Górecki: Complete Works for String Quartet (2CD)

The Gramophone Award-winning Silesian Quartet presents a double album of the complete works for string quartet by his compatriot Henryk Gorecki. All three of his numbered string quartets were written late in his life - the first in 1988 - and all three were commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. The first quartet is a one-movement work based on a 16th-century song by Waclaw of Szamotuly. The second, twice as long as the first, is subtitled "quasi una fantasia" and follows a classical four-movement form that subtly references Beethoven. Gorecki completed the third quartet (twice as long as the second!) after the "Symphony of Lamentations" had helped his music gain much greater recognition. It consists of five movements and is considered by many to be one of his greatest compositions. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gorecki composed several collections of choral songs. "Five Kurpische Lieder" are based on folk songs from Kurpie, a region northwest of Warsaw. The composer himself suggested that these works would be effective if performed by a string quartet, and here the Silesian Quartet presents us with the world premiere of this version.