Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 28, 2014

Krzysztof Penderecki may not seem like a very likely subject to be greeted as if he were a reigning rock star, but there’s a moment in Paths Through The Labyrinth: The Composer Krzystztof Penderecki when that pretty much happens. Penderecki has an incredible reputation among the musical cognoscenti, but his often fairly thorny compositions have made him a harder sale to the general public. Still, many consider Penderecki to be Poland’s greatest living composer, and certainly one of the titanic figures in late 20th century (and now early 21st century) music. This interesting and surprisingly heartfelt documentary follows Penderecki over the course of a year or so, and also features interviews with several of his high profile contemporaries and collaborators.

It may be Penderecki’s contrarian, anti-authoritarian ethos which has endeared him to a younger crowd, but as Paths Through the Labyrinth makes very clear, Penderecki doesn’t disparage tradition, he merely wishes to push the boundaries of what has been previously accepted as the norm. He actually comes off as a rather mild mannered, sweet elderly man who is perhaps somewhat surprised by his international renown. Several of the supporting interviews prove how deeply he is loved by a coterie of performers as disparate as Anne-Sophie Mutter and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of C Major (with a rather large variety of supporting producing entities) with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The contemporary interview and "tag along" footage looks appropriately sharp, with good, accurate color reproduction. Some of the shots of various locations suffer from very slight image instability, and there is some brief archival footage which shows its age.

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki' s LPCM 2.0 track (in a variety of languages, with English subtitles) suffices perfectly well for this documentary. Interview segments are very clearly presented, and the excerpts for Penderecki's music also sound just fine. The track shows no signs of damage or problems of any kind.

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Jonny Greenwood (1080i; 12:17)


• Interview with Lorin Maazel (1080i; 3:27) is in German with English subtitles.

Paths Through the Labyrinth: The Composer Krzysztof Penderecki Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those who only "know" Penderecki through his often dense and even impenetrable music may well be charmed by how low key and accessible he is in this documentary. This particular labyrinth is well worth wending your way through, for at its heart is a very intense, intelligent and remarkable musician. Recommended.