Even in a story as sad a Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, we were able to find a touch of humor.
Here is the #1 Amazon review for the 1992 review of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with soprano Dawn Upshaw.
Top reviews from the United States
Maxwell Edison[1] 5.0 out of 5 stars You’ll need therapy afterward
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2009
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The problem I have with Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony, and particularly with this performance, is that after I listen to it nothing else I do seems to satisfy me. Listening to it is such a beautiful and transcendent experience that every moment of your life in which you are not listening to it will seem pointless and hollow. Your life will gradually become devoid of any meaning and you will either spend all of your money on expensive therapy or you will waste away in the darkness, unable to drag yourself away from the stereo on which the piece is playing over and over again.
Okay, so I’m exaggerating-but not as much as you might think.
[1] The Beatles’ song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” from their Abbey Road album (1969) features a character named Maxwell Edison. Maxwell Edison is portrayed as a charming but sinister individual who commits murders with a silver hammer. Despite its dark subject matter, the song has an upbeat, jaunty melody, creating a whimsical yet macabre contrast.
“Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical[2]science in the home Late nights all alone with a test tube, oh-oh-oh-oh…” (Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s silver hammer came down upon her head…)
[2] Pataphysics
Pataphysics (French: ‘pataphysique) is a sardonic “philosophy of science” invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the “science of imaginary solutions”
Pataphysics passes easily from one state of apparent definition to another. Thus it can present itself under the aspect of a gas, a liquid or a solid.
