Organist, composer and teacher, Stanisław Moryto was born
at Lack, near Nowy Sacz and went on to study organ and composition
at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He later became Professor
of Composition and Rector at that very same Academy – positions
which, I believe, he still holds. As a scholar he has edited organ
works by Polish composers both ancient and modern; as an organist
he has performed in many countries of mainland Europe and made
a number of recordings. His importance in the musical life of
Poland is evidenced by his long spells of service as President
of the Polish Musical Youth Association and as President of the
Polish Musical Institute.
These three masses
by Moryto all show the composer’s comfortable familiarity with
the traditions of sacred music; without settling for mere pastiche
each exploits a different aspect of the tradition. The Legnica
Mass (Msza legnicka) is written for two soloists
(soprano and alto), mixed choir and organ – a disposition reminiscent
of many a baroque mass setting. The Missa solemnis is
scored for soprano (or mezzo) soloist, mixed choir (soprano,
alto and baritone) and a brass sextet (two trumpets, two horns
and two trombones) – all employed in a manner which alludes
to the sacred music of the Renaissance - indeed the piece is
subtitled ‘Hommage ą Josquin Desprez’. The Missa brevis pro
Defunctis is written for a capella mixed choir, making use,
that is, of a musical genre familiar both from sixteenth-century
polyphony and from the nineteenth and twentieth-century revival
of a capella choral music.
In the Legnica
Mass, the organ introduction is striking and assured, as
the writing for the instrument is throughout the piece, not
least in the Benedicamus Domino which closes the work.
The Gloria switches between high and low voices to very
good effect and the Agnus Dei has a moving dignity. Barbara
Sobstyl-Szczerbaczewicz is an impressive soloist – there doesn’t
seem to be any shortage of accomplished Polish sopranos.
In the Missa
Solemnis Moryto sets both the six invariable parts of the
mass and also four of the ‘variable’ parts, to make a ten part
mass: 1. Introit (Repleatur os meum), II. Kyrie,
III. Gloria, IV. Graduale (Laudate Dominum
omnes gente), V. Allelluia (O quam bonus et suavis
est), VI. Credo, VII. Sanctus. VIII. Agnus
Dei, IX. Communio (O salutaris Hostia), X.
Ite missa est. The whole is a work of considerable power,
which breathes an air of genuine spirituality and uses its varied
forces to very various emotional and religious effect. Moryto’s
work, here and elsewhere on the disc, is at all times respectful
of the text, which is always presented clearly and never obfuscated
by his music. This is approachable writing of real authority
and reverence. Some of the effects – while never being mere
‘effects’ – are particularly striking, as in the use of the
Aneta Łukaszewicz’s mezzo voice to the accompaniment of
the brass sextet alone in the Credo. Again the Agnus Dei
stirs Moryto to some beautiful writing and, taken whole,
this is a substantial piece which would, I am sure, reward performance
by other singers and instrumentalists too.
The Missa Brevis
exudes the spirit of prayer and meditation. In spirit –
and to some extent in musical language – it seems to reflect
the influences of both Gregorian chant and the music of the
Orthodox Church. With only a relatively few changes of tempo
and dynamics, and with a pervading simplicity, this Requiem
achieves - without ever being confusable with the music of,
say, Pärt or Gubaidulina - an almost mystical stillness which
enfolds the listener when heard on CD, and would surely do so
even more comprehensively in an appropriate church setting.
Moryto’s church music
has a distinctive power, distinctive yet grounded in an unfussily
eclectic relationship to the tradition. It has that authenticity
one associates with the work of an artist being wholly true to
his self, unswayed by the demands of fashion or the need to sound
up-to-date.
Glyn Pursglove
Barbara Sobstyl-Szczerbaczewicz
(soprano); Aneta Łukaszewicz (mezzo); Tomasz Piętak (baritone);
Maciej Nerkowski (baritone); Michał Sławecki (organ);
Choir of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyńskiego; Zespół Instrumentów
Dętych Blaszanych/Kazinierz Szymonik 
