Caldara: Crucifixus a 16 voci

The singers of Les Arts Florissants, “a golden choir” under the direction of tenor Paul Agnew, perform elaborate unaccompanied sacred works by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Leonardo Leo and Antonio Caldara, recorded in the Benedictine abbey at Ambronay in eastern France.

Les Arts Florissants, one of the most influential and prolific ensembles in the world of historically informed performance, was founded in 1979 by William Christie, who now regularly shares conducting duties with Paul Agnew, best known for his achievements as a tenor – not least with Les Arts Florissants.

In September 2010, as part of the annual festival at Ambronay in eastern France, not far from the Swiss border, Agnew directed the singers of Les Arts Florissants in a concert at the village’s 9th-century Benedictine Abbey. It presented a number of masterpieces of church music by Italian baroque composers: the Neapolitans Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), and the Venetian Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), who took charge of music at the imperial chapel in Vienna.

The younger Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater forms the lynchpin of this programme of sorrowful, a cappella pieces, which was recorded at Ambronay prior to the concert. It evokes the rigorous period of Lent, when, with the theatres shut, the public was deprived of operatic pleasures. Music-lovers could find compensation in this religious music since, as the regional newspaper Le Progrès reported in its review of the Ambronay concert, the composers produced: “sensual, richly ornamented music which places considerable demands on the singers and, above all, on the conductor, who must ensure its polyphonic contours and the transparency of the vocal lines.”

Under the headline “A golden choir”, the review went on to say that: “The choir fulfilled its role perfectly. Beyond the quality of the voices, often in the soloist class, and the supple and appealing tonal blend, the fluidity of the transitions and the precision of articulation proved that the ensemble … has few (if any) rivals in this repertoire.”

The sacred choral music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from Venice, especially that written for the splendour of St Mark’s, has a unique style. From the rich and sonorous sound world of the Gabrielis to the airy zestfulness of Caldara’s contemporary Vivaldi, this was music which dazzled the rest of Europe.

Featuring five of The Sixteen’s most celebrated recordings, The Italian Collection is a sumptuous anthology of music. From Allegri’s hauntingly beautiful Miserere to the virtuosity, vibrant colour and dynamic energy of Handel’s Dixit Dominus, this collection spans three centuries of glorious Italian choral music.

Little-know treasures such as Anerio’s glorious 12-part setting of the Stabat Mater sit side by side with Palestrina’s Assumpta Est Maria and Lotti’s Crucifixus. 14 different composers are represented here and they worked for some of the most splendid musical establishments Italy had to offer including St Mark’s in Venice and the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

A beautifully packaged set, which compliments perfectly The Sixteen's newest series of Palestrina CDs on CORO.