“Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs”
Krzysztof Penderecki (cond.)
Beth Gibbons (sop.)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Domino WIGLP395
By Roy Gregory
I first fell in love with Górecki’s mournful, but achingly beautiful Symphony No.3 after hearing the Polski Radio recording of the composer conducting his own work (PR SACD 2). That disc is, sadly, now all but impossible to find, with the last second-hand copy I saw fetching well into three-figures! I still have mine, but I’m constantly on the lookout for alternatives. The obvious option is the popular Zinman/London Sinfonietta recording on Nonesuch (79282 – 1) with Dawn Upshaw singing the soprano part. But, despite its commercial success (it became something of a crossover hit with the Classic FM crowd) I’ve never cottoned to it as a performance: the tempo is too fast (just over 53 minutes plays 63 for the Polski Radio recording), especially in the first and third movements; the string playing is too smoothly ‘English’, the singing not gut wrenchingly emotional enough. All told, it’s a bit polite and ‘afternoon tea’ for me, especially after the coruscating live performance captured on the Polish disc.
So I was immediately intrigued when I (somewhat belatedly) discovered this 2019 Domino release, conducted by Górecki’s great contemporary Penderecki, directing the same Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra as on the hard to find Polski Radio disc. Even better (and like the Nonesuch recording), it’s also available on LP as well as optical media.
On the face of it, it would be easy to assume that this performance follows the same path as the one on the Nonesuch disc, incorporating the same artistic flaws, with its even shorter playing time and another Anglophone soprano. But there all similarities cease. From the opening bars there’s a weight and texture to the layered bass parts, a measured quality to the playing that captures the depth of the pathos in the piece. It builds with just the right inevitability and draws the listener in, much as the Polski Radio SACD does. There’s none of the Nonesuch’s lubricated smoothness to gloss over the musical and emotional sinews, the music controlling its power and intensity to generate a raw and commanding sense of presence.
That musical and emotional immediacy separates this performance from the Nonesuch record, but it is also offers a distinctly different presentation to the Polski Radio SACD. Partly as a result of the different venue, partly the style of the recording itself, this is a very different view of the musical narrative. Where the Górecki-led performance is all about scale and a stately, collective, almost religious experience, Penderecki invites a far more personal, intimate connection to the music’s emotional landscape. The perspective is close, bringing weight, instrumental texture and a tactile feel of bow on strings to the intricately layered orchestral playing. The beautiful ensemble playing and coherent and intimate soundstage offers the perfect complement to soprano Beth Gibbon’s singing. The performance as a whole might lack the majestic scale of the Górecki reading, but it is still beautifully balanced. Gibbons’ clear diction and phrasing (presumably helped by the use of a microphone as well as the input of Polish contingent behind the recording) make for a less ethereal and intense, but more immediate, more human quality, when compared to the sheer, unbridled power of Zofia Kilanowicz. The Polish soprano fills the cathedral acoustic of the earlier recording: Gibbon’s quieter delivery is more intimate and finely wrought. This performance might not have the sheer impact and emotionally draining quality that Górecki wrings from his own score, but it succeeds in instilling a greater sense of hope, offers more personal proportions and a more closely connected acoustic.
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