6. Sinfonie : Chinesische Lieder
The history of the symphony is full of curiosities, ranging from works that are extremely long or scored for extensive instrumental forces to those of dubious authorship. There are also famous symphonies labelled as No. 0, workswith alternate or multiple opus numbers, and a wealth of 'unfinished' symphonies. Krzysztof Penderecki_x001A_s 6. Sinfonie can also be included in this category, since his Seventh and Eighth were completed decades ago. This work iscomprised of eight songs on Chinese texts connected by solo intermezzos played on the Chinese stringed instrument,erhu. As in his two preceding works, the focus here is on vowels. This work, however, is scored for smallerorchestral forces and possesses a more intimate chamber music character, at times with greater melancholy than before. Penderecki has declared this symphony to be his farewell from the genre, although we know from experience thatanything is possible with symphonies.
