WARSAW (AFP)

The Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, a great figure in the sound avant-garde of the 1960s and at the same time faithful to religious tradition and to the great masters of the past, died Sunday at the age of 86, in his hometown of Krakow.

The quadruple Grammy winner (in 1988, in 1999 - in two categories, and in 2017), began his brilliant career in 1959, when his three compositions, "Strophes", "Emanations" and "Psalms of David" , won the first three prizes of a Competition for young composers in Warsaw.

Thanks to a temporary thaw of the communist regime in Poland at the time, Penderecki's works broke through the iron curtain and enjoyed immediate international success.

Penderecki then resorts to unusual intervals, sound clusters, glissandi, unheard of timbre from instruments used in an unusual way. His music is rich in sound effects. He plays metal sheets, whistles, pieces of glass and metal rubbed with a file, clicks, electric bells, saws, typewriters or sirens.

The composer also invented musical notation symbols corresponding to these then unknown means of expression.

Subsequently, Penderecki gradually abandons his avant-garde language. Criticized by the musical community, this development is applauded by the public. He then reconnects with a neo-tonal, postromantic writing, with content and construction accessible to a wider audience.

"My music remains the same. Only the means (of expression) have changed," he defends himself then.

In 2011, the old master entered into cooperation with Jonny Greenwood, leader of the English rock group Radiohead, and the electronic music composer Aphex Twin, both admirers of his work. Their meeting ended with concerts and a joint disc project.

"I'm glad that different musical universes could meet. And I saw this young enthusiastic audience," he rejoices.

Unlike most composers of his generation, an essential part of Penderecki's inspiration was of religious origin (Stabat Mater, Passion according to Saint-Luc).

"I have always acted in a spirit of contradiction," explains the composer.

"When I was a student, sacred music was prohibited, then, for years, it continued to be very badly appreciated by the authorities (communists). It was also badly received by my colleagues who, apart from Messiaen, there haven't touched, "he adds.

Born on November 23, 1933 in Debica (south), Krzysztof Penderecki was admitted to the Cracow Conservatory at the age of 18. At the same time, he studies philosophy, art history and literature.

Then, he marries his avant-garde career with that of composition teacher in different great music schools around the world.

As a conductor, he gives concerts with the most illustrious symphony orchestras in Europe and the United States. He is a member of the Music Academies of many countries.

"In my musical microcosm, I linked the achievements of the avant-garde with the great tradition of symphonic music of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. One cannot be an artist without having known the tradition, without having digested the works of the past, studied the old masters in depth, "he said.

To achieve this goal, he founded a European Academy of Music bearing his name, around his mansion in Luslawice, near Tarnow, in south-eastern Poland.

"The fate of an artist is a labyrinth. He thinks he knows the way but has to look for it all the time. Often he goes forward but suddenly he has to turn back, go back, reopen a door that had already been It's a constant dialogue with the past, "adds Penderecki.

Lover of botany, another great passion of his life, he plants labyrinths in the garden of Luslawice, which has already become legendary for its composition and its plant richness.

Asked about the place of botany in his life, the great composer replied: "She comes second, just after my granddaughter".

© 2020 AFP