• New CD Notes (Górecki/Nonesuch)

It has been a long time coming (it was scheduled originally for last September), but Nonesuch today releases its three-part tribute to Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.  We mustn’t forget that it was Nonesuch which was principally responsible for bringing Górecki’s name and music to the attention of the CD-buying public outside Poland.  Its issue of Symphony no.3 in 1992 (Dawn Upshaw/London Sinfonietta/David Zinman) was the most ear-catching, but it had been preceded in 1991 by a CD of the First String Quartet (Kronos) and Lerchenmusik (London Sinfonietta soloists).  Now, a quarter of a century later (how time flies!), Nonesuch has packaged all of its Górecki recordings in one 7-CD retrospective box.

But there’s more.  The box also includes the recording of the world premiere in 2014 of Górecki’s Fourth Symphony (London PO/Andrey Boreyko).  And, the symphony is being released as a separate CD.  And, the Third Symphony is being re-released separately, on vinyl. In 1992 it was issued only on CD, although the three preceding recordings of the work appeared first on vinyl (Stefania Woytowicz/Jerzy Katlewicz, Ernest Bour and Włodzimierz Kamirski).

I was asked to write an introductory essay for the boxed set and I provided a slightly amended version of my programme note for the Fourth Symphony, alongside my existing Nonesuch notes for Miserere and String Quartets nos 2 and 3.

Here are the links to my introductory essay (with a list of the box’s contents) and my booklet note for the Fourth Symphony, or you can scroll the CD NOTES tab above.