Henryk Gorecki (1933 - 2010)

Introduction
Henryk Gorecki was a Polish composer who was born on December 6th, 1933, in Czernica, near Rybnik. Gorecki would attend the Music academy of Katowice where he would be influenced by the music of Anton Webern, Olivier messiaen, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. With the genre influences of  Folk songs, medieval music, and even his Roman Catholic faith, Gorecki would become a composer that would characterized by his tragic themes.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/216138-Henryk-Górecki - Photo

Work Analysis
Many attribute Gorecki’s rise in popularity to his 1992 recorded work, Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1976). This work by Gorecki is a clear rising point in his career because the record that it was on sold over half a million copies worldwide; the average for an album in this genre at the time was selling 15 thousand. Gorecki’s Symphony recording would be played by Soprano singer Dawn Upshaw, the London Sinfonietta, and would be conducted by David Zinman. The work is split into 3 movements that work within the slow moving tempos with dark low dynamics to match that Gorecki’s was known for. Gorecki’s work was also based of the modal canon structure that sees the orchestra come in at different sections but play the same melody; this idea starts from the lower instruments and builds up from there. It must be brought that Gorecki wrote with such tragedy in mind because of the world around him. While leaving in Poland, Gorecki was caught in the conflict of living under the communist regime of Russia and before that feeling the destruction of Nazi Germany. In his symphony, Gorecki uses polish laminations of a 15h century monastic song, a folk song, and a prayer that was scratched into a cell wall by a young girl imprisoned by the Gestapo; this new understanding to the text adds even more to the sorrow of this piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcfy3UmnyDY

Observations / Comparisons
Gorecki deserves all the praise from this work. The work’s overall slow methodical pace brings the meaning behind it to the forefront as the value of each section can be felt. This music also has an innate sadness while listening to it much like Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings; its build up is very similar as well. There is also a hint of Minimalism in Gorecki’s work as orchestra repeats several lines throughout the music.