Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki's Third String Quartet And The Lost Decade In Eastern Europe's And The World's Renaissance

Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung op. 67 (1994-95) 56'
for string quartet

10/15/2005
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Father Kolbe Catholic Church, Bielsko-Biala, Poland, Europe
World Premiere

03/24/2006
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York City, United States

11/6/2006
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Krakow, Poland, Europe

11/17/2006
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Jugendstiltheater , Vienna, Austria, Europe

2/18/2007
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Orange County Performing Arts Center, California, United States

4/15/2007
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
University of California, Berkeley, United States

5/28/2007
Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj: ...songs are sung
Kronos Quartet
Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France, Europe


Henryk Mikolaj Górecki’s third string quartet, …songs are sung, received its much-anticipated premiere by the Kronos Quartet on 15 October, 2005 at the Bielsko-Biala composer festival in Poland, Europe.

Górecki’s earlier quartets, Already it is Dusk (1988) and Quasi una Fantasia (1991), were both written for the Kronos Quartet and the group has toured them extensively and made highly successful recordings for Nonesuch. The new quartet also looks set to travel widely [but will not soon be performed in Washington, D.C.]...

Górecki’s string quartets are central statements within the composer’s output, and the new work has been in gestation since the mid-1990s: the bulk of the composition was completed in 1994 and 1995, but the quartet was only released for performance in its finalised form this year. The five movements total a duration of 55 minutes, while the title …songs are sung sums up the essentially lyrical nature of the work. The recurring expression marking is Cantabile, appearing repeatedly in three of four characteristically slow movements. The central movement is a contrasting marcato outpouring of energy, while the extended Lento final movement is something of a peaceful benediction, marked Tranquillo.

Górecki's two earlier string quartets are coupled on a single disc from Nonesuch.

Parts for performance and study scores of both quartets are available for sale.

Source: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers

















Father Kolbe (1993) by Czeslaw Medrek (d. 1997). Ceramic relief.

While imprisoned in a German concentration camp, the Franciscan friar Maksymilian Kolbe offered to sacrifice his life for that of another prisoner condemned to die. The Nazis accepted and Fr. Kolbe was starved to death. The man he saved -- Franciszek Gajowniczek -- is still alive.

Photo credit: © The Provincial Museum of Alberta. PMA:J99.2002. With thanks.

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Unlike in Krakow, Poland, Jews in Lviv, Ukraine, historically were allowed to live within that city's municipal fortified walls.