Classic Album Sundays
Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
A mournful symphony from 1976 became an unexpected worldwide success. Classic Album Sundays listens together to Górecki’s masterpiece.
Henryk Górecki wrote his Symphony No. 3 in 1976, and for over a decade it circulated mainly in specialized circles. That changed dramatically in 1992, when the newly launched Classic FM gave the Zinman/Upshaw recording heavy rotation, bringing it to millions of listeners. Within months it had climbed the UK charts, at one point reportedly outselling releases by Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Part of the explanation for this popularity lies in the symphony's texts: each of its three slow movements carries a lament — a centuries-old prayer of a mother at her dying son's side, words scratched into the wall of a Gestapo prison cell by an eighteen-year-old girl, and a Silesian folk song about a mother who has lost a son in the war. Grief is universal.
Tonight's playback is of that very recording.
Górecki's poignant work, also known as Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, recorded at CTS Studios in London in May 1991 for Nonesuch Records, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta under David Zinman.
Follows a conversation with mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and music historian and writer Ola Nordal, led by Kent Horne, Classic Album Sundays' local host. Kielland has herself recorded Górecki's music, including an acclaimed interpretation of O Domina Nostra. As one of Norway's leading concert singers, she brings a performer's perspective to Górecki's vocal writing and to Dawn Upshaw's particular role in Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
Nordal is well known for his album reviews for Ballade.no. His interest in recordings both as interpretations and cultural objects makes him particularly suited to exploring not only Górecki's music, but also how this one release came to have such an extraordinary life of its own.
Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3, Op. 36, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”. With Dawn Upshaw, soprano; London Sinfonietta; David Zinman, conductor. Produced by Colin Matthews. Nonesuch Records, 1992. Album design: John Heiden. Cover photograph: Gertrude Käsebier.
Marianne Beate Kielland © David Dawson
Ola Nordal © Ola Nordal
PROGRAMME
4:00 PM Becco opens
5:00 PM Doors open at The Loft at Becco, with album-related music until the event begins
6:00 PM Album talk with Marianne Beate Kielland, Ola Nordal and Kent Horne
6:45 PM Album listening – the complete album, from start to finish (53:25)
7:40 PM Album talk and conversation with the audience
Want to know more?
- Classic Album Sundays started in London in 2010 and has since spread to cities and venues around the world. The listening sessions invite audiences to hear an entire album using the best available vinyl pressing on a magnificent audiophile stereo system. Invited guests tell some of the stories behind each release, while the audience is also invited into the conversation.
- The event takes place at Becco, one of Oslo’s nicest wine bars and cultural meeting places. The doors and bar at The Loft, on the top floor, open at 5 PM, with related music playing until the event starts at 6 PM.
- Norwegian, but the conversation will be held in English if there are English-speaking audience members.
- Album format: Original LP (US release, 2016), Nonesuch Records 79282-1.
- Audio menu: Turntable: Thorens TD 124 DD; Tone arm: Thorens TD 124; Tone arm lifter: Little Fwend; Pickup: Ortofon SPU 124; RIAA stage: McIntosh MP100; Signal cables: Midas Reference Flavia; Conditioner: Isol-8; Mixer: Pioneer DJM-A9; Amplifier: Powersoft Mezzo 602 AD 600W; Speakers: Danley SH-50; Rear speakers: Cornered Audio C5; Front speakers: Cornered Audio C6 + C8 Subwoofer.
Conversation participants
- Marianne Beate Kielland
- Ola Nordal
- Kent Horne, host
In collaboration with
- Classic Album Sundays Oslo
