Tren Ofiarom Hiroszimy

The harrowing Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1961) is one of the most iconic works from the postwar avant-garde and arguably Krzysztof Penderecki’s most distinctive piece. Unlike standard composition practice, each of the 52 string instruments has its own part, and there are no bar lines in the score. The bleak, atonal material is instead specified by duration, adding up to around eight minutes; though the Threnody was originally titled 8'37", Penderecki later appended the portentous title that launched the piece and its composer to international renown. The instruments are treated in starkly unconventional ways, using extended techniques to explore tone quality. The musicians play close to the fingerboard of their instruments, on the bridge, and slap the wood of the body percussively. As an ensemble, they create complex counterpoints and tone clusters, with adjacent notes stacked together and glissandos that create a dizzying atmosphere. The distressing opening consists of loud shrieks that intensify when the bowing on the strings creates a harsh grating noise. After a series of scattered, stifled cries comes a climax with all strings sustaining a dissonant chord that slowly fades, but not before making the disconcerting sounds of the Threnody inextricable from the horrors of Hiroshima.