Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 (CD review)

Christine Brewer, soprano; Donald Runnicles, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  Telarc CD-80699.

A recording of Polish composer Henryk Gorecki's (b. 1933) Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" by David Zinman and the London Sinfonietta in 1991 (Elektra Nonesuch) followed the fiftieth anniversary commemoration of Germany's invasion of Poland. The recording became something of a crossover sensation, and Gorecki and his 1976 symphony acquired a renewed international recognition. I wasn't sure how well the composition was holding up over the years, but now Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony take a crack at it on Telarc, so I suppose the company figures there's still life in the work. I wish them well.

The Third Symphony is in three movements, each movement based on a different poem about the loss of a child. The booklet note tells us that Gorecki is a devout Catholic and a highly spiritual man, so there is no surprise that his Third Symphony should be hugely ethereal in nature, each movement proceeding slowly and languorously forward. Frankly, it had been at least a decade since I last listened to it, and I was surprised by how morbidly lugubrious it seemed, incorporating lamentations, exhortations, poetry, and folk music in rather overtly bathetic fashion. This time around it did not seem so spiritual or ethereal to me.

I wondered after listening to this new rendition whether perhaps my less-than-enthusiastic welcome of it was really due to the music, the interpretation, or the sound.  I'm going with the sound. Compared to the Electra Nonesuch recording, the newer, Telarc sonics are warmer, softer, fuller, billowier, and foggier. The Nonesuch sonics are more transparent and go a long way toward lessening the work's otherwise funereal tone.  Nevertheless, if the music inspires you, certainly Runnicles performs it as well as anybody.

JJP