ZWV 6, ZWV 140, Stoelzel's Missa in E Minor

[Elwro]

It brings me great joy to read such words of praise :-) I'm so happy the disc actually arrived and that you like it! I was a bit worried about how the disc would be received, you know, e.g. due to the omission of the bassoon from the BC section.

Those Gloria entries were attempted a few times

Remember that Stölzel is the author of "J.S. Bach's" Bist du be mir!

@Testudo, I will probably be able to acquire the next batch of CDs today, and I'll contact you. I haven't forgotten.

[Xanaseb]

Mine just arrived today! I'm quite amazed to hear it flowing and balanced so nicely (I was lucky enough to have already heard most of it in unedited form ). I was surprised and charmed yet again by Zelenka's insertion of the Palestrina-esque soloist quartet for the Qui Tollis I, which precedes that lovely duet with the oboes that rnkt highlights. I think that this is one of the most tranquil and effortlessly sweet-sounding Masses that Zelenka ever composed. It relaxed and cheered me up! Contrast that to ZWV 2-4 which can be at times rather intense and awkward with all his experimenting (Zwv 1 Missa Sanctae Caecilliae is quite different and restrained. Here is a poor-quality audio performance https://youtu.be/F5XnLp_WhM8 if you haven't heard it before). Although, it goes without saying that I'd look forward to hearing all them recorded too some day. For eg.) The Gregorian-chant Agnus Dei fugue for ZWV 3 totally blew my mind, and that was just from a mp3 mock-up xD...

I can't wait to hear the rest of the disc when I have the chance.

Thank-you Elwro & co.!

PS. A bassoon would have been great indeed, but this time round I even forgot that it should be there! Beggars can't be choosers

[rnkt]

Contrast that to ZWV 2-4 which can be at times rather intense and awkward with all his experimenting (Zwv 1 Missa Sanctae Caecilliae is quite different and restrained. ... Although, it goes without saying that I'd look forward to hearing all them recorded too some day.

Indeed they are all brilliant and in no way should be gathering dust! It seems that we are gradually working our way backwards through Zelenka's life regarding recordings of his vocal music, especially the masses. But it would be good if someone takes the plunge and makes a recording of his very earliest masses. This is music which I am sure made a huge impact in its time and is begging to be heard again. As you note, ZWV 1 is really lovely and one can get an inkling from that "brave" Texas performance that Zelenka is kicking off his mass-writing career on quite a swagger. Actually we also already have a taste of some of it from the stuff he reused in ZWV59 - on the Sepolcri disc. Also Missa Judica Me (we are pretty sure it can be reconstructed from ZWV 26, ZWV 30, ZWV 2, ZWV 26) is an absolute must as it is simply immense and must have terrified the wits out of the performers and congregation in equal measure. I would propose Collegium 1704 does ZWV 1 (it is lyrical like Divi Xaverii) and Inégal does ZWV2 (because it is violent like the Gloria of ZWV 17 and the Credo of ZWV 21 which they executed impeccably) ... but they'll first need 3 'bones :-)

And now you convinced me of the brilliance of ZWV 3 too! Much to do...

[Xanaseb]

I can then imagine them [whoever they might be] doing a complete Zelenka Masses box set or something, dividing them into groups for his various periods of composition style. Too bad Missa Spei is missing; then we'd have a 'Theological Virtues' set (ZWV 5, 6, 10 (Charitatis))...

Also for those who've not heard it before, here's the ZWV 3 synthetic audio Agnus Dei on youtube (and the rest of the Mass (which was composed without a Gloria apparently) you can find in the e-downloads of jdzelenka.net )

[Elwro]

Since the choir has the copyright to the recording (not to the actual produced CDs), the whole of it will be eventually put here:

http://kantorei.pl/muzyka/7/

for free for everyone to (hopefully :-)) enjoy.

[Alistair]

Many thanks for making this possible.

As of last week, the premiere recording of ZWV 6 is now in our database of recordings.

[Elwro]

The album is finally on Spotify, free for everyone to listen to: https://open.spotify.com/album/4fxqQvOL4WdqchfSvc12Ig

Sadly, the metadata for the album do not include Zelenka. I have no idea why. I will inquire.