National Orchestra of Belgium (ONB) and the choir of Narodowe Forum Muzyki Wrocław (NFM) perform the music of Łukaszewski, Górecki, Lutosławski and Rachmaninov at the Klarafestival 2020, on 20 March 2020 at 8 p.m. at BOZAR.

To commemorate the centenary of Saint John Paul II, the two major works of contemporary Polish sacred music, Ego sum pastor bonus by Paweł Łukaszewski and Totus tuus by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki will be performed a capella by the NFM Choir conducted by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny.

Paweł Łukaszewski has composed the choral piece Ego sum pastor bonus (I am a good shepherd) in honour of the canonization of John Paul II in 2014. Thirty years earlier, in the summer of 1987, Henryk Górecki composed the choral piece Totus Tuus on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s third visit to Poland. After a serial period in the 50s and 60s, Górecki turned to a religious, minimalist and less complex music. Totus Tuus (All Yours), based on a poem by Maria Bugosławska addressed to the Virgin Mary, is Górecki’s most famous composition for a capella choir.

After being accused of “formalism”, Witold Lutosławski made a 180-degree turn and became aware of the value of popular music. His Concerto for Orchestra in three movements is influenced by the music of Kurpie (an ethnic region of Poland). This composition made Witold Lutosławski internationally famous.

The Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov received a letter containing a Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Bells – with the suggestion to adapt this poem into music. Rachmaninoff was looking for texts, so he gladly accepted. Edgar Allan Poe’s four-part poem can be read as a metaphor for life: different types of bells successively accompany births, marriages, disasters and deaths.

Program:

               Paweł Łukaszewski, Ego sum pastor bonus (2014)

               Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Totus tuus, op. 60 (1987)

               Witold Lutosławski, Concerto for Orchestra (1954)

               Sergei Rachmaninov, The Bells, op. 35(1913)

National Orchestra of Belgium, Stanislav Kochanovsky – conductor

Choir of Narodowe Forum Muzyki Wrocław, Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny – direction

More information at: https://klarafestival.be/fr/programme/bells-of-inferno