Penderecki’s Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra: Analysis

[@samuel_andreyev]

How is this anything other than a great score. We have lost a living master, and I wanted to pay him some kind of modest tribute. Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

[@kamkam9928]

Penderecki's Sound typology: -Clusters 9:42 -'Chattering' (Irregular Repetition) 11:19 -Rapidly-Moving Lines (Random Walk) 11:37 -Attack/Resonance Figures 12:31

[@pandude53]

He was a very kind man and was composer in residence at Yale when I was there oh so long ago RIP

[@NickBatinaComposer]

Aaayy, happen to know Ms Polina or Dr Ugay?

[@michaeltibbits9321]

This braggin ass

[@RedstoneManiac13]

Hey Samuel, Just wanted to thank your for putting this one up. I first came across Penderecki in High School, and his music ultimately convinced me to go into composition at my university. He redefined what music could be for me on a very fundamental level. At the time, there weren't many resources on explaining how his music worked (the internet wasn't so open then even just a short while ago), so props for putting a piece of his music out there for people to learn about. This one is definitely one of my favorites! --Thomas Håkanson

[@user-ct9bl9xr5d]

Thoughtful analysis! I also enjoyed your recent Stravinsky video where you mentioned some of your favourite of the lesser-known late works - maybe you could give a short 'further listening' list for each composer at the end of your lectures?

[@johnmclaren9203]

I did not know this one, but now I love it. I listened to it before and after watching your video. It was heck of a ride both times, but I caught a lot more of the scenery on the second go. I really love the saw -- especially in context, where it comes off as weirdly plaintive and mournful. Thank you indeed.

[@Vlessgorian]

Great analysis! Very interesting. Penderecki has always been one of my heroes. I even went to Poland to study composition for a year, not in Kraków but in Łódź where I was lucky enough to study with Zygmunt Krauze, another incredibly interesting composer from this amazing country.

[@simonkawasaki4229]

Great video analysis. RIP Penderecki, the Polish master.

[@allesvergaengliche]

Thanks for the video!! I have not heard this work as I'm somewhat new to Penderecki's music, but I'm definitely going to seek it out now. It sounds amazing. This is a worthy tribute to his memory, I think. Rest in peace to the maestro.

[@ScottGlasgowMusic]

Thank you for your analysis / video. "The way in which the composer organizes this musical discourse is incredibly satisfying" --- YES! Exactly why Penderecki is great when handling cluster type materials! He knows how to keep it interesting where many others do not. I've taught his music at university (UCLA) in composition writing courses where the student writes in his style-- I found that the "keeping it interesting" is the hardest part of this style. What do you think of his late "tonal" period? I just discovered that his Symphony No. 6 was finally released this year 2020. Check it out. I hope you tackle more Penderecki in future videos. RIP Penderecki. A huge influence on my own work.

[@MattLeGroulx]

So excited to watch this, thanks Samuel!

[@MrOrenledmusic]

Very informative and interesting analysis of a fantastic composition. Thanks, Samuel!

[@valerybradu3304]

Superb! So expressive and tragic, it is a masterpiece! Penderecki is at his best using different techniques, sounds, clusters etc . Orchestration is perfect!

[@nathangale7702]

Thanks again for introducing me to a great piece of music I hadn´t met yet. Penderecki is a composer I really need to spend more time with (the St. Luke´s Passion is one of my all-time favorite pieces).

[@SamuelRHoward]

Jesus Christ, I love Penderecki. Glad to have caught some of his concerts in Manchester and London, and very sad to hear that this will no longer be possible. Solid and focused analysis as always, and glad that Penderecki's humour didn't go overlooked!

[@bearfootsteve6104]

How strange Penderecki and Szymanovski - two greatest polish composers of the XX century died on that date. Thank you for sharing

[@jackdomanski6758]

Two of the greatest. Do not forget Lutoslawski!

[@bearfootsteve6104]

Jack Domanski - He did not died on March 29th. Indeed, he is also a great composer.

[@AxmihaMeuSaco]

Invention, fun, creativity, humor - take that out of music and there's no music. One thing you said that was very elucidative to me was the reference to "sound engineer". Indeed, the sound aspect is just amazing. Thanks for the analysis.

[@GeorgeTsouris]

So nice! Thanks!

[@arsaral]

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Thank you for what you have done for us.

[@FilipSandecomposer]

Thank you for a great analysis! Penderecki did actually have a convincing Craft and Instinct to shape and compose no matter the style. A really great artist!!!

[@samuel_andreyev]

I agree. He had range, too!

[@travisk97]

Nice. RIP to a real one.

[@renaldoramai-musiccomposer7399]

This was great. Thank you.

[@samarthgrover1996]

I love how your choices for analysis usually contain those specific compositions which i've always felt were totally ignored or underappreciated by most people.

[@samuel_andreyev]

Thanks! Part of the idea is to point people to corners of the repertoire that are often ignored.

[@danantoniumaestrodistortion]

So crazy thank you

[@borjamuro7745]

Thank you Samuel

[@khaledshokry5070]

Thank you!

