Remembering Henryk Gorecki
Feb. 11th, 2011 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeJust discovered that one of my favorite composers, Henryk Gorecki, passed away back in November. Am rather disheartened that I did not find this out sooner, but here's a quote from him that I find particularly moving, on the creative process and ones audience:
I do not choose my listeners. What I mean is, I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a certain effort into it. But I never wrote for an audience and never will write for because you have to give the listener something and he has to make an effort in order to understand certain things.
His music, sometimes called "holy minimalism", has been a cause for inspiration and controversy. Inspiration for the children of the modern age like myself, who've embraced their time and place and live in it for the glory of God, and controversy for those who are stuck in the past. The past has its masterpieces, but some people tend to forget that the Palestrinas and Mozarts were once like Gorecki and John Tavener. Before something can be considered a classic, it first needed to be something new and innovative that had not seen the light of day before.
I do not choose my listeners. What I mean is, I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a certain effort into it. But I never wrote for an audience and never will write for because you have to give the listener something and he has to make an effort in order to understand certain things.
His music, sometimes called "holy minimalism", has been a cause for inspiration and controversy. Inspiration for the children of the modern age like myself, who've embraced their time and place and live in it for the glory of God, and controversy for those who are stuck in the past. The past has its masterpieces, but some people tend to forget that the Palestrinas and Mozarts were once like Gorecki and John Tavener. Before something can be considered a classic, it first needed to be something new and innovative that had not seen the light of day before.