Andrzej Panufnik

Andrzej Panufnik was one of the most important Polish-born composers of the 20th century, laying the ground for the future Polish avant-garde with his use of quartertones in Lullaby (1947). But having lived through the Nazi wartime occupation, during which he wrote patriotic songs and performed underground piano concerts with Lutoslawski, the following Communist imposition of ‘Socialist Realism’ then proved even more stifling for his creative freedom, and he escaped from Poland in 1954 and settled in England, where he made his fame with his Sinfonia Sacra (1963).

His music displays classical beauty and direct human expression, using an economy of means (cellular construction and simple tonal or modal harmonies). Many of his scores explore the spiritual quality of geometic and natural forms.