Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)

This is, to my knowledge, the third recording this year of Górecki’s Third Symphony (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), making six currently available. An article on the symphony in a recent issue of the London Magazine manages to take in ‘sexual come-ons from blondes with figures good enough, in Woody Allen’s phrase, “to cause cardiac arrest in a yak”’. Clearly, there’s more in this cultural phenomenon than even a Building a Library feature could encompass.

Our rating

4

Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:32 pm

COMPOSERS: Gorecki
LABELS: Philips
WORKS: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
PERFORMER: Joanna Kozlowska (soprano)Warsaw PO/Kazimierz Kord
CATALOGUE NO: 442 411-2 DDD

This is, to my knowledge, the third recording this year of Górecki’s Third Symphony (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), making six currently available. An article on the symphony in a recent issue of the London Magazine manages to take in ‘sexual come-ons from blondes with figures good enough, in Woody Allen’s phrase, “to cause cardiac arrest in a yak”’. Clearly, there’s more in this cultural phenomenon than even a Building a Library feature could encompass.

Meanwhile, back at the funny farm, I’ve listened to all six discs. At 59 minutes, Kord is the slowest of the lot. I admire his boldness; but the control, of dynamics as well as tempi, varies and it does drag a bit. (Kamirski, Schwann, 1988; first issued on vinyl and recorded in 1982, is 14 minutes faster, the fastest of all.) Perhaps mercifully, Kord, at full price, has good, clear sound: you can hear more of the counterpoint in the first movement than on most other discs.

I like the affecting purity and restraint of his soprano, Joanna Kozlowska. Of the other sopranos employed, Stefania Woytowicz (Olympia, 1988) is too conventionally operatic; even Dawn Upshaw’s ardour – keeping company with occasionally over-indulgent rubato from Zinman (Elektra Nonesuch, 1992) – seems overdone by comparison with Kozlowska. Or with Zofia Kilanowicz (Belart, 1994 and, more secure, on Naxos, 1994).

The last-named performance clocks in at 55:54 – closer to the composer’s timing of 54 minutes than anyone except Zinman. This Naxos disc is, like the Belart, at budget price; and, like Schwann and Olympia, it adds Górecki’s Three Pieces in the Olden Style. Though the sound isn’t quite as good, I’d go for the Naxos right now. Keith Potter

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