Gorecki Symphony No. 3

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

The Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 or Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is a symphony in three movements composed by Henryk Górecki in Poland in 1976. A solo soprano sings Polish texts in each of the three movements: The first is a 15th-century Polish lament of Mary, mother of Jesus. The second a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell during World War II,

and the third a Silesian folk song of a mother searching for her son killed by the Germans in the Silesian uprisings. The first and third movements are written from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child, and the second movement from that of a child separated from a parent. The dominant themes of the symphony are motherhood and separation through war.

A 1992 recording of the symphony performed by the London Sinfonietta, with American Dawn Upshaw as soprano topped the classical charts in Britain and the United States, selling  more than a million copies. It is a wonderful recording deserving of all the accolades and success that have come its way. Following this succes, there have been many impressive recordings by sopranos over the years, nowever Upshaw's interpretation remained the "definitive version" in my opinion.

Then, in 2016 Colin Stetson, an American saxophonist usually more at home with session work for the smarter US indie acts such as Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and TV on the Radio transposed the music for a rock band, respecting the notation but changing the orchestration and tonal pallate. While retaining the emotional power of the piece, Stetson presents it in a contemporary form, potentially bringing it to a new audience.

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In 2019 Beth Gibbons of the band Portishead released a stunning interpretation with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by one of Goreckii's contemporaries Krzysztof Penderecki (who sadly passed away in March 2020). Gibbons does not posess a particularly powerful voice and is not classically trained . Indeed, The Guardian described her as "a contralto trying to sing in a soprano range" but considered that "her wracked style brings out the work’s eerie desperation". This interpretation is deliberately challenging in many ways, which is interesting and admirable of itself, however I miss the beauty and power of Upshaw's trained voice in this piece and did not feel sufficiently compensated by Gibbons' more  contemporary vocalisation.

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In January 2020 a new interpretation was released by "Dead Can Dance" vocalist Lisa Gerrard, with the young Bulgarian conductor and arranger Yordan Kamdzhalov and his Genesis Orchestra. While it does not greatly challenge the original orchestration, Gerrard possesses the vocal range of a contralto but can also reach upward into the mezzo-soprano range. Her voice has been described as rich, deep, mournful and unique. Consequently, she brings a new tone to the piece. She produces a darker, more sombre outcome for the symphony than Uplake, that is both moving and interesting. Although unable to match Uplake's high register power, Gerrard adds layers of emotional depth within her range. This is a welcome addition to the cannon of interpretations for this piece and is one that now stands alongside Upshaw's recording in my estimation.