Beneath the Surface - Panufnik centenary: Symphony no.1 (Sinfonia Rustica)

Introduction

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Andrezj Panufnik, the Polish composer who spent the majority of his life in England, where he died aged 77. Even for a composer his story is a remarkable one, a tale of great strength in adversity and a musical career that somehow flourished in the shape of war and deep suspicion.

Once in this country, Panufnik was encouraged by Vaughan Williams and Arthur Benjamin, both of whom supported him when in financial need, and also by Leopold Stokowski, who gave American premieres of a number of his orchestral works. When considering his achievements, Panufnik's profile is still relatively low in spite of the admirable efforts of his daughter, the composer Roxanna Panufnik, who has honoured her father’s work not just in words but in music also.

Background to the Sinfonia Rustica

Ever since the mid-1990s, when I first heard the Old Polish Suite , one of several works in which Panufnik pays homage to the land of his birth, I have wanted to explore more of his music – and am taking the chance in the form of his unconventional symphonic cycle, where works tend to be named rather than numbered. The first published symphony that survives to this day is the Sinfonia Rustica, coming in the wake of two scores that were either lost (Symphony no.2) or lost, reconstructed and then destroyed (Symphony no.1). Even the Rustica was revised itself, in 1955 – long after its world premiere in Warsaw, 1949.

Boosey & Hawkes, who publish Panufnik's work, detail how the piece 'was condemned politically as 'alien to the great socialist era', and the Polish Minister in the presence of the General Secretary of the Soviet Composers' Union supposed himself to be pronouncing the 'final verdict' when he said ‘this work has ceased to exist'!'

Happily that is not the case – and I've been using as my guide a new recording of the work from Lukasz Borowicz and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, released by the German record label CPO. Panufnik himself also recorded the symphony with the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra, in a version available on EMI.

Sinfonia Rustica won First Prize in the 1949 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and the composer's dedicated website has a quote from Panufnik himself on the creative process. "I was always attracted to the rustic art of Poland, especially the intricate, colourful paper-cuts, worked through the long winter evenings by the imaginative and dexterous Polish peasants. These paper-cuts were usually semi-abstract, with symmetrical designs incorporating flowers, trees, animals, even sometimes people and country scenes. Using fragments of Polish folk themes as a basis for the material, I decided to compose a large-scale work in which I could transform these primitive, naive elements into music."

Panufnik divides the strings into two orchestras, one either side of the stereo picture, with winds placed in the middle and brass at the rear. The running time for the Sinfonia Rustica is just shy of half an hour.

Thoughts

Panufnik's first lasting symphonic statement is a curious combination of styles that has a strong melodic thread running all the way through it – and the fragments of Polish folk themes are difficult to shake off after a few listens! These are held in a framework where the music calls in elements of Gershwin, Stravinsky and Hindemith, but it does not feel derivative in spite of those references. Rather its invigorating spirit finds room for jazzy elements too, with excitable whoops from the horns and punchy riffs from the bass strings as the fourth movement builds up a head of steam.

There is however a sensitive underbelly to this piece, and the second movement's autumnal feel carries through to swooning violins in the third movement, both exotic and strangely sad. One melody in particular tugs at the heartstrings when heard on cor anglais.

Verdict

Although the Sinfonia Rustica feels a little underdeveloped in terms of form and design, there is plenty to enjoy here, with emotional twists and turns, memorable melodies and fresh orchestration. It is an auspicious start to the cycle!

Spotify

Sinfonia Rustica can be heard in Panufnik's own version here. Lukasz Borowicz achieves perhaps even greater freedom in his own recording, taking slightly longer in the last two movements, while he also includes the first version of the third movement.

Next up: Sinfonia Elegiaca (1957, rev.1966)