cool music on the radio pt. 1

I usually try to listen to KUHF during the day at work. Some days I get to listen more than others. Today was particularly busy so I only could catch a few minutes here and there. I was pleasantly surprised then to hear Henryk Gorecki's "Amen" (Opus #35) being played this afternoon.

It's fairly unusual for KUHF to play any of Gorecki's music. I thought it was especially unusual that they would play this short, but very intense, a cappella work with just a single word of text.

Gorecki has always been one of my favorite composers since the first time I heard his Symphony #3. He has been getting more publicity recently since the death of Pope John Paul II. The two men were close friends and Karol Wojtyla actually commissioned Gorecki's "Beatus Vir" prior to his election as Pope.

The best introductions into Gorecki's music are the Symphony #3 and the Miserere cd which includes the piece "Amen".

For a different aspect of Gorecki's style a good recommendation is the String Quartets cd by the Kronos Quartet.