The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario
In Memoriam Henryk Gorecki
A new, evocative work commemorating the passing of an influential composer
The polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki died on Friday, November 12, 2010. I first became acquainted with his work as a teenager when a very cool friend of mine handed me a cassette tape. My friend said that this was all the rage in Britain, even making it onto the billboard charts. I looked at the case titled Symphony No.3 with a composer's name that didn't match my friend's pronunciation. This now-famous recording unveiled a well-established European composer to millions of music fans in Britain and North America. Gorecki is now widely recognized as a composer of great significance for our age. His musical style shrugged off the overbearing trends of avant-garde music in the 1960's, creating a new sound often called sacred minimalism. Typical is his use of simple melodic fragments that repeat and build at a very gradual pace, with great emotional directness. The new work, In Memoriam Henryk Gorecki, is my tribute to this composer who has had an enormous influence on me and the world of classical music.
| Duration: | 7:00 min |
|---|---|
| Instrumentation: | String Orchestra |
| Composition Date: | November 20, 2010 |
Download the score
Listen to the live performance
Listen to the revised MIDI version