Staging Górecki’s Sorrowful Songs

Bachtrack

London, UK

Górecki’s music certainly makes an emotional impact. Lidiya Yankovskaya, who conducts the English National Opera performances, found that, even as a high school student, it had the power to transport the listener to a different place. “Even studying the score brought tears to my eyes because of the power that it taps into, these big sweeping lines and gestures.” 

All three movements are marked Lento, which brings its own challenges. “I think that pieces like this are the hardest and require the most from the conductor,” says Yankovskaya. “Short phrases are much easier and clearer to conduct; in pieces like this, large gestures across time are key. It’s all one big phrase really. It relies on the conductor to carry that phrasing. When you have that many major chords in a row, how each one is voiced becomes crucial.” 

Yankovskaya believes the symphony can translate to the stage. “What does opera do best? Big emotions and long emotional arcs, so to take a piece that is purely just that and to put it on a stage could be incredibly powerful. It’s appropriate at this time, with the refugee crisis and the invasion of Ukraine, when we see the rise of nationalism, that Górecki’s piece would come back and resonate with people as a reminder of some of the horrors we have experienced and – as humanity tends to do – have then forgotten.”