sorrow shared is sorrow made bearable …

… Ian Marcus Corbin discusses Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

“ … Górecki offers graceful, meandering exploration that, if one is patient, offers the humbler salve of continuity. This sort of grief, Mr. Górecki seems to sense, must be lived through, not rushed past. What consolation does come comes by way of passing time, and … through prayer. The final stanzas, subtly switched to a major key, read: “Oh, sing for him God’s little song-birds, since his mother cannot find him. And you, God’s little flowers, may you blossom all around so that my son may sleep happily.” There is comfort here, to be sure, but no blissful end to suffering and death. Life simply sustains its steady flow; it moves past, but never fully escapes, the sharp rocks that tear and trouble the surface of human experience.”