Krenz, Jan (EN)

Krenz Jan, *14 July 1926 in Włocławek, †15 September 2020 in Warsaw, Polish conductor and composer. He initially studied piano with S. Raube in Warsaw. During the occupation, he further developed his skills under the guidance of Z. Drzewiecki, while simultaneously studying composition with K. Sikorski. In 1943, his String Quartet was performed at an underground concert in Warsaw. In 1947, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Music in Łódź, where he studied conducting with K. Wiłkomirski and composition with K. Sikorski. He made his debut as a conductor in 1946 in Łódź, presenting, among other works, his own Toccata for piano and string orchestra (1943, a work withdrawn by Krenz). In 1947–49, he was the second conductor at the Poznań Philharmonic; at the same time, he staged W.A. Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Poznań Opera. From 1950, he gave regular concerts abroad. In 1949–51, he collaborated with G. Fitelberg at the WOSPR (Polish Great Radio Symphony Orchestra) in Katowice, and after Fitelberg’s death (1953), he was appointed principal conductor and director of the ensemble, a position he held until 1968. Over the course of 15 years, he brought the orchestra to perfection, significantly expanding its repertoire and making many archival recordings. He performed abroad with the WOSPR on numerous occasions, including a four-month tour in 1963, the longest in the history of Polish ensembles, which took him to the USSR, Mongolia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, giving a total of 55 concerts. In 1967, he became the principal conductor and, in 1968, also the artistic director of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. His work at this institution (until 1973) was marked by premieres of Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, Elektra by R. Strauss, and Othello by G. Verdi. Between 1968 and 1973, he also conducted the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen and collaborated with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. From 1979 to 1982, he held the position of Generalmusikdirektor in Bonn, conducting the Beethovenhalle orchestra and opera performances (including A. Berg’s Lulu and S. Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor with Polish performers in 1979). From 1983 to 1985, he collaborated with Dutch radio in Hilversum. He has conducted as a guest conductor in all major music centers, performing with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle in Zurich, Orchestra della Scala in Milan, Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and London orchestras, as well as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and New York Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra in the United States. He regularly participated in the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music and in festivals in Edinburgh, Bergen, Prague, Montreux, Osaka, Vienna, and other places. Krenz often guest-conducted the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia ensemble, with which he undertook several foreign tours. In 2005–2008, he was the artistic director and principal conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic, and was also the honorary conductor of the NOSPR (Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra).

Krenz’s recordings, including those for PN, Philips, Supraphon, Olympia, and Lyssna, include works by Polish composers (F. Chopin, S. Moniuszko, I.J. Paderewski, K. Szymanowski, W. Lutosławski, K. Serocki, T. Baird, H.M. Górecki, B. Szabelski), classical and romantic music, and works by leading contemporary composers. He received numerous international awards for his recordings, including the 1971 Grand Prix International du Disque in Paris for W. Lutosławski’s Livre pour orchestre and T. Baird’s Symphony No. 3 (this recording was also awarded the Złota Muza prize in Poland). In addition, Krenz collaborated with PRiTV (Polish Radio and Television) in Warsaw, hosting, for example, a series of television programs entitled Słowo i muzyka (Word and Music) in the 1970s, and a series of radio programs devoted to Polish composers in 1990–91. From 1996, Krenz was a member of the K. Szymanowski Foundation, and from 1999, the W. Lutosławski Society, which he co-founded and served as its first president (until 2003). In 2002, he won the Karol Szymanowski Award “for masterful conducting interpretations of Karol Szymanowski’s music, distinguished by fidelity to the composer’s text, and for creative orchestral transcriptions of Masques, String Quartet No. 2, and Three Lullabies.” In 2008, the W. Lutosławski Society awarded him a medal, and in 2013, a medal commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth “for his outstanding contribution to the understanding of his works” and “the promotion of music and knowledge about W. Lutosławski.”

