Henryk Gorecki - Miserere

The last few weeks have shown us life in all its misery. Haiti is but one example. It's enough to cause us to drop to our knees and implore the heavens...

Or just play this 32 minutes of humans' deeply moving plea of just five words.

Gramophone:

Whether or not the obvious clicking we hear throughout the first six minutes of Miserere is the sound of a censer bathing the basses in incense as they embark on their mammoth (32-minute) journey through the five words of text on which the entire work is based, it seems entirely appropriate that it should seem so; for this is an intensely spiritual, imploringly prayerful work in which Gorecki responds with heartfelt passion to the political events of 1981 (a sit-in by members of Rural Solidarity, the violent breakup of which and General Jaruzelsk's subsequent declaration of "a state of war" ultimately led to the democratization of Poland). This is as intellectually demanding and emotionally compelling as anything by Goreckl yet released on disc. Lovers of the Third Symphony will fall under its spell straight away, but it should gain respect from those less easily swayed by the opulent orchestral textures of that work, for here Gorecki is using what is probably his favourite medium, the unaccompanied choir. The voices enter in a series of layered thirds until, at 2600", all ten parts commence an electrifying ascent through the word "Domine" to the work's climax which, with the first statement of "Miserere", suddenly bathes us in a quiet chord of A minor—a moment as devastatingly effective as an orchestra full of banging drums and crashing cymbals.

John Nelson directs a hypnotic performance which wants for nothing in its impact, his choral forces both emotionally committed and technically excellent.

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