Recorded with his longtime collaborator, pianist Michał Biel, it is set for release by Warner Classics/Erato on Friday.
The album features 17 songs and arias by three Baroque composers: Henry Purcell, George Frideric Handel and Johann Joseph Fux.
The title derives from Purcell’s song “If music be the food of love,” which echoes the opening line of William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night.
On its website, Warner Classics/Erato quotes Orliński as saying: "On this album we have combined arias and songs that inspire and speak to us. Some of them are quite well known, but others are less popular. I have been familiar with many of them for years, though I have to admit that, in some cases, I needed to mature artistically to be able to do what I envisioned when I first encountered them—Handel’s ‘Ombra mai fu’ and Purcell’s ‘Cold Song,’ for example."
Orliński added: "I love thinking of albums as pages from my diary. They are a statement of where I am as an artist. They solidify my interpretations, which sometimes change over time."
On April 1, Orliński and Biel will launch a world tour to promote If Music…, with stops including South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Spain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Italy.
(mk/gs)