Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive recording of the work, 26 Feb 2004
Any recording of Gorecki's Third Symphony is going to have to come up against the Nonesuch release with the London Sinfonietta and Dawn Upshaw as Soprano for comparison.
This one not only stands the test but is the better recording.
It shows a greater understanding of the piece, delves deeper into it and is astonishingly well performed.
The Symphony is both a meditation on Poland's sufferings in the second world war and a love letter from the composer to his wife. Both of these theme's are expressed in this recording.
Each of the three movements - all in slow tempo's, has an accompanying poem sung by soprano. Whilst the Orchestra dominates the first movement the vocal part is of equal importance to it in the second and third movements.
In the first movement the strings gradually pull the piece out of the depths into the light. Finally, 18 minutes in, the music takes flight with the entry of the soprano before gently subsiding. In the second movement the soprano Zofia Kilanowicz really comes into her own. In the Third movement the strings coalesce into an esctatic lapping of waves on a shore, while the voice flys above them.
This is one of the best performances by strings I have ever heard, the textures they create are simply phenomenal. Zofia Kilanowicz proves herself to be a top class singer whose interpretation feels exactly right.
If you havent heard this before are there any comparisons ?
Although Gorecki has been lumped in with other 'Holy minimalists' his music is far richer than Arvo Part's and more deeply felt than John Tavener's. Some signposts would be (especialy for the first movement) The best of Elgar's string music and Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss. This work would also appeal to all lovers of Ralph Vaughan Williams Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and his Third (Pastoral) Symphony.
The 3 Olden Style Pieces are in a similar vein to the symphony and while they make a good filler you may find yourself stopping the CD after the symphony. It is enough in itself.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Polish Interpretation , 28 Oct 2007
The previous reviewer is right to say that any version of this symphony will be compared to the 1992 David Zinman/Dawn Upshaw interpretation. But to say that this Antoni Wit/Zofia Kilanowicz version is better is, in my opinion, incorrect. Rather, it offers a slightly different but equally valid interpretation.
Whereas Zinman's has a clarity of line that is crisp and beautiful to behold, the Wit version is more lush. It has a greater depth but this does produce the occasional smudge. Wit produces a good balance between the high and low strings, but the joins between sections are not always seamless. For example, whilst Zofia Kilanowicz's singing is faultlessly beautiful, the return to the canon in the first movement produced no blaze of light, whereas with Zinman the hairs stand out on the back of my neck.
At 56 minutes, the symphony is also played slightly slower: Zinman's comes in at 52 minutes. The lushness and depth of the Wit version is perhaps due to the Polish orchestra, playing the work of one of their own. The performance feels that it is from the heart, genuine and sincere. But perhaps, instead, it is due to its being recorded in a concert hall rather than a studio.
I can highly recommend the extra "Three Olden-Style Pieces". Lasting three, two and four minutes respectively, they are reminiscent of miniatures that might have been composed by Grieg, Vaughan Williams and Vivaldi. They are really mere riffs, but beautifully constructed and played for all that. They appear, they disappear, they go nowhere, but whilst here they are an aural delight.
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~ Kilanowicz/Dobber/Polish Radio Choir/Silesian Philharmonic Choir
~ Joanna Koslowska
~ Henryk Gorecki
~ Henryk Górecki
by Alex Ross
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