Penderecki conducting at the Open'er Festival: photo - PAP/ Adam Warzawa
“It seems to me that she has a beautiful and interesting voice that you could do a lot with,” he told journalists at the festival on Thursday.
“If she agrees, there will be a concert,” he pledged.
“I would really like to do it,” he added.
The 79-year-old composer revealed that he had not stumbled upon Bjork by accident, and had been prodded to investigate “the Icelandic pixie”, as she is known, by promoter Filip Berkowicz.
“This is another crazy idea of Filip Berkowicz, but it seems interesting to me, that's why I came to the Open'er Festival a day earlier, so as to listen to her,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, festival-goers were able to savour the latest performance in Penderecki's ongoing collaboration with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood.
Joined by Poland's AUKSO Orchestra, Penderecki conducted his celebrated works “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima” and “Polymorphia”.
These were complemented by Greenwood's own tributes to the pieces, “Popcorn Superhet Receiver” and “48 Responses to Polymorphia”, conducted by Marek Mos.
As the event is typically the preserve of rock, rap and dance music stars, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that the Penderecki/Greenwood booking was “one of the most risky decisions in the history of not only Open'er, but also in the history of summer music festivals in general.”
But the paper concluded that “it worked” and in all likelihood did so “even better than the organisers had expected,” highlighting the “warm reception” from the fans.
The paper noted that the arrival of thick natural fog only served to heighten the atmospherics, adding that all in all, it was an “extraordinary concert.” (nh)