PRELUDE FOR SOLO CLARINET (1987) BY KRZYSTOF PENDERECKI

PRELUDE FOR SOLO CLARINET (1987) BY KRZYSTOF PENDERECKI GOLDBACH FELIX CONSTANTIN VALAHIA University of Targoviste Faculty of Arts and Sciences B-dul Unirii 18-22, 130082, Targoviste, Romania E-mail felixgoldbach@yahoo.com www.felixgoldbach.ro Abstract: In the domain of chamber music, his creation is just as rich. The stylistic variety denotes as well an evolution of the means used. It comprises pieces for solo instruments, for instance Cadenza and Sarabanda for viola or Capriccio per Siegfried Palm, Per Slava and Divertimento for cello, Prelude for solo clarinet (1987), Capriccio for tuba solo; another category of works is constituted by the chamber music duo, which includes two sonatas, Three miniatures for violin and piano, Three miniatures for clarinet and piano (1956) a trio and four string quartets and also a Quartet for clarinet and strings (1993) and a Sextet (2000). Keywords: chamber music, stylistic variety, music school, symphonic, solo instruments. 1. Introduction Krzystof Penderecki is one of the personalities of the Polish music, well known and appreciated nowadays. The composer and conductor Krzystof Penderecki was born on November 23, 1933, in Dębica, a small town near Krakow. He began playing the violin and the piano under his father s guidance. The he studied at the Conservatory of Krakow with Franciszeck Skolyszewski. In 1954, at the Music Academy, in parallel to the study of composition with Stanislaw Wiechowicz and Artur Malawski, he followed the courses of philosophy, and history of art and literature. Since 1958, as a professor at the music school, he began composing and was remarked and received a prize even since 1959 at the Young Polish Composers Contest from Warsaw, and then the series of prizes continued. In his works one can notice the predilection for the dodecaphonic, atonal and serial techniques of the Second Viennese School, especially the influence of Anton Webern, intertwined with the ideas of Pierre Boulez and the novelties in the compositions of Igor Stravinski. Krzystof Penderecki aroused the interest of certain personalities such as Hermann Moeck and Heinrich Strobel, musical director of the South-West-Radio Foundation s Experimental Studio, who have made known his prized works 1 on 1 First Prize for Strophes, Emanations and Psalms of David in 1959, and in 1969 for the symphonic work Anaklasis. The UNESCO Prize 1961 for the Dimensions of Time and Silence the radio and by means of the festivals Warsaw Autumn and Donaueschingen Musiktage. 2. Problem formulation The large international recognition is due to his qualities of explorer, affiliated to the vanguard trends of the second half of the 20 th century, of innovator in the domain of musical text, naming of notes by letters and musical effects, obtained by extending the instrumental means, the composition techniques and enjoying popularity. His works are present on the radio, in the concert halls, in festivals, on CDs and in academic curriculums. He composed four operas, eight symphonies and diverse symphonic works, of which Uvertura Pittsburg for wind instruments, the Burlesque suite for the opera Ubu Rex (for wind instruments orchestra), while the score of Sinfonietta no. 2 for clarinet and strings was later on arranged as well for quartet with clarinet. He also wrote concerts for violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, oboe, horn; for clarinet, he transcribed the flute concert and the viola concert. Among his creations there are and for Train. He also obtained the Westphalian Prize and the Prize of Italia 1967 with Stabat Mater and Passion according to Saint Luc, and in 1968 he was offered this prize again for Dies Irae (dedicated to the memory of the Auschwitz victims), then the Honneger Prize for Symphony no. 4. In 1971 he was awarded the prize of the Polish Composers Union. He was distinguished with the State Prize First Class of Poland (1968). ISBN: 978-960-474-264-6 62

