JAN DISMAS ZELENKA (1679–1745)

 

Sacred Music

 

The King’s Consort / Robert King

 

Carolyn Sampson, Rebecca Outram – soprano

Robin Blaze - countertenor

James Gilchrist – tenor

Michael George

Peter Harvey - bass

 

Litaniae de Venerabili Sacramento Z147

 

1 Kyrie I [1'12]

2 Kyrie II [1'53]

3 Pater de caelis [3'43]

4 Praecelsum et admirabile [2'12]

5 Panis omnipotentia [2'16]

6 Spiritualis dulcedo [0'52]

7 Propitius esto [1'17]

8 Ab indigna corporis [2'05]

9 Peccatores, te rogamus [2'38]

10 Fili Dei, te rogamus [0'36]

11 Agnus Dei [1'56]

12 Regina caeli laetare Z134 [3'40]

 

Salve regina, mater misericordiae Z135

13 Salve regina, mater misericordiae [5'25]

14 Ad te clamamus [3'16]

15 Eia ergo advocata [4'05]

16 Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui [1'11]

17 Ostende, o clemens [4'49]

 

Officium defunctorum Z47 extracts

18 Nocturn 1 Lectio 1 Parce mihi, Domine [6'42]

19 Nocturn 1 Lectio 2 Taedet animam vitae meae [5'11]

20 Nocturn 1 Lectio 3 Manus tuae fecerunt me [4'47]

21 Invitatorium Regem, cui omnia vivunt [13'06]

 

Czech-born Jan Dismas Zelenka was by all accounts one of Baroque music’s trickier customers—fervently religious but completely lacking in courtly graces. Combine this with a tendency to throw out the rulebook when it came to harmonic convention and it’s hardly surprising that he was underappreciated in his lifetime. Yet here is some of the most pungently exciting writing of the Baroque, as individual as that of his near-contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach. The very opening of Zelenka’s Litaniae sets out his stall and Robert King and his eponymous Consort make the most of its startling qualities. But he is a composer to tug at the heartstrings too, nowhere more so than in the Salve regina, ravishingly sung by a young Carolyn Sampson.

 

‘Constantly fascinating to listen to. Especially when performed as beautifully and with such evident care and affection as it is on Robert King’s new CD … Zelenka’s curious music could scarcely have better advocacy’ (Gramophone)

‘A really first-rate release’ (International Record Review) ‘Eloquently presented by King and his first-rate accomplices’ (Music Week)

‘Performances are sensitive and stylish in ways that we have come to expect from this group’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Robert King and his period forces give performances it would be hard to beat’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Robert King with his King’s Consort and Choir directs performances both moving and exhilarating’ (The Guardian)

‘The performance is outstanding, capturing the startlingly original nature of the piece with singing and playing of such vitality and commitment’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘All of the soloists deserve special mention for sensitive performances that are appropriately expressive and that add essential individual color … you must get to know this wonderful and very deserving composer’ (ClassicsToday.com)

‘This CD of Robert King’s stands high on the list of the best recordings of Zelenka’s sacred music … for the characteristically exceptionally committed and supremely well-executed performances’ (Goldberg)

 

Helios CDH55424