''Fonogrammi'', for flute and chamber orchestra, is a composition by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was finished in 1961 and was published by

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

, even though it remained initially unpublished.

Composition

The work was premiered in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, during the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, on April 24, 1961. The flautist on this occasion was Stanislaw Marona, to whom the work is dedicated, and the orchestra was the Krákow Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Andrzej Markowski. The composition is a sound study with no programme (or perhaps with a private programme not revealed by the composer), and has never had the score published.

Analysis

''Fonogrammi'' is a concertante work. It typically takes six to seven minutes to perform and is scored for three

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, including

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. It opens with the sound of the gong and other clashing cymbals, which then makes way for a harpsichord solo, which then leads to the string section. After the glissandi of the strings, a central section with the cymbals and some pizzicati strings is presented, and then, the harpsichord, together with the rest of the orchestra, introduces the flute, which proceeds to perform a solo cadenza. Then, the percussion and the harpsichord, in a trembling manner, go on to the next section, recognisable for the use of the tubular bells. The work finishes with a solo flute in its lowest register, accompanied by the strings, the

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

and the vibraslap.

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki 1961 compositions Contemporary classical compositions