numerous works dedicated to the Catholic cult: Polish Requiem, Stabat Mother, Passion according to Saint Luc, Agnus Dei, Psalms of David, cantatas, and the oratorios Dies Irae, Utrenja, Cosmogonia, Magnificat. Some of his works were transposed as film music. 3. Problem solution His fame recommended him as a professor 2, soon becoming member of honor 3 of numerous cultural institutions worldwide. His rich activity as a composer was acknowledged by prizes, medals and international awards 4, a cello festival bearing his name was organized and he became Doctor Honoris Causa of many prestigious universities. 5 In his compositions is present the tendency towards dodecaphonism, the adhesion to tashism (the music builds contrasts between sound patches, between different densities) and the minimalism of Xenakis or John Cage s works. Influenced by the European trend tending to the invention of modal structures, like O. Messiaen he builds his own scale, made up of semitone and augmented forth (tritone). Later on he opts for other stylistic variants as well, for instance Honneger s expressionism or bruitism. Preoccupied by renewal, he investigates the particularities of emission of the wind instruments. 2 1966-1968: professor at Folkwang Hochschule of Essen, where he started composing operas. In 1972 he becomes Rector of Musikhochschule of Krakow and, between 1973 and 1978, professor at Yale University of New Haven, USA. Since 1972, for 15 years he was the rector of the Academy of Krakow. 3 In 1995, member of honor at Royal Academy of Music of Dublin, in 1998 of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, contributor member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Munich; in 2000 member of honor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna; 2001 member of honor of the Academy of Arts of Hong Kong. 4 International awards: Sibelius Golden Medal (1967), EMI prize (1972), Chevalier of Saint George Order, the Great Cross of Germany (1990), the Austrian Medal for Science and Art (1992), the UNESCO prize, the Order of Cultural Merit of the State of Monaco (1993), EMI prizes (1995, 1996), Medal of the Music Academy of the Principality of Asturias, the prize Composer of the year 2000, the Prize of Arts (2001), the Romano Guardini award (2002), 16 th Praemium Imperiale 2004 in Tokio. 5 Doctor Honoris Causa of the Music Academy of Gdansk, University of Washington, Yale, London, Glasgow, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Rochester, Bordeaux, Leuwen, Belgrade, Madrid, Poznan, Pittsburg, Leipzig, Sankt Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Beijing. Member of honor of the town of Bloomington and of his native town. ISBN: 978-960-474-264-6 63 In his scores, he introduces multiphonic, harmonic orchestrations, slap-tongue effects, special sonorities described in the Legend of the partition, along with random surfaces, where the interpreter can build his own version within certain indicated limits, like in the works De natura ssonoris, Utrenja and Anaklasis, pieces used as sound tapes for certain movies, due to their particular expressive qualities. Composed in 1987, the miniature entitled Prelude for Solo Clarinet is dedicated to Paul Patterson 6 on his 40 th anniversary. The piece was published by the Schott s Söhne Poblishing House, Mainz, in 1988. In our opinion, before approaching the piece for clarinet solo, an interpreter should absolutely listen to Lacrimosa no. 10 of the Polish Requiem composed by Penderecki, carefully following the melodic line of the soprano, as the piece Prelude has many thinks in common with it, concerning the initial and the final atmosphere as well as concerning the dramatism. The work is short, metaphorical and we distinguish the improvisational character that pervades it. The movement is very slow, Lento sostenuto, interiorized, with a meditative development. Prelude develops a bow-like construction, the ends of the bow being areas with an obvious similitude, that we would indicate as +α and α for their metaphorical significances: it comes from the infinite and returns back to the infinite. The idea of this interpretation relies on the fact that the +α segment reappears in the end, yet the order of the initial cells is organized recurrently. On the other hand, the two areas, the one of the system 1, with a rarefied beginning and slightly agglomerated towards the end, compared to the area of the final system, system 14, progressively rarefied, have as a common feature the rarity of the melodic-rhythmical units presented, unlike the systems 4-12, where the agglomeration of the musical figures is very obvious. To this density of the musical discourse contributes the increasing of the number of short durations per time unit, of the rhythms in exceptional divisions, and the intensification obtained using agogic terms, starting 6 The English composer and composition and tuba professor Paul Patterson (born in 1947), friend of Penderecki, was the leader in charge of the organization of an English festival, which celebrated a composer s personality each year, and which festival included the participation of the celebrated composer.

