Recitatives and Ariosos 'Lerchenmusik' op. 53
for Clarinet, Cello and Piano
Recitatives and Ariosos ''Lerchenmusik'' was written in response to a commission from the Danish composer, Poul Rowsing Olsen's widow. Olsen's compositions had been performed during the contemporary music festival in Warsaw. Górecki had not written chamber music for over ten years (Little Music 4 in 1970) when he took it up again in that piece. The trio consisting of three movements in fairly slow tempo was planned in such a way as to bring into prominence one instrument in each of the movements (I cello, II clarinet, III piano); with regard to the material content the movements are ''webs'' woven out of individual and shared motivic cells. The composer drew on the folk tradition deriving the very motive of the work's ''motto'' (on the notes c-e-f sharp) from folk music. Besides, the movement of the instruments (clarinet and cello) in parallel minor and major thirds as in the highland folk ensembles as well as the introduction of mild bitonal references and the intensification of motives in the high register of the instrument are typical of folk music. Also the quote from Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, which in its original form appears underneath the coda, gives the work its characteristic mark . That final section of the third movement has an exceptional importance, because it forms a synthesis of the motives of all the movements combined, as the composer said himself, with the ''Lark'' material. This mysterious term conceals two new ideas with a symbolic meaning, as they are a kind of cipher, in which one can find the letters of the name of the person who had commissioned the work. The whole composition forms a compact, albeit extended whole, which confirmed Górecki's mastery and contributed to his international fame.
[Based on A. Thomas, Górecki, Kraków 1998, PWM]
- Language of edition: eng, pol
- Number of pages: 62+12+10
- Cover: softcover
- Type: score and parts
- Size: A4 vertical (210x297 mm)
