a very expressive and intense piece of music, comparable tot Bach's Matthew Passion. The Stabat Mater in the centre is touching.

FANTASTIC RECORDING.......2007-02-18

FOR $8.99 THIS IS A NO-BRAINER !!! JUST GET IT. I LOVE IT. YOU WILL TOO.
THIS IS A CHILLING PIECE BY PENDERECKI.

Penderecki's Choral Masterpiece - The St. Luke Passion.......2006-03-21

Krzystof Penderecki has become one of my favorite composers ever since I listened to some of his most radical works, including the "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima", the two "De Natura de Sonoris", and the "St. Luke Passion", his musical depiction of the last hours of Christ.

This is one of the most graphic, most intense pieces of music the world has to witness. The work is divided in two parts. In Part I, The ominous introduction, with the chorus singing "Hail the Cross", already invites doom. Christ's prayer on Mt. Olives begins somberly, but leads to a teffifying climax as the chorus sings "I am crying", before dying down to near silence. In the capture scene, once can vision the approaching Roman legion, with a series of nasty brass sounds and stampede of percussion. The mocking of Jesus is equally violent, as the entire orchestra and chorus seems to laugh at Him. Sinister monophonic notes rip the air as the chorus shouts "Crucify Him!"

Part II begins with Christ's carrying of the cross. The cruficixion scene features one of the most excrutiating tone clusters the chorus ever produced, as overwhelming as the pain Jesus witnessed with pins hammered to His hands and feet. In the "Stabat Mater", when the Virgin Mary watches her dying Son, the music becomes relatively calm, but the avant-garde sound is still prevalent. The music becomes violent again when Christ utter his last words, before the music dies away, along with Christ's spirit. The concluding call for redemption begins dark, but ends in a glorious major chord, unachieved within the previous 75 minutes.

Penderecki's rendition of Christ's last hours is as shocking, disturbing, and powerful as the controversial Mel Gibson movie. A music like this should have a "Parental Advisory" label (and I am being a little sarcastic).

Wonderful! Highly recommended.......2005-05-13

Penderecki is able to merge the traditional form of religious chant and choral work with modern orchestration techniques, and it works out wonderfully. The sound, choral work, orchestration, and production are all wonderful on this disk.

This is probably one of Naxos' finer offerings (really, the poor Naxos discs are much more the exception than the rule...my own feeling is that you can't really go wrong with Naxos.)

Great performance, difficult work, great deal.......2005-05-12

This work doesn't seem to get performed or recorded that often, probably because:
1. Like many atonal (or mostly so) 20th-century pieces they are difficult to perform. Thus, getting a performance together is a task.
2. Difficult to listen to... lacking easy popular appeal. Many people would, for example, rather be listening to Mozart if classical music at all.

Bad combination. But I think it is a worthy work. I'm not sure if it's hard to *understand* as much as it is not pleasing to listen to. (If you're looking for a melody, you are in the wrong place!) But some of the musical writing mirrors the sound of spoken words (and in fact there is some spoken text) and other sound effects, so some of it is intuitive enough. The "difficult" harmonies contribute to the dramatic power of the work (like Britten's War Requiem).

Also, there is the historical backdrop to this work--the horrors of WWII that caused some to turn their back on faith. Against this Penderecki has the gall to present a work of faith. And it's an inspired choice, because instead of depicting the horrors of war (as several 20th century composers have done, incl. Penderecki himself), he depicts the horrors of Christ's suffering. This is appropriate because the suffering of Jesus for our redemption is a major component of the Christian answer to the problem of evil in this world.

Penderecki: Stabat Mater - Complete Sacred Works for Chorus and a cappella

Average customer rating:

Superb singing, annoying accent in places
Powerful
If you're brave enough to listen to truly modern music...

