The present selection from Zelenka's large corpus of church music—over 20 masses, two requiems, three Passion oratorios and three Good Friday cantatas, 30 psalm cantatas, 27 Nocturn responsaries, and so on—serves to confirm the curiously uneven image we have so far been able to form of him. Alongside the fervent Marian antiphon Sub tuum praesidium and the chromatic, deeply affecting ''Tenebrae factae sunt'', which are masterly, and some vigorously individual writing in this particular Mass must be set some naive and commonplace material that quite rules out the extravagant claim, made for him here, as ''the Czech Johann Sebastian Bach''. The Mass—a missa brevis only in the sense that all its movements are short, and known as the ''Gratias agimus tibi'' from the unusual setting of those words for solo soprano wreathed with circling flutes and supported only by the violins and violas in unison—was written for the Dresden court in 1730, presumably for some special occasion since its score includes four trumpets. Zelenka interestingly combines ritornello technique with fugal and canonic writing, notably in the Kyrie (from whose theme the Christe is also drawn), and three movements have a particular charm: the Agnus Dei with an obbligato for two flutes, the Benedictus for solo tenor with solo flute and oboe, and the tender Crucifixus for contralto solo, violins and bass—or rather, the latter would have if the singer were less impersonal and stodgy. The singing throughout the Mass cannot be called more than serviceable, and the conductor, who shows little flexibility, is content to let his trumpets scream away all the time. (He seems not to be using the first published edition of 1983.)
It is noticeable, in the five responsaries presented here, that Zelenka makes no attempt what-soever at pictorialism in his music for the rending of the veil of the temple and the ensuing earthquake. Apart from ''Tenebrae factae sunt'', the most interesting is ''Omnes amici mei'', but its expressive polyphony is not well brought out by disjointed vocal lines and a general lack of tonal gradation. This criticism applies also to the other items, to the meaning of whose words the chorus seems indifferent: less dogged singing would have created a more favourable impression.'