When international listeners think postwar Polish composers, they may think of Krzysztof Penderecki or perhaps of Witold Lutoslawski. But how often do they think of Andrzej Panufnik? Not often enough based on the merits evident in this recording. While Penderecki made his reputation with his sheets of sound, and Lutoslawski made his with his radiantly dodecaphonic sound, Panufnik's fundamentally tonal scores received a less enthusiastic welcome from the American and European avant-garde; recordings of his works, though always embraced by an ardent minority, were few and far between. On this spectacular 2007 Ondine release with John Storgårds leading the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, two of the four works are receiving their digital premieres.
Storgårds is clearly a big fan of the works, and he really puts his back into making them succeed. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra plays with energy and strength. The Heroic Overture, begun in 1939 before the Nazi invasion and completed in 1952 during the Soviet occupation, is conservative in material but courageous in manner. The Sinfonia Sacra, Panufnik's third symphony and greatest hit, was composed in 1964, and with its clear form, glowing colors, and overwhelming power, it remains his most widely admired and performed work. Both the intensely concentrated Landscape, written in 1962 and revised in 1965, and the searingly dramatic Sinfonia di Sfere, Panufnik's sixth composed in 1974 and 1975, receive their premiere digital recordings here, and they are worthy additions to the composer's too-slender discography. Recorded in extremely vivid sound by Ondine, this disc will please not only Panufnik's ardent fans, but also the heretofore unconverted.