with system 6, poco a poco accelerando towards the system 9, noted with più mosso. The deceleration occurs using both of these parameters, namely the progressively augmented durations and agogically, through the indication poco a poco al tempo 1. We discovered in this way a second arc, which is rhythmical, and a third, which is agogic. We will exemplify our statements through the rarefying of +α and α. The example of respectively system 1 and 14 Another parameter describing the same round movement is the curve described by the dynamic profile. The composer does not give too many indications, but on the basis of the present ones we can think of the same interpretation. The works begins and ends in the area of the minimums, on the same dynamic level, in piano. The only nuances written, mezzoforte halfway through system 5, forte in the grave register of the system 8, followed by the alternation between the minimums piano and the maximum forte of system 10, situated quite closely as settlement, then the increase towards the general maximum of the piece, fortissimo amplified as surface by the sign of the crown, moment placed at the end of the system 11, followed by a gradual renunciation, touching first the mezzoforte and almost immediately after piano in the system 12, level left at the latitude of the interpreter until the end of the piece (system 14) schematically generates a triple curve, with two intermediary maxims in the systems 8 and 10, with the great dynamic culmination in the system 11, with a rapid decrease in the end. We will present below this general dynamic curve: consonance and dissonance, two metaphorical ideas, with a large sphere of significances. Example: the main motive, system 1, times 9-10 and 11-13 In the initial exposition, the sounds appear much more distanced by breath marks, the aerated cells can be understood as significance and the waiting for a new sonorous event generates tension. The cells of information unite in increasingly larger structures, created out of three or more elements with a random inner order. The accumulations in conglomerates with a large surface take place in the legato manner and there is a gradual enunciation to the breath marks, beginning with the half of the system 3. The amplification leads to the fact that the cells stand out to a lesser degree. The composer compensates this fact by an increasingly complicated phrasing, alternating the areas linked legato to those connected staccato. In order to highlight the cheerful condition induced by the execution staccato, the author uses exceptional divisions, sixteenths triplets. The melody gradually loses its initially meditative character. Starting with the ascending profile adopted in the increasingly larger leaps of the system 3, the melody describes complicated arabesques, with different profiles, due to the modification of at least one of the usual parameters. For instance in the system 5, the first two times form a sound patters that the composer immediately repeats, yet the leap that closes the time 1 on repetition is moved down, and the time two is augmented rhythmically without keeping the same ratio (eighths triplet), the pattern appearing as inversed recurrence: Example: system 5 Concerning the melodies we noticed that, at the basis of the musical discourse, there are two entities, the third and the semitone, interpretable as The model presented below (time four/the second triplet eighth time 6) presents as transformations: the disappearance of the initial thematic head and its movement to the end of the formula, the replacement of the long time by a pause, the ISBN: 978-960-474-264-6 64

shortening of the entire figure (only time 7); in exchange, the character of both of these conglomerates becomes merry because of the jumpy staccato and rapid manner of execution, as the pattern is twice repeated in the system 6 as well. The composer first anagrams the cells presenting a different order, with a recurrent tendency in the first exposition of the system, and then adds other anagrams later on. The vividness given by the figures executed in the staccato manner is accentuated by the uniformly accentuated manner: springs and transmits the bold impetus of maturity, the effort of self-improvement. The rhythm appears agglomerated through the exclusive use of sixteenths and triplets of sixteenths. The swift succession of movements conveys energy. In the end of the ascension, the stop occurs on a sound with a muultiphonic effect, with a final glissando towards the culmination on the last sound of Do of the clarinet s ambitus. The moment is hard to be suddenly achieved in fortissimo. Example: the system 6 In the systems 7-8-9, the third is processed by rapid tremolo, the motive being immediately sequenced. The tremolo figure is then adjoined to some processing of the initial pattern, in which the adjoined semitones accompany and alternate with the presence of the diminished fifth, in a permanent permutation of the cells and with modifications of direction for the intervals. Here the composer uses the tone-color-dialogue between the registers of the clarinet. The settlement of the motives, alternating the grave