This Week in Classical Music: December 2, 2019.Mieczysław Weinberg and Polish music.December 8th marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-Jewish-Soviet composer who barely survived first the Nazi invasion of Poland and then Stalin’s deadly persecution of the Jews.We wrote about Weinberglast year, so here is a piece of his music: the first movement of his last symphony, No. 21, “Kaddish,” written in 1991 as a memorial for Holocaust victims from the Warsaw Ghetto.The Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is leading the combined forces of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Kramerata Baltica, with Gidon Kremer playing solo parts.
Even though Weinberg was born in Poland, he was a very Soviet composer, highly influenced by Shostakovich.But there was also a “purely” Polish composer who was born this week: Henryk Górecki.While Weinberg is half-forgotten, despite several very successful stagings of his magnum opus, the opera The Passenger, Henryk Górecki is one of the most commercially successful contemporary composers.Górecki was born on December 6th of 1933, in Czernica, a village in southern Poland.When he was four, he dislocated a hip, which, untreated, led to the development of bone tuberculosis; Górecki suffered from it for the rest of his life.He studied at a provincial music school in Rybnik, and later, at the Music Academy in Katowice (he would eventually become a professor there).Górecki’s early compositions coincided with Poland opening up to Western influences, and were strongly affected by modernist composers, from Webern to Boulez.His symphony no. 1, written in 1959, was a successful example of his early style.For about 10 years Górecki was known as one of the most important Polish avant-garde composers, but eventually he started moving away from dissonance and serialism, simplifying his musical idiom and making it more expressive.An interesting example of this transitional period is his 1965 orchestral piece Refrain, Op. 21.This transformation culminated in 1976 with the Symphony No. 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,” Op. 36, for soprano and orchestra.Probably Górecki’s most accessible work, it became popular around the world;recordings of it sold more than one million copies, an unheard-of number for a living classical composer.Following that success, he wrote several significant works, including another symphony and chamber pieces, some commissioned by the Kronos Quartet.Górecki died in Katowice on November 12th of 2010.Here’s the second movement of his 1986 Lerchenmusik, Op 53, subtitled Recitatives and Ariosos.It’s performed by the members of the London Sinfonietta.
And continuing with the Polish theme, Krystian Zimerman, a brilliant Polish pianist, was born on December 5th of 1956. Like Górecki, he was born in Silesia, in the city of Zabrze.In 1975, at the age of 18, Zimerman won the Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition; that launched his international career.Known as a great interpreter of the music of Chopin, he promotes the music of Polish composers; Witold Lutosławski dedicated his piano concerto to Zimerman.For a world-renowned musician, Zimerman is very politically active.He doesn’t visit Russia because of its policies and the Katyn massacre; he stopped concertizing in the US over the Guantanamo detainees and the proposed missile shield in Poland, and he supports Palestinian causes.
Weinberg and Górecki, 2019
This Week in Classical Music: December 2, 2019. Mieczysław Weinberg and Polish music. December 8th marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-Jewish-
Soviet composer who barely survived first the Nazi invasion of Poland and then Stalin’s deadly persecution of the Jews. We wrote about Weinberglast year, so here is a piece of his music: the first movement of his last symphony, No. 21, “Kaddish,” written in 1991 as a memorial for Holocaust victims from the Warsaw Ghetto. The Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is leading the combined forces of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Kramerata Baltica, with Gidon Kremer playing solo parts.
Even though Weinberg was born in Poland, he was a very Soviet composer, highly influenced by Shostakovich. But there was also a “purely” Polish composer who was born this week: Henryk Górecki. While Weinberg is half-forgotten, despite several very successful stagings of his magnum opus, the opera The Passenger, Henryk Górecki is one of the most commercially successful contemporary composers. Górecki was born on December 6th of 1933, in Czernica, a village in southern Poland. When he was four, he dislocated a hip, which, untreated, led to the development of bone tuberculosis; Górecki suffered from it for the rest of his life. He studied at a provincial music school in Rybnik, and later, at the Music Academy in Katowice (he would eventually become a professor there). Górecki’s early compositions coincided with Poland opening up to Western influences, and were strongly affected by modernist composers, from Webern to Boulez. His symphony no. 1, written in 1959, was a successful example of his early style. For about 10 years Górecki was known as one of the most important Polish avant-garde composers, but eventually he started moving away from dissonance and serialism, simplifying his musical idiom and making it more expressive. An interesting example of this transitional period is his 1965 orchestral piece Refrain, Op. 21. This transformation culminated in 1976 with the Symphony No. 3, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,” Op. 36, for soprano and orchestra. Probably Górecki’s most accessible work, it became popular around the world;recordings of it sold more than one million copies, an unheard-of number for a living classical composer. Following that success, he wrote several significant works, including another symphony and chamber pieces, some commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. Górecki died in Katowice on November 12th of 2010. Here’s the second movement of his 1986 Lerchenmusik, Op 53, subtitled Recitatives and Ariosos. It’s performed by the members of the London Sinfonietta.
And continuing with the Polish theme, Krystian Zimerman, a brilliant Polish pianist, was born on December 5th of 1956. Like Górecki, he was born in Silesia, in the city of Zabrze. In 1975, at the age of 18, Zimerman won the Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition; that launched his international career. Known as a great interpreter of the music of Chopin, he promotes the music of Polish composers; Witold Lutosławski dedicated his piano concerto to Zimerman. For a world-renowned musician, Zimerman is very politically active. He doesn’t visit Russia because of its policies and the Katyn massacre; he stopped concertizing in the US over the Guantanamo detainees and the proposed missile shield in Poland, and he supports Palestinian causes.