Although later 18th-century organ parts exist for the Masses and carols, this recording uses the original a cappella vocal ensemble.
Compositional Technique
Pękiel's works often feature through-imitation, where almost every text fragment is given a musical theme taken up by successive voices, and sometimes more complex fugal techniques.
Performer Biography
Matthew Venner, a British countertenor, began his singing career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey and is a member of the internationally renowned Orlando Consort, specializing in medieval and early Renaissance music.
Performer Biography
Andrzej Kosendiak, the conductor, is the director of the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music in Wrocław and founded several resident ensembles there, including the NFM Choir and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Pękiel's music is characterized by his masterful use of polyphonic techniques and his fluency in Baroque musical rhetoric, which he used to emphasize the meaning of the text.
Recording & Production
This album is the first recording made at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Poland.
Composer Biography
Bartłomiej Pękiel, one of the finest old-Polish Baroque composers, served as royal organist and later Kapellmeister at the Vasa royal court in Warsaw, a major European musical center.
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