Penderecki: Stabat Mater - Complete Sacred Works for Chorus and a cappella
Krzysztof Penderecki , Juha Kuivanen , and Tapiola Chamber Choir
Manufacturer: Finlandia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Magnificats | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005IGV
Release Date: 1996-01-09

Tracks:

Stabat Mater
Miserere
In Pulverem Mortis
Sicut Locutus Est
Agnus Dei
Song Of Cherubim
Veni Creator
Benedicamus Domino
Benedictus

Customer Reviews:

Superb singing, annoying accent in places.......2006-01-02

This well-known Finnish chamber choir really know what to do with this material in order to create the multi-layered, mystical atmosphere suggested by Penderecki's score with occasional outbursts of dramatic expressivity. A very well-balanced choir with wonderful choral voices.

Sadly, in some places, their Finnish accent breaks through in a way that suggests someone should have paid some extra attention to pronounciation before recording (Stabat matEEEEr).

In all other ways, though, this record is very well worth owning. A great perfomance.

Powerful.......2001-12-11

It is a good thing that this album presents its music in chronological order. It is also a good thing that Penderecki essentially became less modern as his musical career has advanced. For without these two factors, the immediate and almost frightening impact of this album would not be possible.

This album opens with Stabat Mater which was a choir work written as a movement within Penderecki's "St Luke's Passion", completed in 1962. It is a very modern work that utilizes numerous vocal and musical techniques (cannons, counterpoint, droning, tone clusters, chanting, whispering) and is laced with great passion throughout. Combining the quality of the piece, the quality of the performance (it is difficult to truly understand how incredibly difficult these works are), and the quality of the recording can almost assure anyone of a near transcendent experience into the profound passion that Penderecki has for his faith.

Every track on this album is solid in performance, recording quality, and of course in composition.

For an honest and profound glimpse into the possibilities of the choral medium within the 20th century, be sure to check out this album and all of its richness.

If you're brave enough to listen to truly modern music..........2001-10-19

...then give this one a listen. To be honest, I don't own this collection, but I have several of these pieces on vinyl. As my friend, Loce the Wizard, pointed out after hearing the Magnificat at my house, "This is how religious music should sound." Be prepared for atmospheric music similar to some of the abstract scenes without dialogue in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (which, if I'm not mistaken, used music by Penderecki, along with Ligeti and others). If you think 20th century music is the tripe written by John Williams for "Star Wars", then don't bother.

Average customer rating:

Penderecki's masterpiece in a fine recording.
A poor recording of an amazing piece
to extreme for some

Krzysztof Penderecki: St. Luke Passion

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000004CVQ
Release Date: 1990-09-17

Tracks:

O Crux
In Pulverem Mortis
Stabat Mater
Erat Autem Fere

Customer Reviews:

Penderecki's masterpiece in a fine recording........2006-05-09

I can claim no expertise in the intricacies of Penderecki's music. However, I can tell you that I am a great admirer/fan of Penderecki's music, and particularly this recording, one of the favorites in my collection.

I loved the engineering, which sounded as if just the right amount of reverberation were captured. Since I'm no choral expert (but a choral music lover) I cannot contradict the previous reviewer's criticisms of this choir's intonation, especially in light of the vocal effects that Penderecki's score demands.

However, I do love this piece (evocative of course of the events unfolding in its pages).

Try listening to this and then flipping to a recording of, say Utrenya I and II, and notice the even denser sonorities and sound clouds. (Some of Utrenya II was used in Kubrick's movie "The Shining" by the way).

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this recording of the St. Luke Passion.

A poor recording of an amazing piece.......2005-02-10

The intonation of the choir on this recording is worse than bad, it goes into complete inaccuracies at times. The pitch gets so flat in the sopranos and especially the boy's choir that it becomes a different note. The acoustics of the recording are beautiful, the soloists generally good, and the orchestra plays well, but the intonation issues in the choir prevent me from ever wanting to listen to this recording ever again. If you have a musical ear about you, or at least a sense of when things are just wrong, don't buy this recording. Look elsewhere.

to extreme for some.......2004-03-01

Penderecki is the most significant Polish composer of his generation and one of the most inspired and prolific musicians to emerge from East Europe since the second world war. Although he outraged many with his avant-garde style, it earned him the title of "the creator of contemporary music for audiences who hate it. "St Luke Passion" would be his most moving musical masterpieces of the twentieth century by expressing the sufferings and death of Christ and at the same time the tragic experiences of our time. He was the first Polish composer to tackle a large scale symphonic work which had been scored for three solo voices, narrator, three mixed choirs, boy's choir and orchestra and draw obvious influences from Bach's "St Luke Passion. The widely spaced choir's uttering crowd noises would be one example of the emotional extremes that Penderecki would demostrate in this work and among other works...he tread a path between sacred and profane, lamentation and ecstasy and in doing so angered many critics. This disc is beautifully recorded by British engineers in Poland and will remain a powerful and moving piece.

