The five-part series celebrating the January 22 release of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective, a seven-disc box set containing all Nonesuch recordings of Górecki works, as well as the first recording of the late composer's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, continues. Last week, the Nonesuch Journal premiered videos including a 1992 interview with the late composer, and more recent interviews with Górecki’s son, Mikolaj, as well as Adrian Thomas, who wrote the liner notes for the recording of Symphony No. 4. Today, we hear from conductor Andrey Boreyko, who led the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere performance and Nonesuch recording of the new piece.

In this interview, Boreyko offers his own insight into the Fourth Symphony, based on his personal experiences in Poland in the early 1990s and his connection to both Górecki and Aleksander Tansman, the Polish composer for whom Górecki named the piece. He examines the differences in their work, their style, their form, and Górecki’s discovery of a perfect fifth—two intervals within Tansman’s name—representing what he calls “the eternal battle in the soul of every human,” between “light” and “darkness.”

“He was always searching, in need of an idea,” says Boreyko. “I believe that one of the reasons why this work needed such a long time was that searching … I hear these chorales bringing a very special atmosphere of concentrating on one’s own life, the lives of other people, things that happened, the meaning of it all, the afterlife, is there a light at the end of the tunnel or isn’t there? I believe this symphony as a whole is trying to answer this question as well.”

Watch the interview here:

To pre-order Symphony No. 4, Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective, and Symphony No. 3 on vinyl, visit the Nonesuch Store now.