An intense spirituality characterises the work of the Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik, whose centenary is celebrated throughout the year with special performances s Polish composer Sir Andrzej (pronounced André) Panufnik lay dying of cancer at his Twickenham home in south-west London in 1991, the local priest appeared and asked if he would like to pray. His wife, Camilla, who was, she says, “in the drive rather tearfully planting wallflowers”, conveyed the message. “My work is my prayer,” he told her, echoing the Benedictine motto, Orare est laborare – to pray is to work. “Those were his last words. I don’t know whether he got it from there or it was just a deep inner feeling, but that’s what he felt,” Camilla tells me when I