and the acute zone, is exploited both as emission, for colorrelated purposes, and also to obtain the contrasting dynamic levels. The sonority gets more intense and generates impatience, but the composer knows the limits of the instrument. That is why, at the moment of the maximum agglomeration, caused by the ascendant extension (also in point of surface) of the tremolo area in the system 9, he places a short breath break after which he starts with increased speed (più mosso) beginning with the grave register in a pace rhythm of a maximum difficulty. The figures follow one another rapidly, and their execution puts a great demand on the clarinet player. Their construction is made using once again the two main elements, the semitone and the third. This time, the first interval is processed as well by turning it over (the result being a seventh). The figures contain increasingly spectacular leaps, which culminate with a set of figures, created out of thirds and sevenths, grouped in an ascendant sequence towards the limit of ambitus of the instrument. The musical discourse spectacularly Exemple: the system 11, the climax of the piece, with the multiphonic and glissando effect Beginning with the system 12 starts the long final descent. The slope is interrupted by short ascending turns. The two intervals are used differently. There is a prevalence of the semitones, grouped two by two, and separated by various leaps in point of extension (perfect fifths, diminished seventh, twelfth, augmented fourth, diminished eleventh, augmented fifth, minor ninth, large tenth in the systems 12-13). The diversity of the leaps indicates the preoccupation for non-repeatability in the sonorous constructions. The descent combines with the progressive relaxation of the tempo (poco a poco al tempo 1), indicated in the system 12 and unchanged until the end, which shows that the return to the first movement actually occurs during the last segment of the piece. At the same time, in the dynamic realization of the final segment, the composer requests the progressive diminution of the dynamic level. The four parameters are combined with the rarefying of the surface and the enlargement of the durations. With the decrease of the rhythmic pulsation in the exposition, the musical discourse becomes purified, keeping only the essential, the tension disappears and the depressive atmosphere emanates a deep sadness; finally the immobility sets in, the last metaphor, expressed by means of a break with a bird s eye. Conclusions The composer builds latent harmonies throughout the melody. They manage to create the impression ISBN: 978-960-474-264-6 65

of a certain modal structure, either through the repetition of a harmonic pattern (system 2, 6-7) or through the highlighting of certain configurations which, through the rapid movement of the sounds give the impression of a harmonic march, as in the case of the system 3-4-5 or later on, in the ascendant movement of the thirds of the systems 7-8-9-10. At other times, the triplet cells contain a clear harmony, and the cell s ascending movement gives the impression of a chromatic harmonic march, in the system 11. In exchange, in the first system, the first half of the second and in the systems 12-14, it is the melody that has the primacy. The entire piece needs to be presented in the parlando style, with a well-though dramaturgy, in order to obtain a maximum diversity and expressiveness. Vieru, Anatol Cuvinte despre sunete Editura Cartea Românească, Bucureşti, 1994 Webern, Anton Calea spre muzica nouă Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1988 Score Krzystof Penderecki, PRELUDE for solo clarinet. Video Recorder Krzystof Penderecki, PRELUDE for solo clarinet Felix Goldbach. References xxx. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Editura Macmillan and Co., Londra, 2000 Anghel, Irinel Orientări, direcńii, curente ale muzicii româneşti din a doua jumătate a secolului XX Editura Muzicală 1997 Brymer, James The Clarinet Editura MacDonald and Jane s, Londra, 1976 Boulez, Pierre Penser la musique d aujourd hui Edition Gontier, Geneve, 1964 Buciu, Dan Elemente de scriitură modală Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1981 Hartmann, Nicolai Estetica Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1974 Hindemith, Paul IniŃiere în compozińie, vol. I, II Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1967 Marcus, Solomon SemnificaŃie şi comunicare în lumea contemporană Editura Politică, Bucureşti, 1985 Munteanu, Ştefan Stil şi expresivitate poetică Editura ŞtiinŃifică, Bucureşti, 1972 Nemescu, Octavian CapacităŃile semantice ale muzicii Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1983 Sandu-Dediu, Valentina Ipostaze stilistice şi simbolice ale manierismului în muzică Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1997 Sandu-Dediu, Valentina Muzica românească între 1944 2000 Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 2001 Sandu-Dediu, Valentina Studii de stilistică şi retorică muzicală Editura UniversităŃii de Muzică, Bucureşti,1999 Vieru, Anatol O carte a modurilor Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1980 ISBN: 978-960-474-264-6 66