The Gramophone Award-winning Silesian Quartet present a double-album of the complete works for string quartet by compatriot Henryk Gorecki. All three of his numbered string quartets were written late in life - the first in 1988 - and all three were commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. The First Quartet is a single-movement work, based on a sixteenth-century song by Waclaw of Szamotuly. The Second, double the length of the First, is subtitled 'quasi una fantasia' and follows a classical four-movement form, subtly referencing Beethoven. Gorecki completed the Third Quartet (double the length of the Second!) after the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs had catapulted his music to much wider acclaim. It extends to five movements and is considered by many to be one of his greatest compositions. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gorecki composed several collections of choral songs. Five Kurpian Songs is based on folksongs from Kurpie, a region north-west of Warsaw. The composer himself suggested that these works would be effective when performed by a string quartet, and here the Silesian Quartet gives us the world premiere recording of that version.

Henryk Górecki's name is prominent on the cover but the album actually features a variety of Polish composers and one Russian, (Shostakovich). Here are works either composed or arranged for a string orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra conducted by Agnieszka Duczmal.

Górecki's Concerto for Piano and Strings combines the harmonic richness and atmosphere of a romantic piano concerto with the repetitive starkness of minimalist structures. Anna Górecka is the pianist. The familiar-yet-abstract effect is quite intriguing. Orawa by Wojciech Kilar also explores a rhythmically minimalist expression and Kilar's music has a boisterous quality. The Shostakovich Chamber Symphony arranged by Rudolf Barshai is based on Shostakovitch's String Quartet No. 8 and is an introspective work well worth exploring. Also intriguing is the string orchestra arrangement of Szymanowski's piano Etude Op. 4 no 3 in B flat minor.

SYMPHONY NO. 3, OP. 36 SYMPHON

Works For Organ

Lerchenmusik

The Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot was established by Wojciech Rajski in 1982 and consists of dynamic musicians, all of whom are soloists in their own right. Its typical sound—fire, precision and lightness or, to say it with others words, vitality, discipline and elegance—is praised by the critics worldwide.

Presented on three discs, this new release features the very best compositions of Henryk Gorecki (1933-2010) A Polish composer of contemporary classical music, Gorecki became a prominent figure of the Polish avant-garde during the post-Stalin era. While Gorecki’s music varies in style, his works tend to lean toward harmonic and rhythmic simplicity. He is regarded as a founder of the ‘New Polish School’, joined by Witold Lutoslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki.

• World premiere recordings of twenty Church Songs for a cappella Choir, adapted by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki • Written mostly in May and June 1986 • Most of the original old melodies (some dating back to the 14th century) were taken from “Church Songbooks” by Rev. Jan Siedlecki • “Church Songs” are well in agreement with the general outline of the composer’s oeuvre • The Cracow Singers in Tribute to H.M. Górecki - Włodzimierz Siedlik - artistic director and conductor

The Quartet No. 3 "... Songs are Sung," Op. 67 by Henryk Mikolaj G�recki belongs to the late works of the composer, and for a long time it was considered to be his last opused work. It was composed in the '90s on commission of the Kronos ensemble. The artist would redo it several times before he eventually decided to "release it to the world." The reference to a song in the title is not accidental - the cantabile category, in combination with sometimes dramatic, sometimes doleful and melancholic narration additionally contributes to the Quartet becoming a sui generis chamber echo of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs No. 3. The perception of the piece is dominated with G�recki's style, recognizable by almost every music lover- deeply emotional, introverted, frugal, and at the same time extremely moving. The Daf� Quartet, the first female string quartet in Poland, have been fascinated audiences with contemporary music performance from the beginning of their career; they belong to the most outstanding performers of Polish chamber music.

The title "Zan Tontemiquico" is drawn from a poem by Tochihuitzin, a prince and poet who lived at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The poem was written in N�huatl, which was spoken in the present Mexico before the arrival of Spaniards. In a free translation the title means "We only come to dream." This, closing the album, programme piece for orchestra, superbly performed by the Aukso ensemble directed by Marek Mos, is preceded by two compositions dedicated to the musicians of the Silesian Trio. The Titanic Trio is inspired by a whole range of cultural associations, not only musical, present in the legend of the Titanic, including the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz. The deprived of the programme references Trio Concertante, recorded together with Aukso, is calligraphically economical, yet at the same time emotionally rich music - consisting of strongly separated sound plans. The works present the main characteristics of the pieces by Mikolaj G�recki: musical erudition, allusiveness, atmosphere, and stylistic diversity.

Nicholas Copernicus once wrote: “What can be more beautiful than the sky, which of course contains everything beautiful.” At the inauguration of the 72nd artistic season of the Symphony Orchestra of the Silesian Philharmonic, Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki presented one of the most important works of his Patron- the monumental 2nd Symphony- Copernicus, composed for New York’s Kosciuszko Foundation, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus. In the symphony, which is characteristic of Gorecki’s works, the non-literal literary theme of biblical quotations and the Treaty of the rotation of celestial spheres is of great importance. The words in the Symphony No. 2 were not only significant as inspiration or a starting point, but they became what was directly addressed to the listener. He does not have to read them on the show or in the score, but he directly and explicitly hears them.

Henryk Mikolaj G�recki (1933-2010) thought two sentences in his search for the answer to the question what music is to be closest to capturing the root of the problem - the words of Zbigniew Herbert: "art is a transmission of important spiritual experiences" and the thought of Pope John XXIII: "it is a common thing, but the way is uncommon." The impact of both definitions on the composer's oeuvre is particularly evident in the songs he had been writing since his first compositional attempts (falling in the mid-1950s) until 1996. Although G�recki's songs do not belong to the composer's dominant expressive genres, he would return to them on a regular basis, considering them an important way of articulating the deepest, most personal, intimate experiences. This album, thanks to excellent soloists highly appreciated around the world, not only allows us to commune with the art of the outstanding Polish composer, but is also a great opportunity to hear the most representative Polish vocalists of several generations.

Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (1933–2010) achieved an international success in the mid-1990s, with his Symphony No. 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”. Since then, Górecki’s name has been associated almost exclusively with this piece. However, his music is much more than this one brilliant work. Górecki never looked at musical fashions, but consistently created his own sound universe. In the 1980s Górecki, feeling misunderstood, stepped back from the official concert life in Poland. He reached out to simple folk and church melodies, making their choral arrangements. He treated them with a great devotion and humility. In 1985, the composer drew on traditional church songs collected in the 19th-century Spiewnik koscielny (Church Songbook) by Jan Siedlecki. He first selected five songs from it, which made up the cycle of five Marian Songs, Op. 54, for mixed choir a cappella. A year later, Górecki decided to compile other church songs of various character and associated with different liturgical seasons. This led to a collection of twenty Church Songs for a cappella choir today known as his Op. 84. Apart from two, the songs were not published during composer’s lifetime. This album by the Polish Chamber Choir led by Jan Lukaszewski offers this choral gem for the first time sang in Latin.

REVIEW:

Mostly dating from 1986 but published in 2013, three years after the composer’s death, these 20 pieces range from between one and almost 13 minutes in duration. Recorded in Latin for the first time, they have a consoling lilt and occasionally (as in ‘Sicut parvi amplectamur’) dance along gently; ‘Beati qui eligunt Joseph’ is a rare example of a more striking harmonic treatment. Under its conductor of 40 years’ standing, Jan Łukaszewski, the Gdańsk-based Polish Chamber Choir produces beautifully smooth and glowing tone. The overall effect is sweet, like eating too much sernik (Polish cheesecake) and washing it down with communion wine.

-- BBC Music Magazine

The Symphony No. 3, called the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, for solo soprano and orchestra, Op. 36 by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (1976) is often mentioned in different contexts as one of the most original masterpieces of 20th-century music not only to come out of Poland, but from the world. This release presents the listener with a live recording of this extraordinary piece performed in the concert hall of the Poznan Philharmonic on 4 February, 1995. It is an outstanding artistic creation of Andrzej Boreyko, a conductor who was just about to launch his world career then, and Ewa Izykowska – one of the most interesting and versatile Polish singers.

These four works, written between 1973 and 1993, fully reflect Górecki’s expressive variety. The Little Requiem for a Certain Polka, for piano and thirteen instruments, combines a wide range of moods. The Concerto-Cantata, which received its world première from the soloist on this recording, alternates a moving vein of melancholy with a charged, violent energy. The radical, energetic Harpsichord Concerto is heard here in the version for piano, performed by the composer’s daughter. The Three Dances are hugely approachable and full of exciting contrast.