Katowice is the third most populous city in the historic region
of Silesia, most of which, like Katowice itself, is situated
in Poland. Each of the three composers represented here studied
and later taught at the Katowice Music Academy. Bolesław
Szabelski was Górecki’s teacher, Górecki
in turn taughtEugeniusz Knapik. Zbigniew Raubo, the pianist
on this disc, and Mirosłav Jacek Błaszczyk, the conductor,
were also both students who later returned to teach at the Academy.
The disc can fairly be seen as a celebration of that distinguished
and highly respected establishment.
Szabelski’s Concertino is in three movements, the
first of which is based on the busy, rhythmic figure that opens
the work. A calmer second subject appears, but the rapid music
soon returns and dominates the rest. The music is closer to
the neo-classical style of Stravinsky than it is to the Germanic
counterpoint of Hindemith. The movement’s ending is a
complete surprise, a sudden common chord that seems to arrive
from nowhere. The slow movement is quite different, closer to
the neo-romanticism evoked in the booklet notes, and with echoes
of Bartók. The finale attempts to combine both worlds,
and succeeds rather well: it is the most successful movement
of the three. All told, this is an engaging work that you will
probably want to come back to. In no way is it a concerto, though,
despite its title. The piano has an important role but barely
qualifies for the title of “solo instrument”. “Concertante”
would be a more apposite term.
Like many music lovers I was seduced by Górecki’s
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs when Classic FM made its
composer famous. I love it to this day: it is an inspired and
courageous work of genuine power that, in a fine performance
- preferably with a Polish or at least a Slav soprano - can
be exceptionally moving, and that in spite of the fact that
there are so few notes in it. Since then I have listened to
many Górecki works in the hope of discovering something
at least as satisfying. Sadly, Refrain for Orchestra
is not it. The work begins with a held unison that leads to
a rocking figure in the strings - though the word “rocking”
conveys too much the notion of activity - in a motif that gradually
thickens into clusters and is strangely punctuated by staccato
chords from the brass. This continues for eight long minutes
until there is a faster section wherein further chords alternate
between the wind and string sections of the orchestra. There
are also some dramatic brass trills. A gong stroke puts paid
to this, and after a while the opening rocking figure returns,
as does the very first unison and a single, staccato peck from
the brass. I may be missing something here, but there seems
to be absurdly little musical material in this work. With one
or two exceptions I have been progressively more disappointed
with each new Górecki work I have heard, and this one
plumbs new depths.
Islands comes complete with a commentary from the composer
in which he tells us that we shouldn’t listen to it with
too narrow an interpretation of its title in our minds. “We
are all on an island which drifts somewhere in the universe,”
he tells us, and goes on “every human being is an island
as well…” As is often the case with such works,
I can discern no audible connection between the title and the
music itself in any case, so whether the composer agrees with
John Donne or not seems to be irrelevant. The music is slow
and reflective for much of the time, but compared to the Górecki
it’s packed with incident. Two lengthy solos punctuate
the action, one for violin and the other for double bass that
begins in the instrument’s highest register. (Only strings
are used, I think: I haven’t see the score.) The composer
apparently aims to react against the Polish avant-garde movement
of the sixties, personified by such figures as Penderecki -
who later reacted against it himself. On the whole he has succeeded
here, and there are many passages of strikingly sonorous beauty,
including the sumptuous two-part writing that opens the work
and returns later. But there are a few empty gestures too, and
Tomasz Jeż, in a long, important but frequently impenetrable
note in the booklet, is surely being disingenuous when he says
that the music “speaks to the listener in a similar manner
than [sic] the music of late Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler”.
I’m always sorry to react negatively to new works, but
there it is, and others will hear this music differently. The
orchestra plays magnificently and, as one might expect, seem
totally convinced by the music. They give performances of one
hundred per cent commitment. The recording is excellent.
William Hedley
Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra/Mirosłav Jacek
Błaszczyk
