This page lists all recordings of Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' (Symfonia piesni zalosnych), by Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (1933-2010) on CD, SACD, DVD & download (MP3 & FLAC). Generally, more recent releases are listed first, but with priority given to those that are in stock. |
Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Pieces in Olden Style
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
“While John Axelrod and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra honour the work's slowly unwinding structure, they're not afraid to underline certain expressive elements, the very end being a fair case in point, which glows to a radiant forte...this new version...is excellent in its own way and the sound has plenty of amplitude” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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“This disc seems a clear first choice.” Classic CD “This recording is virtually as good as the betterknown Zinman version. The performance is exceptionally fine, although the acoustic is more resonant, the orchestral choirs less closely balanced and Antoni Wit isn't as meticulous as Zinman in his observance of minor details.
Interpretatively, Wit leaves the more austere impression. His relative inwardness squares convincingly with the symphony's harrowing texts and 'Sorrowful Songs' sub-title. If spectacular singing is your main priority, then Upshaw's is the vocal tour de force. Zofia Kilanowicz displays stronger lower registers and a brilliant, bleached-white soprano that reflects the score's innate pathos, its sense of shock. Her enunciation is more idiomatic, while her partial suspension of vibrato is a powerful interpretative ploy. What's most impressive about this performance is its spirituality; and given the overall excellence of the recording, the conducting and the singing, it's strongly recommended, particularly to those who have yet to discover the Symphony's hypnotic sound-world. It's also commended to those who do know the work but who find Upshaw and Zinman too 'plush'.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
Zofia Kilanowicz (soprano) Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra of Katowice, Jerzy Swoboda | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
| | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Gorecki - The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Gorecki: | Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' |
Widely acknowledged as Tony Palmer’s masterpiece, this biopic of composer Henryck Gorecki features Dawn Upshaw, David Zinman and The London Sinfonietta. It won the gold medal at the New York Film & TV Festival. The Symphony actually dates from 1976 when Górecki was (as he tells us in the film) a 'non-person' in the political sense, when his music was banned in his native Katowice in Poland. Melvyn Bragg showed the film on The South Bank Show, and even managed to persuade the hierarchy of ITV that it would be an abomination to disrupt the film with any commercial breaks. The 53 minute film was shown uninterrupted, an acceptance perhaps of the urgency of its content. "I wanted to express a great sorrow", Górecki says. "The war...the rotten times under Communism...our life today...the starving. What madness! This sorrow, it burns inside me. I cannot shake it off". “This film is a major work of art in itself.” The Guardian “The film includes an interview with Górecki and a performance of the Symphony illustrated with newsreels of famine and war and specially-shot sequences inside Auschwitz. The final shot shows a bemused-looking Górecki unable to find words for things he has seen. It is a tribute to the power of the music as well as the images that this film often reduced me to tears and made me feel sick in my stomach and soul.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 ***** “In interview Górecki explains how this music was his way of expressing the "great sorrow of the war, the rotten times under communism, our life today, the starving…" Palmer illustrates these themes quite literally, intercutting the performance of the music with the continuing interview with the composer, film of his visit to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, and documentary footage of the camps' wartime carnage, of starving and wounded children in contemporary Africa and the Balkans, and of German fascists today.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2007 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
Written in 1976, Henryk Gorecki’s third symphony, also known as the “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,” is a setting of three Polish texts with the theme of separation through war: The first is a 15th century Polish lament in which Mary speaks to her son Jesus as he is dying; the second is a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell by a teenage girl during the Second World War; and the third is a folk song in which a mother grieves for her son killed in the Silesian uprisings. The symphony marked a change in compositional style for Górecki, who was previously identified as a member of the modernist wing of European music that was prone to compositions constructed of clashing sound masses and serially ordered elements. The symphony’s simplicity, chant-like melodic nature and largely consonant harmonies took many listeners and critics by surprise, and the symphony became an unexpected crossover hit record when a 1992 recording by soprano Dawn Upshaw and David Zinman and the London Sinfonietta was embraced by record buyers. The recording sold more than a million copies and climbed to the top of the classical music charts in both the U.S. and the U.K. It also reached number six on the mainstream U.K. album chart. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s performances of Górecki’s Third Symphony in May 2008 were presented in a production enhanced by lighting effects and visuals by Anne Patterson and Adam Larsen and conducted by the ASO’s Principle Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles. Mr. Runnicles was recently named General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, effective in 2009, has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Francisco Opera since 1992, and is Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming. Soloist Christine Brewer is a GRAMMY® Award-winning American soprano whose appearances in opera, concert and recital are marked with her own unique timbre, at once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty. “Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs… was popular in Poland but remained largely unknown elsewhere until the recording by the London Sinfonietta under David Zinman was released in 1992. The perfection of that interpretation casts a daunting shadow, but Runnicles, Brewer and the Atlanta SO have staked out their own territory admirably. The first movement is nearly four minutes faster than Zinman's but works superbly. Brewer's rich voice and subtle inflections are sufficiently personal to distinguish her equally fine interpretation from Upshaw's, and at times there is an edge that will appeal to anyone who found the earlier recording to be perhaps just a little too celestial.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2009 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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“She has a lovely tone and is fluent in coloratura; she makes much of all of her arias… she really shines” Classics Today | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
| | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'
| | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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