DDD 8.550822 GORECKI Symphony No.3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) Three Olden Style Pieces Zofia Kilanowicz, Soprano Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice) Antoni WitHenryk Gorecki (b. 1933) Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) Three Pieces in Olden Style ‘The Polish composer Henryk Gérecki was born in Silesia in 1933 and studied at the Katowice Conservatory and in Paris with Olivier Messiaen. He has made his subsequent career largely in Katowic where he was appointed as a member of the Conservatory teaching staff. He has won a number of important awards for composition both at home and abroad, but earlier successes have been eclipsed by the phenomenal popularity of his Third Symphony, which has had a much wider appeal than could have been forecast, in part because of the relatively approachable musical language in whieh it is couched and in part because of its peculiar relevance to the mood of today, its anxieties, sorrows and hopes. Gérecki's musical idiom has developed gradually into a language of great originality, In earlier years, influenced by se-ialism, in common with many other composers, he later shows the more overt influence of Messiaen and above all a preoccupation with instrumental sonorities. His interest in earlier music, in devotional texts and music often of Medieval origin, coupled with a fascination with the resources of the modern orchestra is often evident. ‘The Third Symphony was written in Katowice between October and December 1976 and dedicated to Gérecki's wife. It was first performed at the avant- garde Festival of Royan the following year. ‘The first movement opens with a canon for strings, building gradually through the possible orchestral register, starting with the double basses and mounting in pitch and intensity, as each part enters in imitation. At the heart of the movement is the fifteenth century Polish Lamentation of the Holy Cross Monastery, in which the Mother of Christ begs her dying Son to speak to 8.550822 her. After this the canon resumes, descending, as before it had risen, in both pitch and intensity, slowly unwinding to end with the single melodic line, the cantus firmus with which the movement had begun. The second and third movements of the symphony together are as long as the first movement. All three are marked Lento, but this direction conceals many nuances of tempo, delicate and subtle changes of pace. ‘The second movement offers an immediate contrast to the sombre elegiac tone of the first. The words of the song are none the less tragic, a prayer scratched on the wall of a Gestapo cell by an eighteen-year-old Polish girl seeking the protection of the Queen of Heavei The melodic line, with its accompaniment of clustered sonorities, is sad but lyrical in its gentle beauty, touching the heart of the listener in part because of its textual and historical source, to which the music adds even greater poignancy. A repeated motif introduces the third movement, with its folk-song in which a mother laments the loss of her son, whose body she now seeks, the insistent ostinato of the orchestra pointing a melodic line of the greatest simplicity. The symphony ends with an expression of hope, allowing the boy, killed by cruel enemies, to rest in peace, lulled by God's song-birds and surrounded by the flowers of God. In 1963 Gérecki wrote Three Pieces in Olden Style for string orchestra, combining elements of folk origin with more recent musical techniques. The three pieces, which in many ways suggest something of the mood and technique of the Third Symphony, open with music that gradually builds in intensity. A quicker second piece is followed by a final piece that echoes the mood of the first. 2Zofia Kilanowicz The Polish soprano Zofia Kilanowicz was born at Novy Targ and had her musical training at the Academy in Cracow, winning important awards national and international competitions. She ha appeared principally as a soloist in oratorio and in the concert-hall, with a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary. This has not prevented The Polish Nat The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice (PNRSO) was founded in 1935 in Warsaw through the initiative of well-known Polish conductor and composer Grzegorz Fitelberg. Under his direction, the ensemble worked till the outbreak of World War IL Soon after the war, in March 1945, the orchestra was resurrected in Katowice by the eminent Polish conductor Witold Rowicki. In 1947 Grzegorz Fitelberg returned to Poland and became artist director of the PNRSO. He was followed by a series of Antoni Wit Antoni Wit was born in Cracow in 1944 and studied there, before becoming assistant to Witold Rowiel with the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw in 1967. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Par and with Penderecki and in 1971 was a prize-winner in he Herbert von Karajan Competition. Study at Tanglewood with Skrowaczewski and Seiji Ozawa was followed by ap point ment as Principal Conductor first of the Pomeranian Philharmonic and then of the appearances on the operatic stage, with her début in 1988 as Konstanze in Die Entfithrung aus dem Serail at the Warsaw Chamber Opera. Further performances, led to her appearance at the Brussels Théatre de la Monnaie in 1990 as Drusilla in Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppaea, Her recordings include a release of the complete songs of Chopin. nal Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice (PNRSO) distinguished Polish conductors - Jan Krenz, Bohdan Wodiezko, Kazimierz Kord, Tadeusz Strugala, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Stanislaw Wislocki and, since 1983, Antoni Wit. The orchestra has appeared with conductors and soloists of the greatest distinction and has recorded for Polskie Nagrania and many international record labels. For Naxos, the PNRSO- has recorded the complete symphonies of ‘Tchaikovsky and Mahler. Cracow Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1983 he took up the position of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Antoni Wit has undertaken many engagements abroad with major orchestras, ranging from the Berlin Philharmonic and the BBC Welsh and Scottish Symphony Orchestras to the Kusatsu Festival Orchestra in Japan, 8.550822