R.I.P Henryk Gorecki
R.I.P Henryk Gorecki (December 6, 1933 – November 12, 2010)
Obit from Independent
Henryk Gorecki: Modernist composer who enjoyed crossover success with the million-selling ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’
H. M. Górecki – Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, Op. 40 (1981) (via Jeffrey Harris)
Painting by Ward Schumaker
Note: Helena Blazusiak was a Catholic who died in a Nazi death camp.)
In a book on the Nazi occupation, he discovered words found scratched on a wall in the Gestapo prison at Zakopane: “No, mother do not weep…”, signed by “Helena Wanda Blazusiak, aged 18, detained since 25.IX.44.” To this he added a text from the 15th-century, “Holy Cross Lament”. “So I had these three songs, very sad, hence the title ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’.”
Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington Remembers Henryk Górecki
NYtimes Obit
Gorecki in Basquiat (youtube)