The Sinfonia sacra is arguably one of Panufnik's most popular and successful works. It was the 1964 HMV recording of this work with the Monte-Carlo Opera Orchestra (now reissued on CD by Unicorn-Kanchana) that brought the music of this fascinating and individual composer to a wider audience. His individual, highly personal voice stems from a steadfast refusal to be influenced by the more avant-garde trends of his contemporaries; indeed the Panufnik style is unmistakable: simple motivic and rhythmic cells, precise symmetrical structures, and most important of all a wonderful gift for direct communication with his audiences.
The Sinfonia sacra dates from 1963 and was composed as a tribute to Poland's millenium and statehood; Panufnik calls it ''an expression of my religious and patriotic feelings'', and these are expressed here through the use of the Bogurodzica (an early Polish Gregorian chant), which provides all of the motivic material upon which the Sinfonia is constructed. The work falls into two parts (''Three Visions'' and ''Hymn''). The first vision is an impressive fanfare for four trumpets, the second, played pianissimo throughout, is for strings alone and aims ''to create a mystic and contemplative atmosphere''. The final vision is militant, warlike and percussive (the closing pages of which resemble his earlier Tragic Overture). Part Two of the Sinfonia is entitled ''Hymn'' and it's here that the melody of the Bogurodzica is gradually revealed to us in its entirety, before culminating in an impressive, spine-tingling peroration incorporating the opening trumpet fanfares. As one would expect, Panufnik's interpretation has altered very little since the earlier recording, but this superb Elektra-Nonesuch issue is superior both technically and artistically—the sound is vividly realistic. However, the Unicorn-Kanchana issue remains valuable for the inclusion of four attractive works dating from the 1970s.
In many ways I find Panufnik's more recent work Arbor cosmica (''Cosmic Tree'') for 12 solo strings even more mystical and spiritual than the Sinfonia (personally this is high on my list of Panufnik's masterpieces). It stems from Panufnik's life-long interest in trees: ''Trees seem to me to exude some mysterious power, through their moods, and through their souls'' writes the composer, and indeed the music seems to reflect, in the 12 evocations that make up this work, the seasonal changes in nature. As with all of his scores the melodic, rhythmic and structural elements of the piece are painstakingly worked out in advance (and these are described in detail in the excellent accompanying notes), but ultimately this wonderful music needs no descriptive analysis to speak for it, especially when the performance, from the strings of the New York Chamber Symphony, is as compelling and beautifully played as it is here. A valuable addition to recorded twentieth-century music.'