A production of Eikon Mitte Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH, Bow and Axe Antertainment in cooperation with schmidtFilm
In 1959, a hitherto completely unknown young composer took part in the “Competition of Young Polish Composers” in Warsaw under three pseudonyms, three different manuscripts and three different musical styles. At the award ceremony for the anonymously submitted scores, it turned out that the winner of the first, second and third prizes was the twenty-eight-year-old assistant in the composition department at the Krakow Academy of Music: Krzysztof Penderecki.
A sensation in the music world – the young man is famous in one fell swoop. His works were immediately played throughout Europe. To this day. No musician of the 20th century made such a career, and certainly not at this speed! A beginning that is typical of Penderecki. Throughout his life, he would experiment with all musical genres, never submitting to conventions. With a creativity that is as surprising as it is complex. An artist and man who constantly explored boundaries and reinvented himself time and again. Praised as the talent of the century, loved by audiences, often bitterly mocked by music critics.
On November 23, 2013, the Polish composer and conductor celebrates his 80th birthday. And even those who have never heard his name know his music. The soundtracks of films such as The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese, David Lynch’s Wild At Heart or Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn – Penderecki is all of these. A musician who is one of the extraordinary personalities of contemporary history; one of the last representatives of the great form, who works like the composers of the 19th century, who had to be able to do everything: symphonies, operas, oratorios, concertos, chamber music.
Almost all of his works have a connection to contemporary history: the piece Threnos, written in 1960, is dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, while he took a stand for the Solidarnosc trade union in 1980 with the Polish Requiem. He wrote the Te Deum for Pope John Paul II, with whom he once performed in Krakow, after his death. In 1997, he composed Seven Gates of Jerusalem on the occasion of the city’s 3,000th anniversary; the piano concerto Resurrection is his reaction to September 11, 2001 – and one of the few contemporary composers,
whose works are regularly performed in all concert halls.
Penderecki is also the composer of a huge nature park: for more than 40 years, the profound arborist has been collecting seeds and cuttings for more than 1,700 trees of various species all over the world. His passion is for sound and trees.
Paths through the Labyrinth is not a biographical film. Rather, it is a cinematographic approach to the various passions of a man: music, botany, philosophy, family. A personal, intimate and entertaining portrait that provides extraordinary insights into the world of a man who has been building bridges between East and West, between tradition and modernity, with his musical and social commitment for decades. The camera takes us on a journey through a year in the life of the musician, the
year before the big anniversary. It follows Penderecki from Krakow to Munich, Vienna to Leipzig and back to his country estate in Luslawice. The composer looks back on the surprising start to his career, unexpected life changes and ingenious ideas. We meet artists with whom he is closely associated and hear from friends and family members. Thoughts, conversations, music and film clips, encounters and nature are condensed into an exciting, multi-layered portrait.
The result is a poetic film that combines the structures of leaves, trees and labyrinths with the sounds of Penderecki’s magical scores, with film clips carried by his compositions. Above all, however, the film provides a deep insight into a remarkable personality. We experience a musician who speaks openly about his passions and whom we accompany through his everyday life and work. The camera observes Penderecki in all his creative processes: composing, planting trees
a new work is created and show how the composer takes part in the preparations for its premiere on stage at famous concert halls. To this end, we select special events within this one year. We accompany the world premiere of the double concerto for soloists Janine Jansen and Julian Rachlin on October 22, 2012 in Vienna’s Musikverein, premiered by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons. We will be there when a cantata for the St. Thomas Choir is premiered in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church on Epiphany in January 2013, crowning the end of the St. Thomas Festival year.
We combine musical images with pictures from Penderecki’s park at different times of the year – music and nature, side by side, as parallels. We observe Penderecki planting young trees, walking together on the beach, making music with his granddaughter. The viewer experiences Penderecki at close quarters and discovers his music – also through the eyes of others. His energy is the current on which the film moves and which carries it.
