This new recording of works by the distinguished Polish composer of the late Baroque – Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (1665–1734) is a gift for music lovers of early music.

The disc features his two a cappella Mass settings: Missa Rorate II and Missa Paschalis, four hymns in motet style, the church concerto In virtute Tua and two large scale vocal-instrumental works: Conductus funebris and Litaniae de Providentia Divina. Together with works recorded two years ago by the same performers (Missa Rorate I, Illuxit sol, Laetatus sum, Completorium), the disc offers a revue of the composer’s best works representative of various forms and styles.

Indeed it is this variety of genres and the high standard of compositional skills that account for Gorczycki’s unique position in the annals of early Polish music. He received his initial musical education while studying in Prague and Vienna (1678–98). As is known, he was already active in the field of music during his short stay in Chełmno (1692–94) and later continued to work in Kraków, where he held the post of magister capellae at Wawel Cathedral (1698–1734) and where, as a man of the cloth, he performed important Church functions.