Composer: Krzysztof Penderecki
Performer: Izabela Kłosińska, Jadwiga Rappé, Ryszard Minkiewicz, Piotr Nowacki
Orchestra: Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Antoni Wit
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8557386-87
Release: 2004
Size: 417 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Polish Requiem
CD 01
01. Introitus
02. Kyrie
03. Dies Irae
04. Tuba mirum
05. Mors stupebit
06. Quid sum miser
07. Rex tremendae
08. Recordare Jesu pie
09. Ingemisco tanquam reus
10. Lacrimosa
CD 02
01. Sanctus
02. Agnus Dei
03. Lux aeterna
04. Libera me, Domine
05. Offertorium – Swiety Boze
06. Libera animas
The Polish Requiem had its origins in a setting of the Lacrimosa dedicated to Gdansk shipyard workers who died during clashes with the Communist authorities in 1970. Though the work’s tendency to swing between bombast and sentimentality may make you long for the austerity of an Arvo Pärt, if you approach it as a valid attempt to continue the tradition of 19th-century concert Requiems – Verdi’s, above all – then you may well feel it has much to offer.
This performance is well played and conducted, Antoni Wit ensuring that the big climaxes make their effect without labouring the less eventful episodes. The choral singing is robust, though the sustained high writing is demanding enough to give the Polish Philharmonic Choir some anxious moments. Of the vocal soloists, both Jadwiga Rappé and Piotr Nowacki are excellent, but the normally reliable Izabella Kposinska was clearly under strain, and Ryszard Minkiewicz also sounds out of sorts in places. The sound is typical of Naxos’s Polish recordings in being rather too bright and generalised for music that depends for its effect on such strong contrasts between the very quiet and the extremely loud.