The St Luke Passion (“Passio et mors Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Lucam”), composed in 1966 by a thirty-two-year-old Krzysztof Penderecki, dates back to the composer’s earlier style. Penderecki is one of the most widely played contemporary composers and millions will recognise his music in films such as The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1980), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), Fearless (Peter Weir, 1993), Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010) and Twin Peaks (2017).
It’s too early to look back over the life of this giant of twentieth-century music who passed away in 2020, but some of his major works such as this Passion or his opera, The Devils of Loudun, have made a lasting impression and are still played by orchestras today. Completely atonal from start to finish and filled with avant-garde techniques of the time, The St Luke Passion still has considerable power of expression and a profound emotional impact when played today. Penderecki’s aesthetic has been the subject of debate throughout his entire career as opinions differ over whether his work should be regarded as avant-garde or traditional, but the composer disregards them, stating that his work is “Simply genuine, and that suffices”.
Recorded for the opening of Salzburg Festival in 2018, this particular version of The St Luke Passion was first performed for the composer in Krakow by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, with two brilliant Polish choirs. Penderecki himself is an excellent conductor and his conducted his work on over sixty occasions, but he was in complete accord with this version, even claiming that it made him feel “The mystery of spirituality and faith for the very first time”. © François Hudry/Qobuz