Krenz was the recipient of the State Award, Second Class (1955) and First Class (1972), the Katowice Music Award (1957), the Polish Composers’ Union Award (1968, 1996; he was an honorary member of the Union), and in 1999, the Ministry of Culture and Art Award. In 2005, he was honored with the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture, in 2006 with an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Poznań, in 2009 with the Ecce Homo Order, in 2011 with the honorary award Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej (Coryphaeus of Polish Music), awarded by the Institute of Music and Dance, and he also received the Diamond Baton on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Polish Radio (1995) and the Golden Orpheus for his performances at the Warsaw Autumn Festival (twice). In 1996, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Krenz (alongside T. Baird and K. Serocki) was a member of Group 49, formed in 1949 at the National Congress of Composers and Music Critics in Łagów Lubuski. In 1950, his Symphony No. 1 was performed at a concert of the group in Warsaw. The artistic program of Group 49 was largely the creation of music critics rather than the composers themselves, whose work often diverged from the proclaimed slogans. Krenz’s early work was shaped by neoclassicism. However, while his Classical Serenade can be described as a pastiche of 18th-century music, his subsequent works revealed a conscious striving for an internal organization of 12 tones, free from the rigors of dodecaphony (Symphony No. 1), and emphasized the element of color (Rhapsody). His acquaintance with avant-garde works during the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt in 1957 led Krenz to turn towards a new sound aesthetic, aleatoric technique, and dodecaphony (Capriccio for 24 Instruments, Musica per clarinetto solo). Krenz’s intensive conducting activity caused him to abandon his compositional work for a long time, which he resumed in the 1980s. The works created during this period are a synthesis of traditional thinking and avant-garde experiences. The composer employs various types of musical narration, introducing textural, dynamic, and expressive contrasts, interweaving aleatoric, free sections with metrical, disciplined ones, while at the same time ensuring a coherent form. In each piece, he tackles a different technical problem depending on the cast and genre conventions. The composer’s inventive imagination, supported by his masterful instrumentation technique, is most fully expressed in the orchestral color, which is always linked to the dramatic concept.

As a conductor, Krenz contributed to the organization of musical life in the country in the early post-war years, and his later activities and artistic achievements placed him among the leading contemporary masters of the baton. Krenz’s repertoire interests were very broad and included the greatest works of European music from the Baroque (J.S. Bach) through classical and romantic symphonies (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler, and others) to the present day. Polish music occupied a significant place in his conducting art. He conducted, among others, the premieres of works by W. Lutosławski (1958, Musique funèbre [Funeral Music]; 1960, 5 songs after poems by Kazimiera Iłłakowicz; 2005, 10 Polish Dances and 1963, Polish premiere of Trois poèmes d’Henri Michaux), T. Baird (1969, Symphony No. 3), R. Palester (1988, Symphony No. 5), G. Bacewicz (1958, Symphonic Variations; 1959, Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion), H.M. Górecki (1959, Symphony No. 1 “1959”; 1960, Scontri), K. Serocki (1952, Symphony No. 1; 1956, Sinfonietta), B. Szabelski (1963, Preludes). He introduced Polish contemporary music to international stages, while in Poland he popularized 20th-century classics, presenting, often for the first time in the country, works by B. Bartók, A. Berg, O. Messiaen, I. Stravinsky, S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, and others. Krenz attached great importance to the artistic value of the repertoire he performed and carefully compiled concert programs. Gifted with creative talent, he imprinted his personality on the works he performed, without going beyond the composer’s intentions, but rather emphasizing them. In Krenz’s interpretation, virtuosic precision and careful consideration of the work’s structural details go hand in hand with a strong sense of musical dramaturgy, an emphasis on the work’s emotional qualities, and an excellent command of stylistic nuance.

Literature: S. Kisielewski Grupa 49, “Tygodnik Powszechny” 1950 no. 5; T. Marek Grupa 49, “Muzyka” 1953 no. 5/6; L. Kydryński, Z. Łagocki Jan Krenz, Krakow 1960; Z. Mycielski 48 godzin z WOSPR i Janem Krenzem w Katowicach, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1962 no. 13; J. Waldorff Jan Krenz, in: Diabły i anioły, Krakow 1971, 3rd ed. 1988; interviews: Jan Krenz o wielkiej podróży WOSPR, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1963 no. 11; J. Kański Mówią realizatorzy nowego nagrania „Strasznego dworu”. Jan Krenz, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1979 no. 1; M. Stanilewicz-Kamionka Bonn, Japonia, Szymanowski, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1981 no. 15; M. Stanilewicz-Kamionka Dyrygować można tylko z pasją. Rozmowa z Janem Krenzem, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1984 no. 9; Krzysztof Penderecki, Jan Krenz i Tadeusz Strugała o Andrzeju Markowskim, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1988 no. 6; E. Markowska Urodziłem się muzykiem, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1991 no. 6; M. Kominek Zawierzyłem losowi oraz Jan Krenz …czy poprawiać Beethovena, “Studio” 1993 no. 7; T. Kaczyński Panufnik i jego muzyka. Rozmowa z Janem Krenzem, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1994 no. 18; E. Markowska Jana Krenza pięćdziesiąt lat z batutą. Rozmowy o muzyce polskiej, Krakow 1996.