I truly cannot grasp why this is not more appreciated. I have listened countless times, and have recommended it to all of my friends. I cannot guarantee any of them bought a copy, but I can assure you that I did.
Wow, I am speechless. That was incredible. I am a HUGE fan of the original and this re-imagining is fantastic. It's like a post-rock symphony on epic proportions!!!
Was not expecting something like this at all, but again Stetson delivers. Gorecki's 3rd symphony is one of my favorite modern symphonies. I was pleasantly surprised with this rendition. Excellent stuff. Well done.
I was a little wary at first, as Gorecki's symphony is such a staggeringly beautiful and dark piece. However, this is indeed a 'reimagining' of that great work and brings with it a very different intensity and quality. Nothing is lost from the original, but a great deal is explored and developed by Stetson. The piece has a darker, harsher and dissonant edge which exposes within the symphony something of the violence of the Holocaust. There were moments that reminded me therefore of the eerie dissonance of Penderecki's 'Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima'.
Wonderful! Thank you...I found you and your full recording here (muted right now to return to) as I listen to the BBC Radio 3 broadcast of the piece on 'Hear and Now' that was recorded at The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. It is breathtaking :)
I would call it a reduction, rather than a re-imagining. Think 19th century arrangements for whatever instrumental forces are available. Liszt's solo piano versions of the Beethoven symphonies, or operas performed with a small chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra, as was common. Interesting listening, which I hope will bring people to Gorecki's 3rd in it's full orchestral glory.
Today, I was introduced to Gorwcki's piece, followed by this version.....I loved them both....reading the comments here made me really sad....YES I prefer the original, the classical, the full assemble....yes, am an amateur, music was big part of my life.....like said in some comments, art IS subjective to each and everyone ...it may not be technical enough for some, it may evoke lots of emotions for others.....yes, the world is not perfect....yes, some may take ideas from others and make it to represent the culture and time that is current...not all will appreciate it ...but no one should be judge, or question, or put down for their interpretation, understanding of art....time evolve....what was great at one point could still be great with evolution....as human being, we have no choice to adapt, to open our minds to things we are unfamiliar with, things that is not what some say is great art....art, no mather the form; wether it is original or borrow or experimented with, should we say, what is interpreted, what we hear will be different for all...I enjoy both version!
Jack, I simply cannot stay out of this one, in spite of it being quite a distraction. But rather than get into a flame war, let me just point you down another train of thought. Here is a brief history of theft and the brutal desecration of original works: Pretty much every performance of music is a rendition. Conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony is noted for his "interpretations" of Gustav Mahler. Vincent C. K. Cheung in "Bach the Transcriber (2000) notes Bach's use of other's works: "The most noticeable characteristics of Bach’s organ concertos after Vivaldi is probably the arranger’s faithful adherence to the original compositions: Bach does not change the basic structure of any of the movements at all." George Santa wrote "Love of my Life" from Brahm's Symphony number 3. Santana also plays a rendition of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez , and so does Miles Davis in his Sketches of Spain album. Famous painters copied themes from earlier works as well, such as Paul Gaugin’s Spirit of the Dead Walking, inspired by Édouard Manet’s Olympia. Ans so it goes. e
But he's not criticizing the act of rearranging, but the rearranging itself. And I agree that this rendition is corny. The drums are totally out of place and the electric guitar sounds cold and lonely compared to the wash of strings in the original. Another post-rock attempt to sound classical.
Mijn voorkeur gaat uit naar wat ik als het origineel beschouw (met Dawn Upshaw als sopraan), omdat ik die ooit als eerste hoorde en naar ik vermoed niet zo ver afwijkt van de bedoelingen van de componist als deze versie. Het origineel is zwaar maar draaglijk, maar deze is meer zwaar dan draaglijk. Neemt niet weg dat iedere artiest het recht heeft zijn eigen versie te creëeren en deze publiekelijk te maken waarmee hij/zij zich kwestbaar maakt voor kritiek. Onnodig daar dus veel van te leveren. Skip dan door naar iets anders in plaats van je te ergeren.
orfeocookie Surely an arrangement for non-conventional instruments such as bass sax and strings etc is a reimagining, as I'm sure Gorecki never imagined his work to be arranged as such?
