Motets by Bach, Mozart & Pergolesi
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giovanni Pergolesi, Johann Christian Bach
Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 11/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 57
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 05472 77335-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Exsultate, jubilate |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(La) Stagione Michael Schneider, Conductor Ruth Ziesak, Soprano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Salve regina |
Giovanni Pergolesi, Composer
(La) Stagione Giovanni Pergolesi, Composer Michael Schneider, Conductor Ruth Ziesak, Soprano |
| Ergo interest |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(La) Stagione Michael Schneider, Conductor Ruth Ziesak, Soprano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Salve Regina |
Johann Christian Bach, Composer
(La) Stagione Johann Christian Bach, Composer Michael Schneider, Conductor Ruth Ziesak, Soprano |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Ruth Ziesak has made several appealing contributions to baroque and classical repertoire on disc over the past five years or so. I have especially enjoyed her singing in two of Bach’s secular cantatas (Nos. 206 and 207a) on Sony Classical (9/91). In this new release Ziesak has addressed both the popular and the unfamiliar. Performances of Mozart’s motet, Exsultate, jubilate abound, and this one sits comfortably on the higher celestial slopes. Ziesak has an agile technique, a fluent understanding of stylistic conventions and a clear, warm vocal timbre. The other Mozart item here is the little G major motet Ergo interest, scored for soprano, strings and organ and consisting of a single recitative and aria.
Pergolesi wrote three settings of the Marian antiphon, Salve regina, of which the C minor is almost certainly the last and, to my ears, the most intensely expressive. That aspect of the music is affectingly conveyed by Ziesak though she is afforded feeble, even at times scrawny support from the strings of La Stagione. Spongy, absorbent playing of this nature does little to complement the almost consistent excellence of the singing.
The most extended piece in Ziesak’s programme is J. C. Bach’s sublimely beautiful setting in E flat of the same Marian text. It dates from about 1758 when Bach was studying with Padre Martini in Bologna. It seems to me quite extraordinary that music of this calibre and ready appeal should be so seldom performed. While everything else on the disc makes for diverting entertainment it is the Bach piece which unquestionably calls for its immediate acquaintance. The opening and closing sections are especially beguiling, the latter above all for its intimately affecting tenderness; but there is also some fine word-painting in the centrally placed “Ad te suspiramus”. Bach’s scoring of the work features pairs of horns, oboes and strings. Were it not for the indifferent string playing I should give the disc the strongest commendation. As it is, I shall want to hear it many times over both for the sheer beauty of Ziesak’s singing and for the London Bach’s contribution or, more appropriately in this instance, that of the Milanese Bach.'
Pergolesi wrote three settings of the Marian antiphon, Salve regina, of which the C minor is almost certainly the last and, to my ears, the most intensely expressive. That aspect of the music is affectingly conveyed by Ziesak though she is afforded feeble, even at times scrawny support from the strings of La Stagione. Spongy, absorbent playing of this nature does little to complement the almost consistent excellence of the singing.
The most extended piece in Ziesak’s programme is J. C. Bach’s sublimely beautiful setting in E flat of the same Marian text. It dates from about 1758 when Bach was studying with Padre Martini in Bologna. It seems to me quite extraordinary that music of this calibre and ready appeal should be so seldom performed. While everything else on the disc makes for diverting entertainment it is the Bach piece which unquestionably calls for its immediate acquaintance. The opening and closing sections are especially beguiling, the latter above all for its intimately affecting tenderness; but there is also some fine word-painting in the centrally placed “Ad te suspiramus”. Bach’s scoring of the work features pairs of horns, oboes and strings. Were it not for the indifferent string playing I should give the disc the strongest commendation. As it is, I shall want to hear it many times over both for the sheer beauty of Ziesak’s singing and for the London Bach’s contribution or, more appropriately in this instance, that of the Milanese Bach.'
Motets by Bach, Mozart & Pergolesi
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