Polish composer Pawel Lukaszewski has created a virtual anomaly: a contemporary, large-scale liturgical work that could function equally as well as part of a traditional religious service and as a concert piece with the musical integrity and inspiration to appeal to broad audiences. Lukaszewski, though little known in the West, is clearly a composer to be reckoned with; his wide-ranging imagination and formidable compositional technique have equipped him to write a stunningly dramatic Via Crucis (the Stations of the Cross), ...
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Polish composer Pawel Lukaszewski has created a virtual anomaly: a contemporary, large-scale liturgical work that could function equally as well as part of a traditional religious service and as a concert piece with the musical integrity and inspiration to appeal to broad audiences. Lukaszewski, though little known in the West, is clearly a composer to be reckoned with; his wide-ranging imagination and formidable compositional technique have equipped him to write a stunningly dramatic Via Crucis (the Stations of the Cross), traditionally in 14 sections, but here with an added fifteenth station depicting the Resurrection. The rich variety of his choral writing, which draws on traditional polyphony as well as an array of contemporary techniques, allows him to vividly convey the high dramatic profile of the texts. Another striking element is the structural sophistication of his handling of this large-scale text. Some elements, such as a Miserere for women's voices, are repeated unchanged in every...
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