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Jan Krenz - composer’s profile on his 90th birthday
2016-06-20
Jan Krenz. First association: master of the baton. Yes, a lion’s share of his professional work involved conducting. Whether this was a conscious choice or destiny - there is no need to investigate. The important thing is that Maestro’s name is inscribed with gold letters in the annuals of the history of Polish conducting.
However, his first choice was composition. As a composer, Krenz debuted already before he assumed the positions of the conductor (String Quartet No. 1, 1943). His early works concentrate on neoclassicism, with "a conscious pursuit of inner organisation of 12 sounds" (Z. Helman, Encyklopedia Muzyczna PWM) and featuring colouring. Krenz also introduces an aleatory technique and dodecaphony. Nonetheless, in the 60s, due to immensely intensive conducting activities, he abandoned writing music and completely devoted himself to works by other composers.
The 80s brought a turn: Jan Krenz - following Gustav Mahler - divided a year into two parts, dedicating one of them to conducting and the other - to composition. Zofia Helman describes this work in the following words: "In every work he undertakes a different technical problem depending on the structure and convention of the genre. An insightful composer’s imagination supported by an elaborate instrumental technique expressed itself most fully in orchestra colouring, yet still connected with a dramaturgic concept."
Jan Krenz, apart from his "classic" output, also composed music to the films by Kazimierz Munk ("Kolejarskie słowo" / "A Railman’s Word", "Błękitny krzyż" / "The Men of the Blue Cross", "Eroica" and "Zezowate szczęście" / "Bad Luck") and Andrzej Wajda ("Kanał" / "Canal").
MANY HAPPY RETURNS!
fot. Jan Zegalski
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