Description
Label Review.
The performance took place at The National Opera Grand Theatre in Warsaw on November 29th 2014. Also available on vinyl.
Our Overview.
Beth Gibbons is best known for her work with the band Portishead, who burst onto the scene in 1994 with their debut album 'Dummy'. It was a slow burner, the ball started rolling after their appearance on 'Later With Jools Holland' and once the single "Glory Box" hit the top 20 in January 1995, they were off and second Top 20 hit "Sour Times" helped keep the album throughout 1995 and into '96 as well. Not only was their their credibility sky high, they also found themselves lumped in with the Bristol scene (including Massive Attack, Tricky, and Smith & Mighty) on top of leading a new genre: "Trip-Hop", which no doubt everyone associated with the term hated! Portishead's mixture of scratchy beats, 60s soundtracky sounds and moody atmospherics was topped off with Beth's alluring vocal sound which saw commentators offer similarities to Billie Holiday.
Second album 'Portishead' followed in 1997 which brought more acclaim but more modest sales and a live album/film recorded with an orchestra appeared the following year. A few years of silence was punctuated with her collaboration with ex-Talk Talk bass player Paul Webb (under the pseudonym Rustin Man): 'Out Of Season' in 2002. A third Portishead album finally arrived in 2008. Apart from occasional guesting on other peoples records, Gibbons keeps an elusive profile and this new album is the first under her deal with Domino Records. She announced a solo album back in 2013 and nothing has appeared until now.
Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No.3 (Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs) was performed by Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki. The performance took place at The National Opera Grand Theatre in Warsaw on November 29th 2014, following an invitation to collaborate at the concert for which elusive yet iconic front woman Beth Gibbons undertook an intense preparation process, including tackling the challenge of learning the original text (and the emotional weight it carries) without speaking the mother language. As captured on this recording, Beth Gibbons’ performance alongside the maestro Penderecki is nothing short of triumphant.