Three composers

The Polish National Audiovisual Institute has launched threecomposers.pl website, the first and largest on-line music collection containing almost all the works by Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, as well as an abundant set of information about the works and life of the three composers, both in Polish and English language versions.

This absolutely unique music collection dedicated to the artistic achievements of Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki is a first of its kind site in the world, developed and made available specifically for the jubilee anniversary of the birth of the composers.

A visually-enhanced timeline that places the artists’ oeuvre in the context of major historical and cultural events of the 20th and 21st century, which in turn have found reflection in their music, or short entries known as “alphabets”, which present some trivia associated with the work and private lives of the artists – these tools let one learn where Witold Lutosławski used to live, what place Henryk Mikołaj Górecki considered to be his creative asylum, or to what Krzysztof Penderecki allocated his financial prize won in the competition held in Westphalia. Many pieces have been enriched with their individual “contextual” materials consisting of composers’ own statements about the work, as well as the opinions of critics, coming from, inter alia, archival publications of “Ruch Muzyczny” or program books of Warsaw Autumn Festival.

For those users who have just started their adventure with contemporary music, the portal offers  individually tailored playlists developed by, among others, Marek Moś, Antoni Wit or Jagoda Szmytka.

Among the recordings available on threeecomposers.pl, one can listen to performances of the world-renowned instrumentalists and bands, including inter alia Anne-Sophie Mutter performing Lutosławski’s “Chain II. Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra”, conducted by Jan Krenz or the Kronos Quartet in registrations of string quartets of the composers.

On some recordings, the great composers also perform as instrumentalists, for example Witold Lutosławski playing his “Folk Melodies” on the piano. Moreover, one can find recordings that had never before been recorded for commercial purposes, such as Penderecki’s opera “Black Mask” performed at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw (September 1988) directed by Robert Satanowski; and the world premiere records of such works as Lutosławski’s “String Overture” from 1949 recorded in Prague under the direction of Grzegorz Fitelberg.