Mariana Rewerski (alto), Eric Stoklossa (ténor) & Tobias Berndt (basse)
Ensemble Collegium 1704 & Collegium Vocale 1704, Václav Luks
CD
$17.25
Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days.
Since we met at the Sablé Festival in 2007, Collegium 1704 has won the heart of French and German audiences alike by their fervour and the high quality of both orchestra and choir. This oratorio was performed in Dresden under the patronage of Marie Josèphe of Austria, wife of Augustus the Strong. It tells the edifying story of an imaginary meeting between King David, Mary Magdalene and Saint Peter around Christ’s tomb. The oratorio of the Counter Reformation in all its splendour, created to improve the mind and educate the heart through emotion and the sheer beauty of the music.
The Sablé-sur-Sarthe Festival organises a programme of cultural exchanges every year with the countries of Central Europe and it is thanks to this that we met and recorded Collegium 1704 in a Missa Votiva by Jan Dismas Zelenka composer to the Dresden Court of the famous Prince Elector Augustus the Strong. We were very taken by the consistently high quality of the orchestra, choir and soloists, and the success of the CD released in autumn 2008 has confirmed our initial enthusiasm.
We’ve therefore decided to pursue our collaboration and this time, went to the Troja Castle in Prague to record Zelenka’s Oratorio “I Penitenti al Sepolchro del Redentore” ZWV 63. Zelenka is a little known 18th C. Czech composer Collegium 1704 is keen to bring to public attention.
June 2010
“The drama is slow-moving and contemplative but there is no shortage of dramatic tension and startling musical features in Zelenka's astonishing sequence of arias...The orchestra has conviction and skill, especially its plaintive oboes, delicate flutes and disciplined string playing”
16th October 2009
***
“All the latent theatricality of an opera seems to be lurking in the expressive solos and daring orchestral writing. The performance conveys every scrap of that originality and dramatic potential; it's a real ear-opener.”
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