Krzysztof Penderecki

1933-. A composer and conductor from Poland, a giant of 20th Century Music. He wrote wonderfully harsh and maverick avant-garde works at first, like Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. He went on to compose great modern liturgical works (once having taught courses in early church music), including Requiem, St. Luke's Passion, and Te Deum (dedicated to John Paul II). In recent decades, he has further reconciled his old-school and new-school sides.

Pendercki's Violin Concerto No. 2, "Metamorphosen", was commissioned and premiered by Anne-Sophie Mutter. This work was composed between 1992 and 1995. Consisting of one long movement (roughly 38 minutes in length) its varying sections cycle though passages of great beauty which culminate in a delicate and lyrical summation by the solo violin. For anyone frightened off by "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", please listen to the recording of this work by Mutter.