Sacred Music by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745), Requiem in C minor FIRST UK RECORDING Miserere in C minor ZWV 57
Lamentationes Pro Die Veneris Sancto ZWV 53
Grace Davidsonsoprano James BowmancountertenorBenjamin HuletttenorSimon Whiteleybass FIORI MUSICALI Choir and Orchestra with members of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts Penelope Rapsondirector
Fiori Musicali’s new recording features countertenor James Bowman as soloist in one of the Lamentations, as well as the first UK recording of the Requiem in C Minor, a work of scale and grandeur, whose origins scholars continue to debate. Lasting some 38 minutes the Requiem is scored for choir, soloists, strings and sackbutts (with members of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts) and its style is suitably solemn though curiously galant in the Dies Irae.
Zelenka, a contemporary of Bach and Handel spent the larger part of his life at court in Dresden where he held a post as double bass player in the highly admired Court Chapel Orchestra. During his lifetime other musicians including Bach, Telemann - and in particular the glittering Hasse (who took all the top musical jobs in Dresden) - all gained a recognition that Zelenka never quite managed.
Zelenka’s music is highly individual. Often on a grand scale, it is sometimes delicately poignant, at other times passionate, and from time to time imbued with the quirky folk rhythms of his native Bohemia. Fiori Musicali has long been an advocate of Zelenka’s music and of Bohemian music in general. They gave the British premiere of the Requiem in C minor in 1999 and have recorded his Sinfonia in A minor on their earlier release for Metronome (MET CD 1019)