[@meruscales]

This makes me want to hear an analysis of Berio’s Points on a Curve to Find

[@mylesjordan9970]

The brass entrance at 26:04 seems strikingly to parody the entrance of the sheep in Strauss’s Don Quixote

[@Sonjay89]

Great analysis! I wasn't aware of Penderecki's sarcasm and humor; during this period he is usually so deathly serious. I'd like to thank you Samuel for your channel. I discovered it when searching for Holliger's Scardanelli Zyklus and was impressed that someone had analyzed such an obscure work. You truly have wonderful taste. I listened to your Bern Trio - the oboe part especially is gorgeous. What are your thoughts on composers like Aldo Clementi, Bernd Zimmermann, Per Norgard? Thank you also for introducing me to Bach's Actus Tragicus, absolutely sublime.

[@gabrielegagliardi3956]

Jump cuts, better than godard. Great content as always ❤

[@matthewward963]

Thank you for this fascinating video and your work in general! A couple of thoughts as to why this work (and others of Penderecki) continue to speak: one is the indications of post-modernism found throughout in the use and ironisation of a variety of juxtaposed historical styles/objects combined with an immediacy of emotional impact as you say (aspects of this work remind me of James MacMillan, for example); another is from Ravel, who apparently used to say that the only test of good form is continuity of interest. You certainly get that here!

[@romanczura4146]

Interesting idea by Ravel, right he is.

[@heckler73]

Zappa had some particular interest in _The Devils of Loudon_ : _This Catholic Polish gentleman which writes very interesting music doing this opera with religious and demonic overtones (...) The thing that knocks me out: I've got this Philips recording with Tatjana Troyanos singing the lead vocal in this enema sequence where's to exercise Asmodeus who is supposed to be lurking inside her bowel, according to the text by Aldous Huxley. They have to take her behind the screen on stage and pump her up in sort of philosophical sense with some, unseen by the audience, herbal burbling enema. And the music he has going on for that scene is very ingenious, you know. You hear the bubbles and she is singing interesting little screams and grunts and stuff. I'd say: "That's a step forward." There's not too many things in rock 'n' roll that can compare to that. I put it right up alongside of "Voulez-Vous Couchez Avec Moi", one of those funk tunes._ ~~~~ Any chance you'll cover that in a future analysis? 😄😉

[@Kmars133]

Very well done video! Penderecki was the reason for my journey into classical music, so this video was a wonderful thing to see done by yourself. Do you think you could make an analysis video for Christophe Bertrand? I know he’s not well known, but man, is his stuff good.

[@samuel_andreyev]

I met Christophe once (he was from Strasbourg, where I live). A terrible loss.

[@bobknight8412]

You should do an analysis of "Peanut Man" by Tim Buckley. There's something about it I find so captivating. He almost subverts the structure of a pop soul song through the use of the backing vocal's "prediction" of the main lyrics

[@wizard7635]

any song that has a reference to rum and coca cola is spot on perfect, Peanut Man is definitely a catchy song too.

[@yango8778]

When I was 14/15 years old I listened to the Capriccio over and over again. But for some reason the library in Hamburg, at least back then, had no scores by Penderecki. Years later when I looked at the score for the first time I could almost channel the entire piece in my head from memory. But I was kind of suprised how open some of the notation was. Especially the rythm. I imagened back then that Penderecki would have notated it as precisely as Ligeti or Xenakis did. Anyway, it's a greate piece with an amazing, expressive energy. Just what a teenager in puberty needs! 😉

[@jedtulman46]

Always loved Penderecki . If you ever see this u my take note : I was born in 1960 . I got to see Shostakovich in person in 1972 . But I digress . I like both major periods of Penderecki . This "early "stuff is awesome.

[@reMusikorg]

Great analysis!

[@samuel_andreyev]

Thank you!

[@ivankaramasov]

Do you know Arne Nordheim? I would love to hear your take on something by him. Preferably one of his later compositions like Wirklicher Wald.

[@magnusloven2041]

Would you consider any of the late Talk Talk compositions like "taphead" for example worthy of analysis?

[@wids]

He should!!

[@wids]

We need to cross his palms with silver

[@WillMartinComposer]

I love the moments in Penderecki's music when he sort of "breaks character", such as the waltz and jazz references in this piece. There's also a moment like this in De Natura Sonoris 1. The double bass suddenly starts imitating a walking bass and all of a sudden it's a full on parody of jazz. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ-3ZZ1_frqUZ8k

[@hetmanjz]

Let's not forget that in the early '70s Penderecki would write "Actions," a piece "for free jazz orchestra."

[@BRIRICO]

Thank you for one more your fine videos. I wonder if you would care to do videos analysis of George Perle and his twelve tone tonality and J. M. Hauer and his own brand of twelve tone technique ?

[@christophedevos3760]

The musical saw sounds like a sweep of a sine wave generator (or a theremin for that matter), which is interesting because Penderecki made electronic music before these experimental orchestral works, which are certainly influenced by his experience in the studio (as was Ligeti btw).

