Ustad Rashid Khan sings "Tore bina mohe chaaiN nahiiN", in Raga Kirawni.

Perhaps it is the winter darkness that falls so early at these meridians that makes me turn to music in lento and largo. And Henryk Gorecki's "Symphony No. 3" is fast becoming music I have been listening to over and over again these past few weeks. This is the first movement, "Lento - Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile" - all 30 minutes of it. So take some time, and give it a listen.

Last night I had schlepped up to St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Ave (and 50th St; one of New York's lovely spaces that deserves a visit if you find yourself in the area shopping etc) to get me some live music. Apparently, yesterday was the Polish Independence Day, and so the bill of fare was entirely Polish composers' vocal and orchestral music.

One of the discoveries from last night was this music by composer Wojciech Kilar, composed for a movie "The Ninth Gate". Kilar, as I learned, is also the composer of the scores for Coppola's "Dracula", and "The Portrait of a Lady" (Youtube links), apart from being a composer of religious choral music ("Angelus" was performed last night). And oh, even though, I was sitting in a awkward location, away from the central nave, the Academic Choir of Adam Mickiewicz University who did most of the singing also looked delish. Yes, we are shallow that way.

Also speaking of modern Polish composers, Henryk Górecki is another composer whose acquaintance is worth making. His Symphony No.3 "Sorrowful Songs" (listen to the second movement) ranks in the same sparse class as Avro Pärt's Fratres.