Slow -- sustained and tranquil but singing

May 25, 2020 7:54 PM

Given these days and these times, I found myself this weekend listening to Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of sorrowful songs". (27m, 10m, 17m, 54m total) The opening movement was rather famous for a while when this 1992 recording was released and a BBC DJ played the full movement even though it was outside of the station's format. (Or so the urban legend goes.). It's a slowly building ocean of grief, a central wail, and then gradual decline. My heart was happy to have it tonight.

Also an alternative yet respectful reimagining Sorrow by Colin Stetson (previously), is a worthwhile listen during this time.

posted by hippybear (10 comments total)

I knew I had heard this before and scrolling through the comments someone noted it was part of the soundtrack for the movie "Fearless" which starred Jeff Bridges. So powerful in the scene from that movie. It's amazing how much a song adds emotion to film and we don't realize it until we hear the music on its own.
posted by perhapses at 8:23 PM on May 25, 2020

Domino put out an amazing recording of this last year featuring the Polish National Radio Symphony with Beth Gibbons of Portishead singing. It's a piece that really benefits from modern recording and cutting techniques. It sounds huge.
posted by Siempre La Luna at 8:45 PM on May 25, 2020 [11 favorites]

Also famously sampled/tributed in Lamb's Gorecki.
posted by Candleman at 9:24 PM on May 25, 2020 [6 favorites]

I cannot listen to Gorecki’s 3rd in the presence of others as it excavates a bit too deeply into things I do not understand and cannot explain.
posted by drivingmenuts at 12:03 AM on May 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

The Dawn Upshaw recording is one of my top 100 for sure
posted by rossmeissl at 6:48 AM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Dawn Upshaw is so good in that recording, it sounds like she grew up speaking Polish, it's uncanny.
posted by LooseFilter at 7:12 AM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Listened to this last night. Incredible. Thank you for posting this, hippybear.
posted by vverse23 at 9:53 AM on May 26, 2020

Earlier this year another recording was released featuring Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. She's no soprano, so it's quite different from the Upshaw version I've been listening to for decades, but quite lovely.
posted by jburka at 5:52 PM on May 26, 2020

I truly love this work, and it reminds me of the first time I ever heard Dawn Upshaw (my very favorite soprano) in a somewhat more upbeat aria, No Word From Tom from Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:54 PM on May 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is such a wonderful piece of music and I've found myself coming back to it or the music it's inspired over and over again. My inroad to this was the Lamb song posted above which led me to do some digging. Stetson's version is fantastic too. Another one is Godspeed's Moya, which was also originally titled "Gorecki" and apparently is still listed as that on their setlist.

Thanks for bringing this around again.

Oh, and if you've never heard of Colin Stetson before and you liked the link in the OP, I heartily recommend his album with Sarah Neufeld called Never Were the Way she was. An interesting live version of one of the songs is here, ignore the clickbaity title.
posted by sauril at 9:21 PM on May 26, 2020