[@christopherheine7870]

Samuel, thank you for continuing to make such high quality content! I would be very interested to see more content like this regarding artists in the "popular" music cannon (thanks for the Frownland discussion). Are you aware of the experimental hip-hop group Death Grips? I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on their innovative and polarizing music, particularly disk one of the double album The Powers That B. It's an incredibly unique project featuring intriguing production, esoteric lyrics coupled with powerful vocal performances, and virtuosic drumming (mostly on electronic drums triggering Bjork's vocal samples). I think at the very least you will find it to be an interesting listen.

[@mylesjordan9970]

The dramatic aspect of much of Penderecki’s work does indeed hit one forcefully on first hearing-I heard the Toronto Symphony in the early 1970s doing his St. Luke Passion and the audience was absolutely and immediately carried with it-at the same time, his collage-like juxtaposition of quasi-aleatoric materials renders its communicative success more or less contingent on the conductor’s sense of dramatic proportions.

[@malekwahb7994]

This is a very useful way of analysis, as you shed the light on this work, and also explained how Penderecki thinks, and it helps to understand his mentality in the other works. Thanks alot Samuel....

[@samuel_andreyev]

My pleasure

[@parsa.mostaghim]

For me Penderecki is Mahler of his time, they both give me a sense of a world full of variety and events, simple tunes and large bangs💥🌾

[@franciscusrebro1416]

Superb video as always! I wasn't familiar with this piece and it seems like a riotous good time. I just wanted to mention for anyone who doesn't know this delightful anecdote, Penderecki met and collaborated with none other than Radiohead's guitarist Jonny Greenwood. The composer said about the band: "I told my granddaughter, and she knew immediately who they were. She is 11, and she and my children gave me some discs to hear their music. I like it very much; it is very soft, very musical. And after that, I heard that Jonny was inspired by me in other pieces he has composed." You can read about the whole story here: www.theguardian.com/music/2012/feb/23/poles-collide-jonny-greenwood-penderecki I always love hearing about this kind of cross-universe mashup stuff between far out contemporary classical music and other kinds of music. RIP Penderecki, a true giant who was very closely in touch with our times.

[@Doctee81]

I was under the impression that his style during this period was influenced heavily by his experiments in musique concrete. This is certain how I hear this and his other sonoristic works; as attempts to write tape music for orchestra.

[@lourak613]

Can you please explain what you mean by "a sense of momentum" ? What parameters are being manipulated to create this "sense"?

[@Pretzels722]

There goes one of the last household names in living composers :( (Household name in relative terms)

[@michaelpaulsmith4619]

Have we forgotten about the Slapsticks, Samuel? Not all our favourite bits have had a light shone upon them, have they? (Or is that a different piece by someone completely alien to modern musical thought?)

[@monsieursyrinx8410]

Hello Mr Andreyev, I don't know if it's possible, but could You make a video about Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner, about a composition by Claude Debussy (e. g. the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp) or in general impressionism in music (I know it's not really contemporary, but it's a very important part of music history )? Greetings from Germany

[@samuel_andreyev]

I teach all of those in my 20th century harmony course here in Strasbourg. Perhaps one day on the channel as well. Grüße aus Elsass.

[@monsieursyrinx8410]

@@samuel_andreyev Dankeschön!

[@jesusfernandez7236]

Dónde conseguiste la partitura? Luce genial! PD. Excelente análisis 👌🏼

[@SgtxAnus]

Can you analize the song Peanut Man by Tim Buckley?

[@irishmanwithagun]

With respect to composers working within Penderecki’s tradition, Jonny Greenwood has been very strongly influenced by him. He utilises a lot of his compositional techniques, and even composed a piece called 48 Responses to Polymorphia.

[@markpaterson2053]

I thought Penderecki would live forever; his 7 Gates of Jerusolem still defies my belief in its spectacle, and his other symphonies simply aren't appreciated enough --- he should be a household name like Shostakovich or Bartok.

[@Frownlandia]

The ending of this piece reminds me of Pedro's Dowry by Frank Zappa-if you don't take him seriously as a composer, check that out; you might change your mind but then again you might change it back at the very end.

[@Pretzels722]

Could we get an analysis of Rautavaara?

[@samuel_andreyev]

He's on my list of composers to cover.

[@juliusseizure591]

FYI - there is a chunk of silence from 11:02 - 11:18.

[@samuel_andreyev]

I had very limited time to edit this and could only work late at night. Apologies if it shows.

[@juliusseizure591]

@@samuel_andreyev No problem!

[@lukashainerkjr6013]

Which recording did you use in the video? And what recordings do you usually favour?

[@samuel_andreyev]

See video description

[@lukashainerkjr6013]

Oh, thank you!

[@gepmrk]

Valentin Silvestrov Symphony #4

[@Maf980]

If you're here just for analysis then: 13:37

[@cobyobrien9036]

I still, even as a composer, don't really understand these types of piece, but videos like this help to educate me and understand how to listen to them and get something out of them

[@whycantiremainanonymous8091]

Nitpick: The name Krzysztof should be pronounced "Kshishtof".

[@stevencranfield8938]

This is as nothing surely compared to the BBC TV Sports commentator who introduced the Munich Olympic Games 'anthem' as composed 'by K- .. er, Penderekky'.