• Duration: 21'
• Instrumentation: 3233-4331-batt pf-archi
• Year: 1949
• Type: parts, score

My Symphony no. 1 was written over the period from 1947-49. For my whole life, I had been faced with the choice: Composition or conducting? Already during the Occupation - more precisely, in 1943 - I debuted as a composer with my String Quartet. However, immediately after the War, I began to study conducting with Kazimierz Wiłkomirski; and shortly thereafter, to do it professionally (at the Philharmonic in Poznań). It was difficult to reconcile the two disciplines time-wise; despite being involved in conducting, I still kept looking for time to compose. The Symphony no. 1 was performed under my direction at the Philharmonic in Warsaw at a concert of Group 49. It is some sort of echo of experiences from the Warsaw Uprising, in which my mother and sister died. Thus that dedication In memory of my Mother. The first movement, in a slow tempo, represents a kind of prelude; the second - an energetic moto perpetuo - is an echo of the struggle. The culmination is represented by the third movement, in an expansive sonata form. An important role in it is played by the piano. In the late 1950s, when Ernest Ansermet came to the Warsaw Autumn festival with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among the 10 scores sent to him, he had chosen my Symphony. It continued to be performed in various countries, including ones outside of Europe. Jan Krenz