WARSAW – Poland's leading composer and conductor, Krzysztof Penderecki died Sunday after a “long and serious illness,” sources close to his family said.
He was 86. In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, the Ludwig van Beethoven Association called Penderecki as “Great Pole, an outstanding creator and a humanist” who was one of the world's best appreciated Polish composers.
The association was founded by Penderecki's wife, Elzbieta Penderecka, and the communique was signed by its head, Andrzej Giza.
A giant of contemporary music, Penderecki experimented with sound and form in the 1950s and 1960s, but then turned to classic forms like symphonies and oratorios like “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” and “Seven Gates of