If Music

If music... showcases star countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński in 17 songs and arias by three composers of the Baroque era: Purcell, Handel and Fux. Perhaps unexpectedly, he is partnered not by an ensemble of period instruments but by a pianist - his long-standing colleague Michał Biel. "On this album we have combined arias and songs that inspire and speak to us, " says Jakub Józef Orliński. "I love thinking of albums as pages out of my diary. They are a statement of where I am as an artist." As Michał Biel, who draws on all the possibilities of a Steinway grand piano, freely admits: "If music... is not an answer to the question of how to perform these masterpieces with historical authenticity." He sees each aria or song as "a carefully considered transcription that reveals it's appeal transcending instrumentation".