Penderecki: Chamber Works

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Explore the complete catalog of Chamber compositions by Penderecki. This curated list includes composition years, historical Wikipedia context, and interactive audio to add specific tracks directly to your listening queue.

Title Year Actions
3 Miniatures, for violin and piano

Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and the lead guitarist of the rock band Radiohead. He has also composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by publications including Rolling Stone. Greenwood formed Radiohead at school with his elder brother, Colin. Their debut single, "Creep" (1992), featured Greenwood's aggressive guitar work. He described his role in Radiohead as an arranger, helping transform Thom Yorke's demos into finished songs. Radiohead have sold more than 30 million albums, and Greenwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band in 2019. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist and a player of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. He uses electronic techniques such as programming, sampling and looping, and writes music software. The only classically trained member of Radiohead, Greenwood has composed for orchestras including the London Contemporary Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his arrangements feature on Radiohead records. He has collaborated with Middle Eastern musicians including the Israeli songwriters Shye Ben Tzur and Dudu Tassa. In 2021, Greenwood debuted a new band, the Smile, with Yorke and the drummer Tom Skinner. Greenwood released his first solo work, the soundtrack for the film Bodysong, in 2003. In 2007, he scored There Will Be Blood, the first of several collaborations with the director Paul Thomas Anderson. In 2018, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his score for Anderson's Phantom Thread. He was nominated again for his score for The Power of the Dog (2021), directed by Jane Campion, and his score for Anderson's One Battle After Another (2025). Greenwood also scored the Lynne Ramsay films We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and You Were Never Really Here (2017).

Cadenza, for viola solo

The Prelude for Clarinet in B♭ major, sometimes also referred to as Prelude for Solo Clarinet, is a work by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was composed in 1987 and is one of the pieces from the series of compositions for solo instruments that Penderecki composed during the 1980s, such as Cadenza for Solo Viola (1984) and Per Slava (1986).

Capriccio for Oboe and String Orchestra

The Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra is a composition by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It is one of the five caprices that he composed and one of the two that he composed for a soloist with an orchestra, together with the Capriccio for Oboe and Eleven Instruments.

Capriccio for Siegfried Palm, for solo cello

This is a list of notable solo cello pieces. It includes arrangements and transcriptions.

Der unterbrochene Gedanke, for string quartet

The Silesian String Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1978 by the graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. Its current members are: Szymon Krzeszowiec (violin I) Arkadiusz Kubica (violin II) Łukasz Syrnicki (viola) Piotr Janosik (cello)

Divertimento, for cello solo

The Suite (formerly and alternatively entitled Divertimento) is a composition for solo cello by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The piece is well known for its typical chromatic melodies and for its recurrent use of pizzicati and col legno.

Duo concertante

The following is an incomplete list of works by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Source:

Intermezzo, for chamber orchestra

This is a list of musical compositions for cello and orchestra ordered by their authors' surnames.

La Follia Per Violino Solo

The following is an incomplete list of works by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Source:

Per slava, for cello solo

This is a list of notable solo cello pieces. It includes arrangements and transcriptions.

Prelude in B flat major for Solo Clarinet

The Prelude for Clarinet in B♭ major, sometimes also referred to as Prelude for Solo Clarinet, is a work by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was composed in 1987 and is one of the pieces from the series of compositions for solo instruments that Penderecki composed during the 1980s, such as Cadenza for Solo Viola (1984) and Per Slava (1986).

Preludium for Solo Clarinet
Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio

Traditionally, a clarinet quartet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string trio of one violin, one viola and one cello. Nowadays, the term clarinet quartet can also refer to a combination of four clarinets of any size [including (contr)alto and (contra)bass clarinet, and basset horn]. The term is also used to refer to a piece written for any of these ensembles.

Serenade, for chamber orchestra

The following is an incomplete list of works by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Source:

Sextet, for clarinet, horn, string trio, and piano

A sextet (or hexad) is a formation containing exactly six members. The former term is commonly associated with vocal ensembles (e.g. The King's Singers, Affabre Concinui) or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit. Musical compositions with six parts are sextets. Many musical compositions are named for the number of musicians for which they are written. If a piece is written for six performers, it may be called a "sextet". Steve Reich's "Sextet", for example, is written for six percussionists. However, much as many string quartets do not include "string quartet" in the title (though many do), many sextets do not include "sextet" in their title. See: string sextet and piano sextet. In jazz music a sextet is any group of six players, usually containing a drum set (bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, ride cymbal), string bass or electric bass, piano, and various combinations of the following or other instruments: guitar, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, trombone. In heavy metal and rock music, a sextet typically contains, but is not restricted to, a lead vocalist, two guitarists, a bassist, drummer, and keyboardist.

Sinfonietta no. 2, for chamber orchestra

A sinfonietta is a symphony that is smaller in scale (either in terms of length or the instrumental forces required), or lighter in approach than a standard symphony. Although of Italian form, the word is not genuine in that language and has seldom been used by Italian composers. It appears to have been coined in 1874 by Joachim Raff for his Op. 188, but became common usage only in the early 20th century (Temperley 2001). Just as the term symphony itself can refer to pieces of music of varied size and scope, it is difficult to identify common criteria which pieces called sinfonietta share. Many of the sinfoniettas listed on this page employ larger forces and/or are longer than pieces designated symphonies, sometimes even by the same composer. Examples of sinfoniettas include: William Alwyn's Sinfonietta for strings (1970) Malcolm Arnold's Sinfonietta No. 1, Op. 48 (1954), Sinfonietta No. 2, Op. 65 (1958), and Sinfonietta No. 3, Op. 81 (1964) Alexander Arutiunian's Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1966) Jürg Baur's Triton-Sinfonietta: 3 Grotesken für Kammerorchester (1974) Maciej Bałenkowski's Sinfonietta no. 1 "Time is ticking" for string orchestra (2013/2014) and Sinfonietta no. 2 "Polonia" - hommage à Wojciech Kilar for string orchestra (2017/2018) Arnold Bax's Sinfonietta (1932) Lennox Berkeley's Sinfonietta, Op. 34 (1950) Herbert Blendinger's Sinfonietta, Op. 30 (1976) Eugène Bozza's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, Op. 61 (1944) Benjamin Britten's Sinfonietta, Op. 1 (1932) George Whitefield Chadwick's Sinfonietta (1904) Henry Cowell's Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra (1928) Ingolf Dahl's Sinfonietta for wind band Ikuma Dan's Sinfonietta (1974) Peter Maxwell Davies's Sinfonietta accademica (1987) Louis Durey's Sinfonietta for strings, Op. 105 (1966) Ulvi Cemal Erkin's Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1951–59) Iván Erőd's Minnesota Sinfonietta, Op. 51 Harald Genzmer's Sinfonietta for string orchestra Peggy Glanville-Hicks's Sinfonietta No. 1 in D minor for small orchestra (1935) and Sinfonietta No. 2 for orchestra (1938) Kimmo Hakola's Sinfonietta (1999) Ernesto Halffter's Sinfonietta in D major (1925) Josef Matthias Hauer's Sinfonietta in 3 Sätzen, Op. 50 Bernard Herrmann's Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1935) Paul Hindemith's Lustige Sinfonietta, Op. 4 (1916), and Symphonietta (Little Symphony) in E major (1949) Alun Hoddinott's Sinfonietta No. 1, Op. 56 (1968), Sinfonietta No. 2, Op. 67 (1969), Sinfonietta No. 3, Op. 71 (1970), and Sinfonietta No. 4 (1971) Bertold Hummel's Sinfonietta for wind orchestra, Op. 39 (1970) Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's Sinfonietta, Op. 34 (arrangement for large orchestra of Violin Sonata, Op. 8) (1902) Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta (1926) John