This fascinating release takes a good look at Henryk Górecki’s
earlier work, as well as two works from the 1990s, one of which
is a modern classic in my opinion, albeit a somewhat eclectic
one. If you are unfamiliar with Górecki’s work, you may well have
heard of his Symphony No.3, the ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’
of 1976. This work’s wide appeal saw its use in films, and the
Nonesuch recording with Dawn Upshaw and David Zinman sold hugely,
although I much prefer the singing of Zofia Kilanowicz on Belart.
The Nonesuch label
crops up again with its 1995 London Sinfonietta recording of
Requiem Für Eine Polka. Direct comparison with this new
recording has been an intriguing experience, though I’m hard
pushed to indicate a clear winner. You won’t find Chamber Domaine
lacking in impact or intensity, but the London Sinfonietta does
attack the heavier, post-minimalist passages with a trifle more
abandon, makes one laugh a fraction louder at the oompah circus
crassness of the third movement. This destroys the marvellous
atmosphere of the slow coda to the second movement, introducing
a chorale which reminds me a little of that other musical wonder,
‘The Singing of the Titanic’ by Gavin Bryars. I suspect that
this section of the music has been tweaked a little in the Nonesuch
recording, but even if not it does bring out the goose-bumps
more than in this rather drier production – fine as it is.
Even if you already
have Requiem Für Eine Polka, this new disc now takes
us into realms as yet unexplored, with five world premiere commercially
available recordings of everything bar the Toccata and
the Four Preludes. The Valentine Piece is a nice,
largely contemplative piece for solo flute with a few recurring
bird-like motives, and a strange little ‘timbral surprise’ just
at the end, to which I can imagine my mate Mike of Wigan saying,
“there’s somebody at the door, Marjorie..!” The Two Sacred
Songs set poems by Marek Skwarnicki, a contemporary of Górecki.
The composer’s predilection for close intervals and limited
thematic means create a powerful atmosphere and intensity, and
the chant-like singing lines reflect the songs’ relation to
orthodox religious ecstasy.
Górecki was only
25 and still a student when he was given the rare honour of
an entire concert of his music in Katowice in 1958, and the
rest of the works on the disc come from this period. The Toccata
for two pianos actually comes from before his studies in
Katowice, and while stronger on youthful energy than subtlety
it does show the composer’s incredible creative virtuosity.
Adrian Thomas’s booklet notes describe both this and the Variations
for Violin and Piano as brutalist in approach, and there
is no denying the passionate way in which Górecki deals with
his folk-like materials. Echoes of Bartók and Szymanowski can
be detected, but this remains a darkly expressive and substantial
piece which holds its own even 50 years on.
The Four Preludes
for Piano together form Górecki’s Opus 1, and the
opening Molto agitato stamps a closely argued imprint
on the listener from the outset. Close chromaticism and contrasts
of moody lyricism and athletic moto-perpetuo passagework set
the scene for the other, shorter preludes, and with intervallic
and rhythmic similarities throughout the preludes they could
with ease be re-titled as a single sonata. The Three Songs
Op.3 is dedicated to Górecki’s mother, who died when he
was 2. The texts of the first two songs are moving memorials
related by the tolling of funeral bells and spectral imagery,
and the third takes us away with the more positive flight of
a small bird.
The final work on
this impressive disc is the substantial but nonetheless compact
and intensely economic Concerto for 5 Instruments and String
Quartet Opus 11. In this piece Górecki shows himself more
prepared than many to explore the avant-garde experimentalism
which in Poland at that time was flowing in from the West. This
is seriously serialist work, with angular intervals and sparse
instrumentation which has its roots in the subtle world of Webern.
Górecki’s individuality comes through with the kind of violent
energy and extremes of contrast already heard in some of the other
student works, but without knowing I would bet few would guess
the originator of this work.
This is a superbly
performed and recorded release which gives us a useful new view
of Górecki’s creative world. His later pioneering of the ‘new
simplicity’ which brought us composers such as Arvo Part and others
is little in evidence here, with only the later Requiem
showing how Górecki used his focused and sparing means to greatest
expressive effect. Górecki’s defiance of oppression and injustice
can be felt almost physically in some of these works, and I for
one am glad to have been introduced to this composer’s serious
early development.
Dominy Clements
Chamber Domaine/Thomas
Kemp 
