Bartłomiej Pękiel I

This album, with a cappella compositions by Bartłomiej Pękiel performed under the direction of Andrzej Kosendiak by outstanding soloists, is the first recording made in the building of the National Forum of Music in Wrocław.

Album premiere: 2016

Publishers: National Forum of Music, CD Accord

Conductor: Andrzej Kosendiak

Performers: Aldona Bartnik, Matthew Venner, Maciej Gocman, Tomáš Král, Jaromír Nosek

The pieces recorded on the album have been preserved in the musical collections of the Wawel Cathedral. These are two full mass cycles, divided on the album by three motets based on Latin texts and two Latin carols. These works have a similar, but not identical, line-up – namely a four-voice vocal ensemble – but while the first mass and motets are intended to be ad aequales, i.e., for equal (male) voices, the second mass and carols require an additional high voice. (…) The recorded pieces are a showcase of this trend in Bartłomiej Pękiel’s work, which in his time was referred to as stile antico or prima pratica. At the same time, they clearly demonstrate how, within a style referring to tradition (including local tradition – in this case, Wawel Castle), similar yet at the same time different works can be created, such as the hitherto little-known Missa Secunda and the famous Missa Pulcherrima; or, at the level of smaller forms, the motet Assumpta est, impressive in its expression, compared to the “linear” (not only its construction) Sub Tuum Praesidium.

Elżbieta Zwolińska

• Nomination for Fryderyk 2017
• Emocje 2017 award of Radio Wrocław Kultura for Andrzej Kosendiak (an artist with a vision for many seasons: for the musical acceleration in Wrocław culture and albums with the music of Mielczewski and Pękiel, refined in sound and interpretation).