Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" [Live]

Gibbons' voice complements the music perfectly.

Agora is both a return to form and a leap into the abyss.

While unconventional, the pairing is astute. [May 2019, p.55]

There is still something magnificent about what Gibbons, Penderecki, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra have accomplished here: They have managed to make the “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” feel dark, even dangerous.

As different as it is from anything else in her body of work, Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" is an affecting example of Gibbons' willingness to take her music in unexpected--but ultimately winning--directions.

Gibbons rises to the occasion. [May 2019, p.89]

It's a thing of grief-blasted beauty, and Gibbons brings tender pain to these words of lost children and mothers, her voice rising and falling impressively to the the occasion. [May 2019, p.112]

She brings Gorecki's great classical prayer to life beautifully, an expression of empathy that feels deep and profound. [May 2019, p.25]

Gibbons is less effective when trying to imitate those operatic tropes: her vibrato sounds uncomfortable and uncontrolled, particularly on the first movement, and it doesn’t help that she is a contralto trying to sing in a soprano range. But her artless, almost conversational approach brings indefinably human characteristics to the work. Her range is particularly suited to the lower setting of the second movement.

If you need an entry point into an incredibly potent piece, Gibbons and company offer a take on Symphony of Sorrowful Songs that lingers.

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is vital listening. The collaboration between Gibbons, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Maestro Penderecki endows the human spirit with palpability while manifesting sorrow's pervasiveness.