Penderecki - Canons notes

For his Strophes, Psalms of David, Emanations, Threnody and Canon,Penderecki

received six awards between 1959 and 62. The Canon was the last to be awarded: It
won the first prize in a Krakw-based competition under the patronage of
Pendereckis former teacher, Artur Malawski.
The door to a great international career lay open for the composer. The distinctions
he garnered in the later period only enhanced his status as an eminent
representative of contemporary culture. Rarely did the first performance of one of his
works not arouse major controversy. This, however, did not hamper his spectacular
career; on the contrary, it added a dynamic element to his artistic profile.
After the premiere of the Canon, opinions were greatly divergent, and the
atmosphere bordered on scandal. Alongside enthusiasm, there was shouting and
whistling. The debate in the press concentrated on audible qualities of the piece in
the context of the composers commentary in the Warsaw Autumn programme book,
in which he explained the strictly imitative, canonic structural principle of his piece,
presenting himself as an heir to and extender of the Franco-Flemish or Netherlands
School.
Critics questioned the possibility of auditory perception of such complex polyphonic
transformations. Paradoxically, in reception the effects of those sophisticated
composition procedures appeared quite simple. The auditory level conceals a
deep structure: the canon of the title, in which the number of parts, through the
application of two live tapes, mounts up to 208. Penderecki arranges bruitist
sonorities and noises in accordance with the rules of Renaissance counterpoint,
multiplying the appearances of the theme and its counterpoints, for example in
inversion and inverted retrograde.
One notable quality the composer described is its three-dimensional, spatial
character, achieved through the use of tapes and two groups of speakers. It is that
spatial quality that makes for a unique auditory experience, even if the multiplication
of sources is only one of many elements in the works construction.