Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

's Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 40, sometimes also entitled Concerto for Harpsichord (or Piano) and String Orchestra, is a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

written for the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

by the Polish composer in 1980.

Background

The piece was commissioned in 1980 by Andrzej Chłopecki, head of the Polish Radio Music Station, as part of the Composers Forum, a radio series featuring contemporary Polish composers, during a period when Górecki was exploring pure instrumental music after dedicating over a decade to vocal and choral works. The concerto was written for Elżbieta Chojnacka, an outstanding harpsichordist who was an expert in contemporary music for the harpsichord. The premiere performance of the concerto took place in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

on March 2, 1980, with Chojnacka on the harpsichord and the Polish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra with conductor Stanisław Wisłocki accompanying her. The work is dedicated to Chojnacka. The piano version premiered ten years later on April 22, 1990, during the Poznań Music Spring with Jarosław Siwiński as the pianist and the Poznań Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marcin Sompoliński. It was initially published in 1982 by PWM Edition and republished in 1997 by Chester Music.

Structure

This concerto is divided into two movements and has a total duration of 9 minutes. The piece is scored for a

solo ( amplified electrically) and an orchestra consisting of 6 first

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s, 6 second violins, 4

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

s, 4

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

s, and 2

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

es. Additionally, Górecki wrote a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

version of the concerto, which is scored for 16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos, and 8 double basses. Both the harpsichord and the piano version of the concerto are still popular today, with the original harpsichord version being the most sought after. The movement list is as follows: The first movement creates a spinning, organ-like sound with clashes between the harpsichord and strings, producing a powerful, demonic, and foreboding wall of sound. The movement ends with open chords. The second movement begins with a more open tonality, but harsh dissonances soon cover the ensemble. The energetic nature of this movement creates a buoyancy, and the concerto's reductionist style, with its consistent textures, ostinatos, harmonic movement, and persistent motor rhythms, is evident. The subtlety shifting rhythms add to the concerto's intensity, and within 9 minutes Górecki creates a powerful explosion in his musical output. The harpsichord's vigorous timbre is complemented by the chordal texture of the strings, and Górecki's use of dissonance adds color to the subtle changes in repetitive rhythmic structures. The highlander music of the southern Podhale region sets the mood for both movements. Although the Concerto incorporates certain aspects of Polish highlanders' music, it is also a part of Górecki's "reductionist" music sequence, which began with Refrain (1965) and is characterized by a desire for economy of scoring and structure. The Harpsichord Concerto is unique among Górecki's works, as it stands out from his other compositions with its driving motor rhythms and vigorously dynamic playing from the soloist. It comes after the Symphony No. 3 (1976) and

Beatus Vir ''Beatus vir'' (; "Blessed is the man...") are the first words in the Latin Vulgate Bible of both Psalm 1 and Psalm 112 (in the general modern numbering; it is Psalm 111 in the Greek Septuagint and the Vulgate). In each case, the words are used ...

(1979), both of which are lengthy compositions with a contemplative, sacred tone. Following the concerto is Blessed Raspberry Songs, a piece inspired by Norwid (1980), and Miserere (1981), a grand composition for a large mixed choir a cappella. These surrounding works have a sacred vein running through them and are contemplative in mood, while the Harpsichord Concerto is quite the opposite.

Reception

Critics at the time were not quite sure what to make of the concerto, and Górecki himself described it as a "prank" – a work that is not too serious and has fun while also displaying some of his personality onto the score. Musicologist Teresa Malecka described the piece as "short, neat, instrumentally impressive. One feels tempted to say that this is a piece of light music, pleasant to listen to and, to my mind, satisfying to play. Given Górecki’s music of recent years, this work makes one surprised and shy. After his Symphonies No. 2 and 3, after ‘Beatus Vir,’ those greatest and most significant works of Polish music, here comes this striking trinket." Along the same lines, Małgorzata Gąsiorowska stated that: "Totally enamoured as I am with Górecki's ' Symphony No. 3', I cannot help sharing a concern that has nagged me during all performances of his 'Concerto': what does this music bring?."

References

{{Henryk Górecki Compositions by Henryk Górecki Gorecki 1980 compositions Piano concertos