ABSTRACT
Early in 1980 Panufnik received a commission from Seiji Ozawa, the Music Director of the famous Boston Symphony Orchestra to compose a symphony for its Centenary. However, before starting working on this eighth symphony, he had to finish several other commissioned works. Panufnik liked to compose commissioned works because the new challenges stimulated him and led to fresh creative ideas. He particularly liked commissions that gave him the opportunity to compose large-scale symphonic works for renowned orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra or now the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He often said that the symphony orchestra was his ‘favourite instrument’, and it was certainly the environment in which he felt the best able to express himself to the greatest extent. He was perfectly aware that this approach was not practical from the point of view of obtaining maximum numbers of performances, as a full symphony orchestra causes greater expenses in hiring not only many more musicians but also requires a large concert hall. However, Panufnik was never a practical man: he did not seek popularity or honours, refused whenever possible to speak in public or into a microphone, and did not care about money. Camilla recalled that after her husband’s death, Camilla found in his desk a large pile of unopened bank statements, so he had no knowledge of what was in his bank account for almost two years before his death. He never even read the contracts from his publishers, Boosey & Hawkes, but signed them with absolute trust. His only passion was composing music and he did not really seem to need the outside world. Once his wife had taken over all the household chores he did not have to worry about the problems associated with their daily lives. Thanks to the growing recognition for his compositions in the 1970s, and especially after years of privation and constant financial problems, his financial situation became much better and he could stop worrying about being unable to support his family.
