R.I.P. Krzysztof Penderecki, influential avant-garde composer from The Shining and The Exorcist
Aux Features Film
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, influential Polish composer Krzystof Penderecki—whose avant-garde pieces have left a lasting impression in films like The Exorcist, The Shining, and Children Of Men—has died. Penderecki had reportedly been suffering from a “long and serious illness,” and though a caregiver was diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus, his death is apparently unrelated. Penderecki was 86.
Though his name might not be known here in the United States, his work will certainly sound familiar to film buffs, especially those with a certain proclivity toward haunting stories like the ones listed above. The Shining’s soundtrack features six of Penderecki’s pieces, like “The Awakening Of Jacob” and “Polymorphia,” the latter of which can also be heard in The Exorcist (which features several of Penderecki’s compositions).
Other than “Polymorphia,” Penderecki’s other most influential piece in the world of film and television is “Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima,” which appears in The People Under The Stairs and Children Of Men, as well as the unforgettable atomic bomb scene from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks revival series in 2017. A threnody, for those who don’t know, is a musical or poetic tribute to someone who has died, with Penderecki’s piece—obviously—being an ode to the people who died when the U.S. bombed Hiroshima during World War II.
In recent years, Penderecki collaborated with longtime admirer Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, who said in an interview with The Guardian that hearing Penderecki’s music live is a “very beautiful experience” despite how “painful on the ears” it might seem in theory. Greenwood’s 48 Responses To Polymorphia was written as a tribute to Penderecki, and the aforementioned Guardian interview also includes a sweet aside where Penderecki describes asking his granddaughter if she had ever heard of this “pop” band called Radiohead (she had).
Penderecki is survived by his wife and three children.
8 Comments
Rip.I always liked his ‘ Magnificat ‘ which is somewhat approachable.
I have a CD of his work. Including the Threnody, his music truly sounds like the soundtrack of a nightmare. Fascinating soundscape, but definately not light listening.
This is sad news, but the main photo looks like Jean Reno cast in a Philip K Dick biopic, and that’s awesome.
How bizarre… I was listening to his Threnody not 10 minutes ago, after watching “Homeland”. He picked an opportune time to die, the same day that Homeland does an episode named “Threnody (s)
Jeesh, one of the foremost 20th c. composers, and all you can say is “film buffs may know of him?” The man had an extraordinarily long and varied career, from serialism, so so-called “sound-mass” (hate the word) to much in between (the Magnificat noted below), and was a leader of the Polish new music Renaissance.
A) This is the AV Club, so the offered a context that made perfect sense for their core audience.
B) If you had to guess which net, when cast, captures more people in this corner of the Internet, would you pick film buffs, “sound-mass afficionados” or those familiar with the “Polish new music Renaissance?”
If this was a deep dive for people already familiar with the composer, your complaint would make sense. This is an obit providing context to otherwise unaware people for how they might have already been familiar with his work even if they didn’t know his name. Your complaint is invalid.
File this under ‘surprised he was only 86′, considering how much of his music appeared in movies from ‘65-’80, or so.
The Threnody also appears in Doppelganger/Journey to the Far Side of the Sun.
Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Penderecki through “The Shining” soundtrack. I can still remember the first time I heard “Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima” on a scratchy LP I’d checked out from a library. It, along with George Crumb’s “Music For A Summer Evening” completely changed my concept of what music was and what it could be. While Penderecki was never an easy listen I’be always thought his music was used to cheap effect in films, particularly “The Shining” where it was so on the nose it sounded like little more than a second rate “Night Gallery” episode. I remember Penderecki himself wasn’t happy about this but it certainly did expose his work to a far wider audience. György Ligeti had a similar reaction to his music being used in “2001″ until the checks started coming in and then he became the film’s biggest fan.Rest in peace, Krzysztof, you were one of the very few true originals.