That's a terrible argument. All that you're saying is that if you manage to come up with a combination of instruments that a composer would have found too inappropriate to contemplate, you get to use a magic word for it. If the musical and harmonic structure is unchanged, it's an arrangement.
in the mainstream world, we are forced to listen to popular music within the bars of a drumset grid everyday, everywhere we go. now to force that on to the music of someone who has no part in this, who even banned popular music from being played in his house, who was a very private and humble person, is absolutely abominable.
for me Górecki's piece represents something personal and pure completely seperate and outside of mainstream media and anglophone mindsets. it belongs to Górecki. to change the instrumentation, and then even worse, add a drumset, and make it obey popular music conventions, is not only offensive but kills the soul of the music. we are in a world where hardly anyone can sit still to listen to "music" without a drumset busying itself at all times. If you really respected and appreciated the music you would leave it as it is. one thing's for sure, the composer never authorized this. it may have been authorized by someone, some publisher, even the family, it may be 'legal', but the composer himself never gave his approval. that will never change. so these americans change the instrumentation, add a drumset, and then are bringing it back to the composer's hometown in Poland (now that he's passed away) in complete sincere, honesty, and pretend to be doing him some honor. sorry guys, but no matter how honest you may think or feel you are, you are doing disrespect.
@Jack W - Maybe you could provide links to the original work and help expand people's artistic understanding? Just an idea. And maybe... since it's sort of hard for novices to get into understanding good classical orchestral art, you could even recommend a few of your favorite recordings by different orchestras? You could also continue to be an unapproachable elitist prick too, your call bro.
It's all fine if not sold on profit. Popularizing a piece like this may also be educational for one to interest himself in classical music and go further to explore, why not.
There are like 8 of these self-appointed cultural-guardian posts you've made. Did you manage to actually get out of the house finally in the end? You are no auteur you just come across as the most butt-clenchingly insufferable of hipsters. It either works for you or it doesn't, but spare us the pop-Spenglerian denouncements of civilisational decline...
So you took your time out of your day, as did I, eight weeks ago after I stopped caring about this post to literally write this Zizekian drivel about how "hipsters" are becoming a part of the decline of civilization? Come on dude, don't be pathetic.
Górecki's piece has already been misused and abused ad nauseum as much as it is in mainstream movies/media. now to take it and change the instruments and add a drumset, and then play it in the composer's hometown (now that he's passed away) is to nail the final nail in the coffin on something that was imagined and brought to life out of a very rare place of spiritual and emotional depth. it's almost as if the person where one of the texts is from in the piece has been re-imprisoned. or actually the music still lives (in its original form), it's just that it now makes it even more difficult for someone in the general public to actually engage spiritually and emotionally with the true meaning of the music.
There is no such thing as 'true meaning' in art. The meaning of a work of art exists at the point where its audience and the work meet. This shifts over time and the 'original' meaning shifts with the perception of it. There is nothing you or anyone can do about it, because the objective value of art is not found in its immutability, but to be flexible enough to transcend culture and time. All you are really saying is that you don't like it much, but to accuse Stetson fans and those that like this interpretation of some kind of sacrilegious indulgence, is a very long-winded and disingenuous way of going about it. I think you're just worried that everyone might start liking the original in a way that makes you look like you have populist taste.
this only means once again that something born out of obscurity, returns to obscurity. because this music was made popular through cd sales and 'charts' - something it has nothing to do with - so it now goes its seperate way, misunderstood and commodicized. now the general public listening to this abuse is no longer engaging with the actual work, but a mis-appropriation. something not surprising in our world and time.
