Two of Szymanowski’s most sublime later works here receive performances entirely commensurate with their stature and thoroughly in tune with the music’s distinctive world of expression. In the Stabat mater of 1925-26, the range of utterance, whether rapt or stark, declamatory or exultant, is beautifully judged. While the BBC Symphony Orchestra is a crucial force in etching in the spectrum and mix of colour, the chorus and soloists in the unaccompanied fourth part are especially effective in fixing the mood of hushed, spiritual intensity, all the more evocative when set in contrast with the baritone’s urgent pleading and the orchestra’s insistent tolling in the following movement, with its rousing climax of full orchestral panoply and organ. The quiet ecstasy and consolation of the final section, with soprano Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen and baritone Robert Murray adding their voices to the soft cushion of the chorus, crown a performance that is judged to a nicety through Edward Gardner’s wise, sensitive pacing and his subtle, supple summoning up of the music’s devotional aura. Harnasie, Szymanowski’s ballet-pantomime completed in 1931 after eight years of work on it, offers a different context for Gardner’s intuition in terms of style and idea. This is Szymanowski making his mark as the voice of new Polish music in the 20th century, the score’s folk elements, piquant harmonies, athletic rhythms and vibrant orchestration all brought together here in a performance alert to the shifts of scene and mood but maintaining a grip on dramatic cohesion.