The Polish composer Henryk Górecki was born in Silesia in 1933 and studied in Katowice and with Messiaen in Paris. He won very considerable and sudden international success with the third of his symphonies, after earlier achievement that was recognised principally in his native country. His musical idiom is original and unconventional, while often drawing on the simplest of materials, whether from popular peasant sources or from the liturgy.

Orchestral, Choral and Vocal Music

Górecki’s Third Symphony ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’, with its moving soprano solo, has exercised a hypnotic fascination over recent audiences. It is a powerful work of mounting intensity, insistent in its effect. His Second Symphony ‘Kopernikowska’ uses a solo baritone and chorus, combining texts from the Psalms and from Copernicus into a remarkable creation.