+Jack W Damn, what a loser you are. YOU don't get it, so it's the world's fault. Not only that, but you sully this music with not one comment, not even two, but you spew your poison for no less than 8 posts over two days. We get it, you don't like it. I'd say - you just don't get it. Fair enough. But please spare us your droning nonsense and self-aggrandizement - your agenda is transparent. We're not interested in lectures from frustrated critics. We listen with out ears, feel with our hearts. We don't need your own self-important tripe. Here's hoping that one day, one day soon, you find a life. Sheesh,
i do get exactly what's going on here. i'm just standing up for Gorecki's work. one simple fact is this is not Colin's music. to cast someone else's work in your own image to serve your own interests is simply dishonest, dishonorable appropriation. that's all there is to it. if this wasn't Gorecki's music I would care less. when you have something you believe in and you feel like someone abuses it, it's extremely normal to speak up about it.
+Jack W What in the world are you talking about? Are you new to music or what? Gorecki WROTE the music - he didn't play it. It was and is INTERPRETED by conductors and orchestra's. This is how ALL classical music is interpreted and played. Why is this new to you? Why are you pretending it's dishonest, when in fact ALL classical music gets the same treatment? Do you not listen to much classical music? The truth is you're holding on to a ridiculous idea that has absolutely no grounding in reality. What you ought to be doing is admitting that you're wrong, and frankly don't seem to know much - if anything - about classical works and how they are treated/reworked/interpreted over time. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. It's not "appropriation". Is that a word you just learned in a political class somewhere? Please tell me where I can get a copy of Gorecki playing his original work, I'd love to hear it. No. Gorecki wrote the music, and over the next hundreds of years, people will interpret it as they see fit. Some will work, some won't. But that's highly subjective, something I like you won't, something you like I won't. It's all good, and it's all what keeps music, and compositions, alive and breathing. There isn't one way to hear this music. You clearly have no idea what's going on here. Stetson is an experimental sax player. More than that, he's a brave one. Not content to play in a more traditional setting, he's trying to expand the repertoire for his instrument. I happen to think he's amazing, but regardless - at least he's trying something new and not sitting back playing the old classics in Jazz and the like. You on the other hand went on a psychotic rant about this recording. You posted ignorant rants no less than 8 times, not content to simply have your say and leave it there. With every post you dig the hole you're sitting in deeper and deeper. The fact that this recording is way over your head is evident in what you've written, not because of anything I say. Try opening your mind to other possibilities, you might stumble upon something exciting.
Gorecki wrote exactly how the music was to be played, orchestration and all. In my opinion, the changes Stetson made are more than an interpretation but a distorting of Gorecki's music and emotion. that's where the problem is.
+Jack W I really don't know what to say. You have a really odd way of looking at music, especially classical works. It is perfectly normal, and to be expected, that people will INTERPRET a piece of music. That is what gives music its vitality, its excitement. There is absolutely nothing strange about what Stetson has done. There have been many interpretations of this work - some I like, some not. Again, this is perfectly normal. You seem to think the composers written score is the be-all and end-all. You assume Gorecki wrote precise, and exact instructions about instrumentation and technique. Yet you've never read the score. If I'm being generous I'll say that you come across as someone who listens to pop/rock music, and have fallen into the trap of thinking all music is the same. It's not. Take the works of John Cage as an example, where room was desperately included to allow musicians to determine their own paths through the work. In the case of this piece, there simply isn't only one way of playing it. To suggest there is, frankly, is absurd. I can only guess that Gorecki would be more than happy with people interpreting his work, as all classical works are interpreted. To assume otherwise would be to suggest he's unlike most other composers. This recording is creative work, based on Gorecki's 3rd Symphony. The cover art for the CD says: "Sorrow - a RE IMAGINING of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony". I mean, it's right on the cover! Yet you throqw around rants left and right ignoring all that, as though it's somehow insulting. In fact, it's the complete opposite of insulting - it's a complement that Stetson was so moved by the music he decided to spend time working with it. That your ears aren't sufficiently open to hear it is disappointing, because there's a lot of good here. But when you suggest is "appropriation", you're stepped into the realms of stark raving lunacy. Dislike it by all means, goodness knows there's plenty I don't like, but ease off the nuttiness.
cymbal rolls are superfluous and poorly chosen. orchestration lacks the grit and ferocity of the original. typical american/anglophone arrogance. why didn't colin just write his own piece? in my opinion stetson doesn't get the music. he waits til the composer dies and then ruins the music. the drums at the climax don't add anything, they detract. we are no longer overwhelmed by all the simultaneous lines in canon but just banging. write your own music.
