Andrzej Panufnik - Another Anglo Pole

Andrzej Panufnik was a Pole who sought refuge in the UK when Communism ruined Poland.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Panufnik

Man oh man... Poland was really rough to Andzej Panufnik.

First they punished him by giving him the reins of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - the leading one in the country. Then they decided it is not enough, and made him head of the Polish Union of Composers. Deciding that his liberalism was taking on a dangerous bent, they decided to send him to Moscow to meet Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachutarian. Further, he got to meet the Zhou Enlai the premier of China.

He was so restricted in his movement by the communists, that he went ahead and married an Irish woman, and made regular visits to the British Embassy before finally emigrating.

Truly, the Communists were worse than the Nazis. Good for him for escaping!

His daughter is a significant composer too, mostly English choral music.

They used her Sanctus at the Coronation.

I hadn`t heard of him until 1989 when I read a book Who`s Who by Stefan Kisielewski, a known journalist and politician in communist Poland who opposed the system quite openly. Kisielewski critisized Panufnik for collaborating with communists at first while he was still living in Poland - he even composed Ode to Stalin in early 1950s.