Three of Szymanowski’s most important works show Rattle’s ability to energise music in which he believes. Sensuality and cogency blend in refined sound.

Five centuries, seven languages, and six singers with 35 years of remarkable experience inform this rare collection of choral music. In the world-renowned King's Singers resplendent voices, ancient and modern choral music comes to life with all the blazing immediacy and timeliness of the gospel of the nativity. With 25 pieces of music–ranging from familiar works such as "Coventry Carol" to the obscure Tchaikovsky piece "The Crown of Roses"–the King's Singers move through this hallowed and festive set with the vocal mastery that only three-and-a-half decades of accomplished work together is capable of creating. A number of contemporary carols written in the last century by composers such as John McCabe, Philip Lawson, John Rutter, and others are balanced by pieces by Bach and a host of traditional works. Lawson's "You Are the New Day," performed with a string quartet, stands out as one of the more notable performances. Like most of their music throughout Christmas, it reminds listeners that the art of music often interprets divine aspects gladly realized here on Earth.

With Farewells, Warsaw-born countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, partnered by pianist Michał Biel, offers a panorama of Polish song. Often nostalgic in spirit, the programme of the album spans 150 frequently turbulent years. “Michał and I started exploring the Polish art song repertoire when we were at the Juilliard School in New York,” explains Orliński, whose recordings until now have focused on the baroque era. “As a Polish duo we love to present Polish music to our public. I know that no language can present a barrier when it’s set to music. I believe that music builds bridges and I am sure that those songs will get under the listener’s skin.”

Keine vor 1858 geschriebene polnische Oper wurde so erfolgreich wie Stanislaw Moniuszkos Halka. Capella Cracoviensis präsentiert die erste, zweiaktige Fassung von Halka, die 1848 in Wilna uraufgeführt wurde. Die Wilnaer Fassung ist die erste Orchesterfassung dieser Oper, deren Partitur unsere Zeit nicht überdauert hat. In dieser dramaturgisch sehr dynamischen Komposition werden einzelne musikalische Episoden als Teil der Szenen gestaltet; Rezitative, Arien und Chöre werden kombiniert.

Despite all the differences in the musical language of the works by the Polish composers Karol Szymanowski and Krzysztof Penderecki included on this recording, they are united by their quality as a lament: Szymanowski's Stabat mater, completed in 1926 and based on a Polish translation rather than the original Latin text of the medieval poem, is still considered one of the most important contributions to 20th-century music.

The Concert Overture is a hugely gifted young composer's homage to Richard Strauss, and fully worthy of its model in impetuousness, rich sonority and close-woven polyphony. The Second Symphony is no less rich but more disciplined, with Reger's influence added to (and modifying) that of Strauss, and with Szymanowski's own high colouring, sinuous melody and tonal adventurousness now in their first maturity. The Infatuated Muezzin songs are a high point of his middle period, Debussian harmony and florid orientalising arabesques fusing to an aching voluptuousness, colour now applied with the refinement of a miniaturist.

Kasper Holten’s production (The Royal Opera’s first) of Król Roger (King Roger) brought the opera back to the London stage after an absence of almost 40 years. Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece powerfully presents the dilemmas of culture versus nature and man versus beast, and movingly depicts King Roger’s inner struggles as he moves from an impossible life of repressed desires to the other extreme, giving in to his own demons. Meanwhile, Roger’s people, seduced by the promises of the mysterious Shepherd, are drawn towards totalitarianism and repression. Antonio Pappano conducts Szymanowksi’s opulent and beautiful score, with a cast including Mariusz Kwiecień as Roger (one of the greatest interpreters of the role today), Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, and Georgia Jarman in her Royal Opera debut as Roger’s loving queen Roxana.

Singer Urszula Dudziak's second recording as a leader and first American record introduced to the jazz world a somewhat bizarre stylist. By sometimes using electronics to distort her voice and displaying a very wide range along with the ability to improvise freely, Dudziak was quite unique. All ten selections on this out-of-print Arista LP (including "Zavinul," "Mosquito Dream," and "Just the Way You Are," which is no relation to the later Billy Joel hit) are originals by the singer, with the emphasis on "original." The backup group includes guitarists Reggie Lucas and Joe Caro, keyboardist Harold Ivory Williams, and a guest appearance on one song by Dudziak's husband, Michal Urbaniak, on lyricon.

This album under the Anthology of Polish Art a Cappella series, created together with the 'Collegium Cantorum' Choir of the Czestochowa Philharmonic under the direction of Janusz Siadlak, is devoted to Andrzej Koszewski's choral music.

The Viva Polonia! programme by the German-Polish musicians Ania Vegry (soprano), Roman Ohem (violin) and Oskar Jezior (piano) tells the story of the rich history of Poland. Songs and character pieces by nine Polish composers represent the arduous journey of the Polish people – from 1795 when the country vanished from maps until they regained independence in 1918. Spanning from the traditional to the modern, Viva Polonia! paints a musical portrait of Polish culture.

The programme of the album "Bajgelman. Get to Tango" intersperses pieces from the interwar period with music from the Łódź Ghetto. The story of Dawid Bajgelman’s life and work is told in the characteristic style and sound of Bester Quartet, made up of the leader’s (Jarek Bester’s) accordion, Dawid Lubowicz’s violin, Maciej Adamczak’s bass, and Ryszard Pałka’s percussion, and complemented by contributions from such eminent guest musicians as Krzysztof Lenczowski (cello), Michał Bylica (trumpet), and, perhaps most importantly, of leading Polishjazz singers: Grażyna Auguścik, Dorota Miśkiewicz, and Jorgos Skolias.

Early 1980s Polish hard rock, one of Poland's most important bands … the combination of straight up hard rock (kinda' like a Polish AC/DC) … to tinges of slightly darker material. For those who like native tongued rock TSA is the band…