Average customer rating:

Paradisi Gloria - Stabat Mater

Manufacturer: Profil - G Haenssler
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0001Y1I74
Release Date: 2005-08-16

Penderecki: Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam

Average customer rating:

A Masterpiece in the Spirit of Bach
Like Nothing I've Ever Heard Before

Penderecki: Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam
Krzysztof Penderecki , Marc Soustrot , Franziska Hirzel , François Le Roux , Jean-Philippe Courtis , and Manfred Jung
Manufacturer: MD&G Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004S87H
Release Date: 2000-05-23

Customer Reviews:

A Masterpiece in the Spirit of Bach.......2002-07-31

When all is said and done, the music of Krzyzstof Penderecki will be best crystalized by two astounding pieces: the Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima and the St. Luke Passion. Not that Penderecki hasn't written other great pieces, but these two sum up his greatest contributions to the music of our century. Of the two, the St. Luke Passion has always been my favorite.

The Passion is about as dramatic as you can get. Formally, Penderecki takes the Bach Passions as his model. He intersperses recited texts by an Evangelist, the words of Christ sung by a bass baritone and solo and choral interludes based on Latin texts as meditations on the central mystery of the Christian faith. The work is definately of the avant-garde of it's time, but it is accessible and deeply felt. The drama is papable. Stunning orchestral and extended vocal effects give the sense of increasing nightmare as the crucifixtion continues. And yet, this is at heart a romantic work. Penderecki never resorts to avant-garde technique for it's own sake in this work. It is always in service of the emotional situation. And he can write moving melodies, as the baritone solo in the Garden of Gethsename proves. It never fails to reduce me to tears.

This performance is the only one currently available. To me, it pales in comparison to the original EMI recording with the composer as conductor. (Penderecki is a superb conductor of his own work, a skill that is not shared by many composers.) I like the original baritone soloist better, as I do the original narrator, but some of that may have to do with the fact that I am used to the earlier performances, having literally grown up with the old recording. (I think I purchased it when I was 12 or so.) These performances certainly capture this powerful work. If you want only one CD of Penderecki, this would be it in my opinion. No other work shows so many sides of this Polish national treasure.

Like Nothing I've Ever Heard Before.......2000-06-29

I have only recently started listening to the music of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (I ordinarily listen to Baroque music, but lately I've been trying to contemporize a bit), so I wasn't sure what to expect from this disc. I had heard the three discs of Penderecki's orchestral music released by Naxos, so I knew this was composed during his avant-garde period in the 60s. Still, I thought, how could the freakish music from pieces like the "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" work with a sacred subject like the Passion and Crucifixion? The answer: brilliantly. This disc grabs your attention right away: a drum pounds as the anguished chorus cries out, "Crux, ave, O Crux," followed by a sinister-sounding organ. Now that it's got you, it won't let go for almost 70 minutes of weird, ethereal choruses, weirder speech-song solos, and an orchestra that often sounds like something not of this earth, interrupted periodically by an increasingly frantic-sounding narrator. Fragments of more conventional music, even Gregorian chanting at one point, provide occasional relief, but by the time this disc was over I felt exhausted: this is powerful, draining, haunting stuff. The closest thing I can compare this to is Gyorgy Ligeti's choral music from the soundtrack for 2001: A Space Odyssey: if you liked that, you'll love this. Penderecki's St. Luke Passion isn't for everyone--it isn't really "music" as most people define it--but if you have a taste for the experimental and extreme, then this is the disc for you. (I have only one complaint: the St. Luke Passion is "sung" in Latin, but only a German translation is provided, which left me in the dark about the text.)