Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki acquired international recognition in the early 1990?s through a recording of his 3rd Symphony, which skyrocketed up the British classic charts 16 years after it was written. In just two years, over 700,000 albums were sold, a total curiosity for a release by a relatively unknown contemporary composer. Górecki?s early work is marked by serialism in the Webern tradition and influenced by Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Touted as a spearhead of the Polish avant-garde during the cultural thaw, he turned in the 1970?s to a spiritually inspired, minimalistic style. Since then, Górecki is primarily known as a composer of religiously motivated works.
Born on December 6, 1935