Henryk Górecki and Arvo Pärt are the featured composers in the latest episode of BBC Four's Sacred Music, airing Friday. Górecki's Nonesuch catalog includes the famed 1991 recording of his Third Symphony by Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta, which became the highest-selling album by a contemporary composer, and his three string quartets, each performed by Kronos Quartet. Kronos has recorded Pärt's work for Nonesuch as well, as have Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica.

Dawn Upshaw joins the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, led by David Zinman, at Edinburgh's Usher Hall tonight as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1991, Upshaw and Zinman came together for the the now-famous Nonesuch recording of Górecki's Third Symphony. Scotland's Herald takes a look at this "global smash" as part of a closer look at the career of the singer who helped make it such a success.

Polish composer Henryk Górecki has been awarded the St. Gregory the Great Medal by Pope Benedict XVI, reports the Polish Radio news service. It states that Cardinal Dziwisz, the Archbishop of Kraków, declared the medal, in his words, "an expression of the gratitude of the universal Church for the composer’s hard work and sacrifice, for his testimony of faith and unbroken spirit, for his wonderful compositions which have a lasting place in the treasure house of sacred music, and also an expression of the church’s anticipation of more pieces that will uplift our hearts to God."

Kronos Quartet's recording of Henryk Górecki's String Quartet No. 3 (" ... songs are sung") tops New Jersey Star-Ledger staff writer Bradley Bambarger's list of the best classical recordings of 2007. Bambarger calls the piece "an intense, 50-minute match for the Polish composer's global '90s hit 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,' [Symphony No. 3]," which was recorded by Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta.

By Robert Hurwitz
Henryk Górecki's Third Symphony was recorded in one day, 15 years ago last month. Here is Nonesuch President Bob Hurwitz's journal entry from that day.