Pękiel: Masses – review

His name may be unfamiliar, but Polish composer Bartłomiej Pękiel (c1633-1670) was a force in baroque vocal music, challenging the dominance of Italy – whose influence had spread to the major cities of Krakow and Warsaw where he worked – and producing a wealth of mainly religious music of which 29 works survive. The Sixteen and their associate conductor, Eamonn Dougan, perform the Missa a 14, the richly dramatic, multilayered Missa Concertata La Lombardesca with its vivid sackbut accompaniment and double choir, and the intriguing mini-drama, Audite mortales. The sound world, very loosely, brings to mind Monteverdi. The exciting dissonances and strange harmonic colours set Pękiel in a category of his own.