Joubert's Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra, Op. 38 Pál Kadosa's Sinfonietta for orchestra Robert Kajanus's Sinfonietta, Op. 16 (1915) Vítězslava Kaprálová's Military Sinfonietta, Op. 11 (1937) Nikolai Kapustin's Sinfonietta for orchestra, Op. 49 (1986) Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Sinfonietta in B major, Op. 5 (1912) Ernst Krenek's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, "A brasileira", Op. 131 (1952) Ladislav Kubík's Sinfonietta No. 1 for 19 instruments (1999), No. 2, "Jacob’s Well" for orchestra (1999) and No. 3, "Gong" for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir, orchestra and electronics (2007–08) James MacMillan's Sinfonietta (1991) Elizabeth Maconchy's Sinfonietta (1976), not to be confused with her Little Symphony (1980–81) Tomás Marco's Sinfonietta No. 1 ("Opaco resplandor de la memoria"), for orchestra (1998–99), and Sinfonietta No. 2 "Curvas del Guadiana" (2004) Igor Markevitch's Sinfonietta in F (1928–29) Bohuslav Martinů's Sinfonietta giocosa (1940) and Sinfonietta La Jolla (1950), both for piano and chamber orchestra William Mathias's Sinfonietta, Op. 34 (1967) Johan de Meij's Sinfonietta No. 1 for brass band (2011) Darius Milhaud's Sinfonietta, Op. 363 (1957) E. J. Moeran's Sinfonietta (1944) José Pablo Moncayo's Sinfonietta (1945) Saburō Moroi's Sinfonietta in B-flat, Op. 24 "For Children" (1943) Nikolai Myaskovsky's Sinfonietta No. 1 for small orchestra, Op. 10 (1911), No. 2 for string orchestra, Op. 32 No. 2 (1929) and No. 3 for string orchestra, Op. 68 (1946) Ottokar Nováček's Sinfonietta for woodwind octet (1905) Krzysztof Penderecki's Sinfonietta No. 1 for string orchestra (1992), No. 2 for clarinet and strings (1994), No. 3 for string orchestra (2012) and Sinfonietta for flute and string orchestra (2019) George Perle's Sinfonietta I (1987) and II (1990) Astor Piazzolla's Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra, Op. 19 Walter Piston's Sinfonietta (1941) Francis Poulenc's Sinfonietta (1947) Sergei Prokofiev's Sinfonietta in A major, Op. 5 (1909, rev. 1929 as Op. 48) Joachim Raff's Sinfonietta for ten winds, Op. 188 (1874) Max Reger's Sinfonietta in A major, Op. 90 (1904–05) Wallingford Riegger's Sinfonietta (1959) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Sinfonietta on Russian Themes in A minor, Op. 31 (1879–84) Julius Röntgen's Sinfonietta humoristica (1922) Albert Roussel's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, Op. 52 (1934) Edmund Rubbra's Sinfonietta for large string orchestra, Op. 163 (1984–85) Cyril Scott's Sinfonietta for organ, harp and strings (1962) Humphrey Searle's Sinfonietta, Op. 49, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass (1968–69) Kazimierz Serocki's Sinfonietta for 2 string orchestras (1956) Vissarion Shebalin's Sinfonietta on Russian folksongs, Op. 43 (1949–51) Nikos Skalkottas's Sinfonietta (1948–49) Carlos Surinach's Sinfonietta flamenca (1953–54) Germaine Tailleferre's Symphonietta for trumpet, tympani and strings (1974–75) Alexandre Tansman's Sinfonietta No. 1, "À mon ami Louis Gruenberg" (1924) and Sinfonietta No. 1, "À Renard Czajkowski" (1978) Boris Tchaikovsky's Sinfonietta for string orchestra (1953) Mikis Theodorakis's Sinfonietta for solo flute, piano and string orchestra (1947) Ernst Toch's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, Op. 96 (1964), Sinfonietta for wind instruments and percussion, Op. 97 (1964) Eduard Tubin's Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs (1940) Geirr Tveitt's Sinfonietta di Soffiatori (1962) Erich Urbanner's Sinfonietta 79 Anatol Vieru's Sinfonietta (1975) Heitor Villa-Lobos's Sinfonietta No. 1 (1916) and Sinfonietta No. 2 (1947) Johan Wagenaar's Sinfonietta (1916) Graham Waterhouse's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, Op. 54 (2002) Franz Waxman's Sinfonietta for string orchestra and timpani Mieczysław Weinberg's Sinfonietta No. 1, Op. 41 (1948) and Sinfonietta No. 2 for string orchestra and timpani, Op. 74 (1960) Felix Weingartner's Sinfonietta, Op. 83 (1932) John Williams's Sinfonietta for wind ensemble (1968) Malcolm Williamson's Sinfonietta (1965) Alexander von Zemlinsky's Sinfonietta for orchestra, Op. 23 (1934) Zhu Jian'er's Sinfonietta, Op. 38 (1994) Matteo Zanetti's Symphonietta for string orchestra (2010)

