I’ll never forget being introduced to this piece in my first semester of music college. It was at the weekly composition departmental, we were going to listen to a few pieces and discuss. When the professor played this it shattered my naive jazz/classical/pop perception of composition!

My friend used to have a playlist on iTunes called "sleep mix". 3-4 hours of lullabies, Satie, harp music, etc.

The last track? The Penderecki Threnody

RIP

"Ah fuck it, I guess I'm not going to sleep anyways..."

For another amazing visual accompaniment to this amazing piece, see David Lynch's take from S3E8 of the "new" Twin Peaks.

What a colossal effort to make this animation! I'm seriously impressed. Thank you for pointing this out.

This used to be my ringtone back in the days before everything went on vibrate. Got a lot of pained expressions from people!

I don’t get this at all.

It’s unlistenable. Dreadful. Who considers this music and why? What’s the point of it?

What am I missing?

You're missing the part where art is subjective and not all of it has to appeal to your particular aesthetic sensibilities.

it wasnt exactly written for easy listening, it represents the instantaneous annihilation of life on the largest scale the world has ever seen.

> it wasnt exactly written for easy listening, it represents the instantaneous annihilation of life on the largest scale the world has ever seen.

As is well known (or should be), Penderecki wrote the piece initially as purely abstract music, a study in sound. The title referencing Hiroshima was only applied to the piece later.

also, when it says for the victims of hiroshima, it doesnt mean for them to listen to. its a piece for their experience to speak to the world. its an honorary for the victims, directed at those who werent. its open to interpretation though

it's point is that it is provokes strong emotions and it's amazing at it.

that video really shows what orchestration means.