mannny

Henryk Gorecki is a composer most commonly classifed as holy minimalism. He has been compared to John Tavener and Arvo Part. He is most famous for his Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" but he has composed a wide range of music from choral pieces to solo piano works, including some very interesting string quartets.

His "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" is probably one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.
Here is the second part of the first movement (it's a symphony in 3 movements):



If anyone else has some of his music and is willing to share that would be much appreciated because I've been having trouble finding a good amount of it or if anyone needs help finding some I wouldn't mind sharing mine.

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Elastic Man

Really great composer! But sorry, I have nothing to share at present...

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http://www.last.fm/user/Wombfruit

Stephen

Just got this today. Had never heard of it before but I was looking through iTunes and came across it for 3.99 so I thought I'd give it a go.

Reading about it on Wikipedia it sounds pretty bleak.

"A solo soprano sings a different Polish text in each of the three movements. The first is a 15th-century Polish lament of Mary, mother of Jesus, the second a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell during World War II, and the third a Silesian folk song of a mother searching for her son killed in the Silesian uprisings. The first and third movements are written from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child, and the second movement from that of a child separated from a parent."

Stephen

While there is a sadness to the work it is certainly a beautiful album and I highly recommend it.

What also struck me listening to this is that Gorecki must have influenced Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance as there are striking similarities in style at times.

Sneer

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is genuinely one of the most incredible, emotive pieces of music ever created in my opinion.

I watched a documentary on the Holocaust and Third Symphony. They aired segments of a live performance of the piece, accompanied by horrific images from the concentration camps. Gorecki also gave several interviews relating to his own experiences, he died soon after. I cried, I cried a lot. Saddest thing I've ever watched, BBC4 are sadists.

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Stephen

Gave me goosebumps when the soprano comes in on the first movement. Great stuff.


Geez I can imagine. Will have to see if it's online somewhere.

Fantomas72

I normally don't listen to his music every day ..., but it's beautiful !




https://www.allmusic.com/artist/henr...1/compositions

https://www.discogs.com/artist/21613...k-G%C3%B3recki

suitkees

Great composer. I have three different versions of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, including the Dawn Upshaw one, but I've always preferred the cheap Naxos edition with Zofia Kilanowicz.
Other wonderful works are Lerchenmusik and Kleines Requiem, by the Schönberg ensemble...

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