biographical information as background to the music. Adrian Thomas discusses Gorecki's position as leader of the Polish avant-garde in the late 1950s, and his subsequent discovery of the folk and church
music of Old Poland, notably that of the Podhale region in southern Poland. He describes Gorecki's unmistakable musical world, from the large orchestral scores (Sconti, Refrain, the Symphonies) and the choral works (Beatus Vir, commissioned by and dedicated to Pope John Paul II), to the more modest church songs and folk-song arrangements. There is a complete list of works since 1955 with details of instrumentation and recordings, and a select bibliography.
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