He does write his own music, all the time. You are baffling. Colin Stetson is an artist who challenges the mainstream often, often making deeply uncommercial and personal music., and with great passion and originality. You need to educate yourself before making assumptions.
![Gunna - HIM ALL ALONG [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HiCxoDeo0hc/mqdefault.jpg)
I truly cannot grasp why this is not more appreciated. I have listened countless times, and have recommended it to all of my friends. I cannot guarantee any of them bought a copy, but I can assure you that I did.
I am speechless. Literally speechless. Thank you for this beautiful piece of music.
This is powerful. Some can't fathom, some can't take the steps across the valley.
I am glad to hear this is covered, no matter what they teach you in art school.
Really climatic instrumentation of Górecki - one of my faworite polish composer. Best regards from Poland
+Bartmuz virtual band
I just could undersign the above statement. Cheers from Warsaw
I've heard the orchestral version of Goreckis 3rd symphony and this is an amazing re-imagining of that symphony.
Wow, I am speechless. That was incredible. I am a HUGE fan of the original and this re-imagining is fantastic. It's like a post-rock symphony on epic proportions!!!
I saw this last night in NY. Amazing.
Was not expecting something like this at all, but again Stetson delivers. Gorecki's 3rd symphony is one of my favorite modern symphonies. I was pleasantly surprised with this rendition. Excellent stuff. Well done.
I was a little wary at first, as Gorecki's symphony is such a staggeringly beautiful and dark piece. However, this is indeed a 'reimagining' of that great work and brings with it a very different intensity and quality. Nothing is lost from the original, but a great deal is explored and developed by Stetson. The piece has a darker, harsher and dissonant edge which exposes within the symphony something of the violence of the Holocaust. There were moments that reminded me therefore of the eerie dissonance of Penderecki's 'Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima'.
Wonderful! Thank you...I found you and your full recording here (muted right now to return to) as I listen to the BBC Radio 3 broadcast of the piece on 'Hear and Now' that was recorded at The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. It is breathtaking :)
I hate this comment section so much. As a person who loves Górecki’s 3rd symphony, I think this is beautiful.
Wonderful moment, thanks. That is living music
this is incredible. truly amazing interpretation
Love it
To jest piękne!
#2023
A year ago before the recording i found a live version but now i cannot find, is it deleted?
Beautiful
I would call it a reduction, rather than a re-imagining. Think 19th century arrangements for whatever instrumental forces are available. Liszt's solo piano versions of the Beethoven symphonies, or operas performed with a small chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra, as was common. Interesting listening, which I hope will bring people to Gorecki's 3rd in it's full orchestral glory.
Overbearing percussion, definitely would have benefited from less of that, my one major complaint. Well sung though.
outstanding
it aight
Am stunned.
Today, I was introduced to Gorwcki's piece, followed by this version.....I loved them both....reading the comments here made me really sad....YES I prefer the original, the classical, the full assemble....yes, am an amateur, music was big part of my life.....like said in some comments, art IS subjective to each and everyone ...it may not be technical enough for some, it may evoke lots of emotions for others.....yes, the world is not perfect....yes, some may take ideas from others and make it to represent the culture and time that is current...not all will appreciate it ...but no one should be judge, or question, or put down for their interpretation, understanding of art....time evolve....what was great at one point could still be great with evolution....as human being, we have no choice to adapt, to open our minds to things we are unfamiliar with, things that is not what some say is great art....art, no mather the form; wether it is original or borrow or experimented with, should we say, what is interpreted, what we hear will be different for all...I enjoy both version!