Sinfonietta, for chamber orchestra

Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and the lead guitarist of the rock band Radiohead. He has also composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by publications including Rolling Stone. Greenwood formed Radiohead at school with his elder brother, Colin. Their debut single, "Creep" (1992), featured Greenwood's aggressive guitar work. He described his role in Radiohead as an arranger, helping transform Thom Yorke's demos into finished songs. Radiohead have sold more than 30 million albums, and Greenwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band in 2019. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist and a player of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. He uses electronic techniques such as programming, sampling and looping, and writes music software. The only classically trained member of Radiohead, Greenwood has composed for orchestras including the London Contemporary Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his arrangements feature on Radiohead records. He has collaborated with Middle Eastern musicians including the Israeli songwriters Shye Ben Tzur and Dudu Tassa. In 2021, Greenwood debuted a new band, the Smile, with Yorke and the drummer Tom Skinner. Greenwood released his first solo work, the soundtrack for the film Bodysong, in 2003. In 2007, he scored There Will Be Blood, the first of several collaborations with the director Paul Thomas Anderson. In 2018, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his score for Anderson's Phantom Thread. He was nominated again for his score for The Power of the Dog (2021), directed by Jane Campion, and his score for Anderson's One Battle After Another (2025). Greenwood also scored the Lynne Ramsay films We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and You Were Never Really Here (2017).

Sonata no. 1, for violin and piano

A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, or by figured bass in the Baroque period.

String Quartet no. 1

Ludwig van Beethoven's late string quartets are: Opus 127: String Quartet No. 12 in E♭ major (1825) Opus 130: String Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major (1825) Opus 131: String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor (1826) Opus 132: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor (1825) Opus 133: Große Fuge in B♭ major (1825; originally the finale to Op. 130; it also exists in a piano four-hands transcription, Op. 134) Opus 135: String Quartet No. 16 in F major (1826) These six works are Beethoven's last major completed compositions. Extremely complex and largely misunderstood by musicians and audiences of Beethoven's day, the late quartets are now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time, and have inspired many later composers.

String Quartet no. 2

The Penderecki String Quartet is a string quartet, founded in 1986, now based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

String Trio

A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello. The classical string trio emerged during the mid-18th century and later expanded into four subgenres: the grand trio, the concertant trio, the brilliant trio, and the Hausmusik trio.

Suite for Cello

The Suite (formerly and alternatively entitled Divertimento) is a composition for solo cello by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The piece is well known for its typical chromatic melodies and for its recurrent use of pizzicati and col legno.

Violin Sonata no. 1

A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, or by figured bass in the Baroque period.

Violin Sonata no. 2

A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, or by figured bass in the Baroque period.

Violoncello totale, for solo cello

The following is an incomplete list of works by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Source: