Henryk Górecki - String Quartets (Royal String Quartet)

Information

Composer: Henryk Górecki

• Already it is dusk (String Quartet No. 1), Op. 62
• Quasi una fantasia (String Quartet No. 2), Op. 64
• … songs are sung (String Quartet No. 3), Op 67

Royal String Quartet

    Izabella Szałaj-Zimak, violin

    Elwira Przybyłowska, violin

    Marek Czech, viola

    Michał Pepol, cello

Date: 2011

Label: Hyperion

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Review

String quartets occupied Henryk Górecki intensively in his later years. Inspired by lines from a Renaissance motet, Already it is dusk (1988) is a compact single movement whose ideas – with folk and sacred overtones – alternate equivocally before conflicting in a fraught central section and moving apart in the resigned conclusion. With a variety of allusions to Beethoven, Quasi una fantasia (1991) unfolds over four movements – the funereal tread of its Largo making way for an often aggressive Deciso then an eloquent Arioso, before the Allegro attempts a synthesis fulfilled only by a fatalistic return to the beginning. Largely completed in 1995, …songs are sung – its title drawn from a poem by Velimir Khlebnikov – was only released for performance a decade later. Here the musical evolution is sustained over 55 minutes, with only a brief Allegro to offset the introspection of movements either side, themselves framed by a searching threnody and a finale that does not so much resolve accumulated tensions as dissolve them into nothingness.

All three works were composed for the Kronos Quartet, whose recordings still serve them admirably. Yet the visceral quality of the Royal Quartet’s renditions points up emotional contrasts in the first two quartets rather more readily, while their emotional commitment makes the finale of the Third Quartet feel more an intended apotheosis than an extended postlude. Those possessing the earlier discs need to not rush to change. But, with its ideal quartet sound and informative booklet-notes, this would be the preferred choice.

— Richard Whitehouse

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Henryk Górecki (6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer. He studied at the Academy of Music in Katowice. His early works were influenced by Webern, Messiaen and Stockhausen. From the 1960s, his style shifted toward simpler forms incorporating folk, medieval and Catholic elements, often expressing profound sorrow. Górecki gained international recognition after the 1992 recording of his Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, which became a major classical success. He continued composing primarily vocal and chamber works into the 21st century, completing his final composition in 2004.

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The Royal String Quartet, founded in Warsaw in 1998, is an ensemble known for combining classical masterpieces with contemporary and lesser-known Polish music. The Quartet gained international recognition through BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. It has performed at leading concert halls and festivals worldwide, including Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, BBC Proms and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Collaborating with distinguished musicians across genres, the ensemble also organizes Warsaw's Kwartesencja festival and has held prestigious residencies.

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