34:48 shivers!
28:25 This part should be longer.
Sehr gut
Jack, I simply cannot stay out of this one, in spite of it being quite a distraction.
But rather than get into a flame war, let me just point you down another train of thought.
Here is a brief history of theft and the brutal desecration of original works:
Pretty much every performance of music is a rendition. Conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony is noted for his "interpretations" of Gustav Mahler.
Vincent C. K. Cheung in "Bach the Transcriber (2000) notes Bach's use of other's works:
"The most noticeable characteristics of Bach’s organ concertos after Vivaldi is probably the arranger’s faithful adherence to the original compositions: Bach does not change the basic structure of any of the movements at all."
George Santa wrote "Love of my Life" from Brahm's Symphony number 3. Santana also plays a rendition of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez , and so does Miles Davis in his Sketches of Spain album.
Famous painters copied themes from earlier works as well, such as Paul Gaugin’s Spirit of the Dead Walking, inspired by Édouard Manet’s Olympia.
Ans so it goes. e
Eric Strayer it's appalling,why didn't he leave it in peace?
idk why does anyone do anything that you don't agree with? what assholes right?
But he's not criticizing the act of rearranging, but the rearranging itself. And I agree that this rendition is corny. The drums are totally out of place and the electric guitar sounds cold and lonely compared to the wash of strings in the original. Another post-rock attempt to sound classical.
Buy the original it can't be bettered.
Silence
Mijn voorkeur gaat uit naar wat ik als het origineel beschouw (met Dawn Upshaw als sopraan), omdat ik die ooit als eerste hoorde en naar ik vermoed niet zo ver afwijkt van de bedoelingen van de componist als deze versie. Het origineel is zwaar maar draaglijk, maar deze is meer zwaar dan draaglijk. Neemt niet weg dat iedere artiest het recht heeft zijn eigen versie te creëeren en deze publiekelijk te maken waarmee hij/zij zich kwestbaar maakt voor kritiek. Onnodig daar dus veel van te leveren. Skip dan door naar iets anders in plaats van je te ergeren.
Hey Colin, Google tells me your first link ("Direct") is "Unsafe" and warns of viruses or phishing.
Kind of like GYBE much?
Which, interestingly enough, is itself kind of like Gorecki.
Damn. So much pretentiousness in this comments section. What's the point?
It's a reasonable arrangement. But that's what it is: an arrangement, not a "reimagining".
orfeocookie Surely an arrangement for non-conventional instruments such as bass sax and strings etc is a reimagining, as I'm sure Gorecki never imagined his work to be arranged as such?
That's a terrible argument. All that you're saying is that if you manage to come up with a combination of instruments that a composer would have found too inappropriate to contemplate, you get to use a magic word for it.
If the musical and harmonic structure is unchanged, it's an arrangement.
in the mainstream world, we are forced to listen to popular music within the bars of a drumset grid everyday, everywhere we go. now to force that on to the music of someone who has no part in this, who even banned popular music from being played in his house, who was a very private and humble person, is absolutely abominable.
for me Górecki's piece represents something personal and pure completely seperate and outside of mainstream media and anglophone mindsets. it belongs to Górecki. to change the instrumentation, and then even worse, add a drumset, and make it obey popular music conventions, is not only offensive but kills the soul of the music. we are in a world where hardly anyone can sit still to listen to "music" without a drumset busying itself at all times. If you really respected and appreciated the music you would leave it as it is. one thing's for sure, the composer never authorized this. it may have been authorized by someone, some publisher, even the family, it may be 'legal', but the composer himself never gave his approval. that will never change. so these americans change the instrumentation, add a drumset, and then are bringing it back to the composer's hometown in Poland (now that he's passed away) in complete sincere, honesty, and pretend to be doing him some honor. sorry guys, but no matter how honest you may think or feel you are, you are doing disrespect.
@Jack W - Maybe you could provide links to the original work and help expand people's artistic understanding? Just an idea.
And maybe... since it's sort of hard for novices to get into understanding good classical orchestral art, you could even recommend a few of your favorite recordings by different orchestras?
You could also continue to be an unapproachable elitist prick too, your call bro.
Lol, chill nerd.
It's all fine if not sold on profit. Popularizing a piece like this may also be educational for one to interest himself in classical music and go further to explore, why not.
lol you obviously know nothing about what art means
opening is disgustingly plunky orchestrated like this
+Jack W Face it, the reason why you don't like it is because it doesn't sound familiar to you.
if I were there, I would physically come up on stage with an orchestra and disrupt the concert with the real music.
If I were there, I would smoke your shit conservative view on modern classical music out.
There are like 8 of these self-appointed cultural-guardian posts you've made. Did you manage to actually get out of the house finally in the end? You are no auteur you just come across as the most butt-clenchingly insufferable of hipsters. It either works for you or it doesn't, but spare us the pop-Spenglerian denouncements of civilisational decline...
So you took your time out of your day, as did I, eight weeks ago after I stopped caring about this post to literally write this Zizekian drivel about how "hipsters" are becoming a part of the decline of civilization? Come on dude, don't be pathetic.
And then you looked at the comments I made? Oh my god, that's even worse.
This is not "modern classical music". Not even Colin Stetson would define it that way. To me, this is pompous and pretentious amateurism.
Get a proper soprano singer next time, I might give it a chance.
Górecki's piece has already been misused and abused ad nauseum as much as it is in mainstream movies/media. now to take it and change the instruments and add a drumset, and then play it in the composer's hometown (now that he's passed away) is to nail the final nail in the coffin on something that was imagined and brought to life out of a very rare place of spiritual and emotional depth. it's almost as if the person where one of the texts is from in the piece has been re-imprisoned. or actually the music still lives (in its original form), it's just that it now makes it even more difficult for someone in the general public to actually engage spiritually and emotionally with the true meaning of the music.
There is no such thing as 'true meaning' in art. The meaning of a work of art exists at the point where its audience and the work meet. This shifts over time and the 'original' meaning shifts with the perception of it. There is nothing you or anyone can do about it, because the objective value of art is not found in its immutability, but to be flexible enough to transcend culture and time. All you are really saying is that you don't like it much, but to accuse Stetson fans and those that like this interpretation of some kind of sacrilegious indulgence, is a very long-winded and disingenuous way of going about it. I think you're just worried that everyone might start liking the original in a way that makes you look like you have populist taste.
Do you really think Górecki has his head so far up his own ass that he'd really be displeased to hear someone's interpretation of his own work?
this only means once again that something born out of obscurity, returns to obscurity. because this music was made popular through cd sales and 'charts' - something it has nothing to do with - so it now goes its seperate way, misunderstood and commodicized. now the general public listening to this abuse is no longer engaging with the actual work, but a mis-appropriation. something not surprising in our world and time.
+Jack W Damn, what a loser you are. YOU don't get it, so it's the world's fault. Not only that, but you sully this music with not one comment, not even two, but you spew your poison for no less than 8 posts over two days.
We get it, you don't like it. I'd say - you just don't get it. Fair enough. But please spare us your droning nonsense and self-aggrandizement - your agenda is transparent. We're not interested in lectures from frustrated critics. We listen with out ears, feel with our hearts. We don't need your own self-important tripe.
Here's hoping that one day, one day soon, you find a life. Sheesh,
i do get exactly what's going on here. i'm just standing up for Gorecki's work. one simple fact is this is not Colin's music. to cast someone else's work in your own image to serve your own interests is simply dishonest, dishonorable appropriation. that's all there is to it. if this wasn't Gorecki's music I would care less. when you have something you believe in and you feel like someone abuses it, it's extremely normal to speak up about it.
+Jack W What in the world are you talking about? Are you new to music or what?
