Michael White finds the perfect setting for Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
Some years ago I went to Warsaw to meet Henryk Górecki, who had been one of the many creditable modernist composers functioning in Poland in the later 20th century and would have remained so but for the fact that he abandoned modernism, discovered a new sound-world, and found international fame as a result.
The sound-world was what became known, with a mixture of mockery and respect, as Holy Minimalism: a phenomenon characterised by slow-moving, austerely simplistic writing of religious aspiration that was usually repetitive, contemplative and darkly atmospheric. And a prime example was the piece that made Górecki a household name: his 3rd Symphony, also known as Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
