It is not difficult to see how Henryk Górecki’s Totus Tuus can be linked to the Russian choral tradition. Górecki (1933-2010) composed the work in 1987 for the third visit of Pope John Paul II to his homeland and the piece uses sonorously contrasting sections of eight-part and four-part writing, reminiscent of the Russians. The text, while short and simple, is given considerable extension and imbued with prayerful intensity through repetition; this is not unlike the effect achieved by Tchaikovsky in his We hymn Thee through the manifold repetition of the words ‘i molim Ti sia’ (‘we pray unto Thee’).

from notes by Vladimir Morosan © 1997