Penderecki masterpieces go on tour in China

Besides Violin Concerto No.2 Metamorphosen, Mutter will also play Penderecki's La Follia for the solo violin during the ongoing China tour. She first premiered the piece in 2013 at the Carnegie Hall in New York.

Penderecki, who is hailed as "Poland's greatest living composer" by The Guardian, recalls that he was impressed by Mutter's performance decades ago when she was a 14-year-old performing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major under the baton of the late conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. He has since been following the violinist's concerts and composing music works for her.

Deutsche Grammophon released a double album titled Hommage à Penderecki this August which showcases several of Penderecki's works for violin and piano or violin and orchestra. All of them feature the violinist Mutter.

Since his first visit to China more than 20 years ago, Penderecki has been visiting the country almost every year. In 2002, he was the conductor for the China Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra when they premiered his Symphony No. 3 at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. In 2016, he conducted the Beethoven Festival Orchestra at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital.

"It has become a tradition for me to come to China. I have seen the audiences' enthusiasm for music, which cannot be compared to any other country," Penderecki says.