Friday 12 November 2010

A Sorrowful Song

Henryk Gorecki died today. He was an interesting Polish composer who got less interesting the more popular he became. His huge hit was the Third Symphony, commemorating the Holocaust - it's appropriately mournful, but rather too gracefully easy on the ears for something so horrific.

I did like this quote about his teaching methods:
When they asked him what and how to write, he later recalled, his reply invariably was: "If you can live without music for two or three days, then don't write – it might be better to spend the time with a girl or with a beer."

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