Henryk Mikołaj Górecki - Symphony No. III "of Sorrowful Songs" op. 36 for solo soprano and orchestra (soloists - the countertenor Michał Sławecki, the sopranos Edyta Krzemień and Anna Federowicz).

Premiere album, released on the 21^st of November 2025

Completely impressive is the new version of Symphony No. III "of Sorrowful Songs" by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, released on disc on the 21^st of November 2025 by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Urbański. We have the privilege to offer you this work of great dramatism - I remind you, the lyrics are inspired in the first part by a 15th century lament dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in the second part by a message written in 1944 on the walls of a Gestapo cell in Zakopane: "Oh mother do not weep, Most Pure Queen of Heaven, I beg you, keep me in Your care. Hail Mary, full of grace". For the finale, Górecki chose a folk song having as theme the image of a mother searching for her son killed by the Germans in the Silesian Uprisings of the years 1919 - 1921. This is the framework from which the Polish creator was building this orchestral study on the theme of suffering, renouncing the serial language, simplifying, searching for the essence and the most explicit form of expressing moments of evident dramatism, with a profound impact born from repetitive formulas and from what we call today a form of sacred minimalism.

Krzysztof Urbański, musical and artistic director of the Philharmonic in Warsaw proposes a completely inedit version of this Symphony "of Sorrowful Songs" by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, distributing one singer for each of the 3 parts of the opus - artists searched over the course of two years. I name here the countertenor Michał Sławecki, the sopranos Edyta Krzemień and Anna Federowicz, in a timbral play with a profound impact, different voices and yet finding a common denominator.

In the first part we are introduced into the specific atmosphere through the increase and then decrease in intensity of the discourse in a distinct dramatic color, strongly sustained from within on a single breath, until the moment when the voice of the countertenor Michał Sławecki makes its appearance, perfectly integrated into the sonority of the orchestra, clear, penetrating in the culminating moments, awakening emotion and astonishment. The color becomes somber in the second part, the sounds succeed one another in a rarefied cadence, the voice without vibrato of the soprano Edyta Krzemień utters the words of the prayer contemplating the sonic space like an arch that opens toward the most intimate inner forum, keeping toward the end a wave of hope, through the luminous modulations of the music.

The finale is reserved for the soprano Anna Federowicz, who radiates dramatism and inner strength through the breadth of her voice, against the background of this stirring music through the message it transmits. It is a moment of detachment from anything that may mean frivolity, a settling into a register of suffering transfigured through music, in a completely special sonic vestment. The orchestra captures reverberations similar to the great orgies; the sound is deeply vibrant in its complexity, achieving a rarely encountered emotional impact, which can change your perspective or priorities. All our admiration for the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the conductor Krzysztof Urbański and the three soloists - the countertenor Michał Sławecki, the sopranos Edyta Krzemień and Anna Federowicz!