Search - Henryk Gorecki, Silesian String Quartet, Piotr Janosik :: Gorecki Sonata for 2 Violins

A dark place...

Jonathan J. Casey | the twin cities | 11/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this CD for the sonata for 2 violins and it is well worth it. As far as I can tell there aren't any other (or not many) recordings of this early work of Gorecki's. I only discovered it myself after hearing it performed live. Suffice to say it was striking enough that I had to run out and get it. I wasn't disappointed on hearing it again. This recording was made in a church and while it is natural, the reverb is a little more than I'd like to hear, but the performance is excellent nonetheless. The music fits somewhere between Stravinsky's "Three Pieces" for string quartet and something even more frightening, like Penderecki. The first movement has a fast-slow-fast pattern and there are fascinating and odd techniques used throughout, including a mute on one of the violins in the third movement. I highly recommend getting ahold of this work. "Genesis" is a part of a cycle from the 60's, sounding very much like a slow building fire alarm (perhaps an unconscious inspiration for Brian Wilson's "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" from the unfinished Beach Boys album "Smile"). The string quartets are more recent compositions and not as obscure. I admit I haven't heard the Kronos Quartet recording (which is wonderful, I'm sure) but the Silesian Quartet does a fine job with them. This CD was made "under the supervision of the composer" (whatever that means) and the playing is great, full of the attack and energy required for this type of music and with precision throughout."