Gorecki WROTE the music - he didn't play it. It was and is INTERPRETED by conductors and orchestra's. This is how ALL classical music is interpreted and played. Why is this new to you? Why are you pretending it's dishonest, when in fact ALL classical music gets the same treatment? Do you not listen to much classical music?
The truth is you're holding on to a ridiculous idea that has absolutely no grounding in reality. What you ought to be doing is admitting that you're wrong, and frankly don't seem to know much - if anything - about classical works and how they are treated/reworked/interpreted over time. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
It's not "appropriation". Is that a word you just learned in a political class somewhere? Please tell me where I can get a copy of Gorecki playing his original work, I'd love to hear it. No. Gorecki wrote the music, and over the next hundreds of years, people will interpret it as they see fit. Some will work, some won't. But that's highly subjective, something I like you won't, something you like I won't. It's all good, and it's all what keeps music, and compositions, alive and breathing. There isn't one way to hear this music.
You clearly have no idea what's going on here. Stetson is an experimental sax player. More than that, he's a brave one. Not content to play in a more traditional setting, he's trying to expand the repertoire for his instrument. I happen to think he's amazing, but regardless - at least he's trying something new and not sitting back playing the old classics in Jazz and the like.
You on the other hand went on a psychotic rant about this recording. You posted ignorant rants no less than 8 times, not content to simply have your say and leave it there. With every post you dig the hole you're sitting in deeper and deeper. The fact that this recording is way over your head is evident in what you've written, not because of anything I say. Try opening your mind to other possibilities, you might stumble upon something exciting.
Gorecki wrote exactly how the music was to be played, orchestration and all. In my opinion, the changes Stetson made are more than an interpretation but a distorting of Gorecki's music and emotion. that's where the problem is.
+Jack W I really don't know what to say. You have a really odd way of looking at music, especially classical works. It is perfectly normal, and to be expected, that people will INTERPRET a piece of music. That is what gives music its vitality, its excitement. There is absolutely nothing strange about what Stetson has done. There have been many interpretations of this work - some I like, some not. Again, this is perfectly normal.
You seem to think the composers written score is the be-all and end-all. You assume Gorecki wrote precise, and exact instructions about instrumentation and technique. Yet you've never read the score.
If I'm being generous I'll say that you come across as someone who listens to pop/rock music, and have fallen into the trap of thinking all music is the same. It's not. Take the works of John Cage as an example, where room was desperately included to allow musicians to determine their own paths through the work.
In the case of this piece, there simply isn't only one way of playing it. To suggest there is, frankly, is absurd. I can only guess that Gorecki would be more than happy with people interpreting his work, as all classical works are interpreted. To assume otherwise would be to suggest he's unlike most other composers.
This recording is creative work, based on Gorecki's 3rd Symphony. The cover art for the CD says: "Sorrow - a RE IMAGINING of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony". I mean, it's right on the cover! Yet you throqw around rants left and right ignoring all that, as though it's somehow insulting. In fact, it's the complete opposite of insulting - it's a complement that Stetson was so moved by the music he decided to spend time working with it. That your ears aren't sufficiently open to hear it is disappointing, because there's a lot of good here. But when you suggest is "appropriation", you're stepped into the realms of stark raving lunacy.
Dislike it by all means, goodness knows there's plenty I don't like, but ease off the nuttiness.
cymbal rolls are superfluous and poorly chosen. orchestration lacks the grit and ferocity of the original. typical american/anglophone arrogance. why didn't colin just write his own piece? in my opinion stetson doesn't get the music. he waits til the composer dies and then ruins the music. the drums at the climax don't add anything, they detract. we are no longer overwhelmed by all the simultaneous lines in canon but just banging. write your own music.
He does write his own music, all the time. You are baffling. Colin Stetson is an artist who challenges the mainstream often, often making deeply uncommercial and personal music., and with great passion and originality. You need to educate yourself before making assumptions.
If you want musicians to write their own music, you must really fucking hate jazz
Am stunned.
Not sure about the drums though.Think I'll stick to the original but am interested to delve further into Stetson.