Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 43

Pimbunh Post-Oawte: Friday, Octobw 1988 KiKiceivixn uutie Penderecki makes his Pittsburgh debut on the second half, preceded by Sibelius' "Finlandia" and with Victor Tretyakov as soloist Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 2. It's a waste of one of today's greatest living musicians to bring him here to conduct "Finlandia" which any high school band leader could bring off, and which, in any case, is more suitable to a pops concert or to accompany a second-rate Russian violinist in a virtuoso showpiece. Nonetheless, Penderecki did yeoman's service to both works. Penderecki, by the way, is one of the very few left-handed conductors to be found.

How, if at all, this affects the players, I can not say, but his baton work throughout the evening was exceptionally clear. And the orchestra played some very complex music with almost unfailing accuracy, indicating more than the usual care and preparation. "Finlandia" was indeed stirring, if Composer is deft as conductor 6y Robert Croan Post-Gazette Music Critic rzysztof Penderecki is I making his local debut as I con(luctor of the LJVA Pittsburgh Symphony this weekend in Heinz Hall. He is a very good conductor, but far more important as a composer. An all-Penderecki evening would have been welcome (his 90-minute "Utrenja" is my first choice) and perhaps that may happen in the future.

For the moment, Penderecki is conducting his Symphony No. 2 just a bit cloying in its moments of patriotic sentimentality. The Shostakovich concerto was more substantial one of that composer's more difficult, craggy works. Like David Oistrakh, who played the premiere in 1967, Tretyakov played with a thick, syrupy tone, and lots of dash in the violinis-tic fireworks. He was less artistic than his predecessor, however going for the big effects, skimming the subtler nuances of the Adagio.

Penderecki's own work is, of course, the reason for attending this concert. His Second Symphony is a gorgeous piece an easy-on-the-ears introduction to his music. This is a full-blooded, warm-voiced outpouring, solidly in the symphonic tradition, always interesting and individual despite its traditional idiom. The Pittsburgh orchestra played it superbly under the composer's deft and knowing supervision. Still, he hopes to come back in the future with one of his big choral pieces, possibly his "Polish Requiem," composed in 1984: "My most popular piece." The "Polish Requiem" is a setting of the Latin Mass.

It came about when Solidarity leader Lech Walesa commissioned Penderecki to write a "Lacrimosa," for the victims of the 1980 Gdansk massacre. Explaining the title, the composer says, "I incorporated a quotation from an old Polish hymn. Then I wrote an "Agnus Dei," and worked backwards through the whole Requiem. It's being performed everywhere except in Pittsburgh." Penderecki has not been totally neglected in this city. The Pittsburgh Oratorio Society did his "St.

Luke Passion" in the early '70s, and conductor Robert Boudreau commissioned Penderecki to write his "Pittsburgh Overture" specifically for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra. The composer praises American audiences for being "open, carefree, good listeners," but notes that "repertory is much more advanced in Europe In Germany, even in the small cities, it would be no problem to do a whole evening of my music, anytime." He also praises the symphony's music director, Lorin Maazel: "A wonderful conductor, a natural talent." Maazel will conduct a piece commissioned from Penderecki for the bicentennial of the French Revolution. It will be played by the Orchestra National de Pans which has been designated the Pittsburgh Symphony's sister orchestra and subsequently by the Pittsburgh Symphony. By Robert Croan Post-Gazette Music Critic -ee how Penderecki con-ducts himself," is the way lthe Pittsburgh Symphony Vm Orchestra invites you to this weekend's concerts in Heinz Hall. Polish-born Krzysztof Penderecki, is making his Pittsburgh debut in these concerts, conducting his own Symphony No.

2, along with works by Sibelius and Shostakovich. Though best known in this country as the composer of some of this century's most successful big choral works "Utrenja" and the "St. Luke Passion" are his most frequently performed Penderecki has been conducting since 1972, and now just approaching his 55th birthday he is principal guest conductor of the North German Radio Orchestra in Hamburg. Last year he conducted 80 concerts. Penderecki is a soft-spoken, cultivated man intelligent yet unassuming.

He speaks several languages fluently and has homes in Poland and Switzerland. "There's something natural about a composer conducting," he says. "In the 19th century all the composers were conductors: Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner. It's like doctors: When I was a boy the family doctor did everything. Now they specialize.

"A composer has to conduct. It's a way to explain his music. I am not able to write everything into my, scores. Musical notation isn't that exact." Though Penderecki's music of the '60s was complex and composi-tionally in the forefront, the symphony chosen for his Pittsburgh program is solidly romantic. "It's not a shocking piece," he is quick to explain.

"It's very accessible. Anyone who usually goes to a concert, who is used to the symphonies of, say, Brahms or Dvorak, can under-' stand and appreciate my piece. This is the most romantic piece I ever wrote. I wouldn't do it ever again." 11 Jp ft jr If you're going Krzysztof Penderecki will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in his own Symphony No. 2, along with music by Sibelius and Shostakovich, tonight at 8:30 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

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