This two-disc set is an anthology of Penderecki’s very substantial output of choral music, in superb performances under the composer’s direction. The first four tracks of the first disc are the four separable choral sections from the St Luke Passion of 1965, and as such are likely to be among the best-known music here. They retain their dark, visceral power, and the blazing clarity of the final major chord at the end of ‘Stabat mater’ still has the power to shock. There is even earlier music here too, in the form of the setting of Psalm 30, from 1958, which establishes this style.

The setting of Veni Creator from 1987 builds on these foundations but with a new luminosity. It has always seemed to me one of the composer’s best choral works, something I have never been able to say of his Cherubic Hymn, audible though the echoes of Orthodox chant are and fine though this performance is. ‘Quid sum miser’ and ‘Recordare, dies illa’ are both excerpts from Dies illa (2014), written to commemorate the victims of the First World War, and effect an oblique re‑engagement with tonality, and even modality, with their reminiscences of various repertoires from earlier centuries (and, thereby, the tradition of choral-symphonic Requiems). This historically informed lyricism is even more audible in O gloriosa virginum from 2009, and the two Christmas songs that end the disc are direct reflections of the traditional Polish carol repertoire.

The second disc begins with the Missa brevis, a work assembled over several years and published in its final version in 2012, including the ‘Benedicamus Domino’ from 1992 – this is the oldest music included in the work, and certainly the most interesting, though there are many fine moments during the piece. The rest of the disc is another anthology, beginning with a shining performance of the hugely impressive ‘Sicut locutus est’ extracted from the Magnificat of 1974 and followed by the no less remarkable ‘We beseech you never to give us away’ from Kaddish (2009). Two other large-scale choral works are excerpted – the Polish Requiem (1981), represented by the well-known ‘Agnus Dei’, and Seven Gates of Jerusalem from 15 years later, represented by ‘De profundis’, but I find the slow build-up of the independent Benedictum Dominum (1993) more impressive. To end, a piece in Polish, A sea of dreams did breathe on me, written in 2010 for the bicentenary of Chopin’s birth, and the curious ‘Aria’, a textless adaptation of one of the Three Pieces in Olden Style from 1963.

All in all, an essential collection for any enthusiast of Penderecki’s choral work, caught in exceptional performances under the composer’s authoritative baton, and recorded with exemplary clarity by Warner’s team at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall.