Recording of Miserere ZWV 56 (not 57!)

[Peter]

Hi all,

Exciting news I think. The Neue Hofkapelle München will release a recording of some interesting unrecorded works of Zelenka such as the Miserere ZWV 56 of 1722. They've performed this music two months ago in Brixen, Italy (see http://www.musikkirche.it/seiten/B.asp?ID=245.

According to the Hofkapelle, it's still very uncertain when this CD will appear but the publisher will be ORF Alte Musik (a branch of the Austrian radio).

Some very nice examples of the Neue Hofkapelle can be found on the ORF website: http://oe1.orf.at/shop. Sample e.g. the CD of Agostino Steffani. That CD certainly sounds highly promissing!

Best wishes,
Peter

[Alistair]

Thanks, Peter, for this very exciting information. We are very fortunate to have you as a forum member - who often finds out things before anyone else! I see from the performance that it may also involve a new recording of Dixit Dominus (ZWV 66), which has only been available on the Move CD from Australia.

[djdresden]

Friends,

it's good news these days for our composer, new sources and new cd's. It will be great to get the ZWV 56 Miserere on cd along with the others. Although ZWV 66 and 73 are on the Melbourne cd's we need new recordings so this is most welcome. The Miserere was actually also performed in Dresden a few years ago so these are not first performances of those works although it was announced like this on the NHKM website. Never mind! Let's hope for a cd - or at least a broadcast.

Neue Hofkapelle Munchen is a top orchestra and their repertoire is always interesting. Any group that releases Steffani, Torri, Marcello, Mayr etc deserves a lot of respect. I have six of their cd's and the Conti one is just great. It has the cantata which was performed during the wedding celebrations in Dresden in 1719, where Zelenka possibly played the bass. The cd also has the lively overture to Conti's opera Don Chisciotte which was premiered at the Carnival in Vienna in February 1719 - the opera could have been the last piece of music Zelenka heard before he went back to Dresden - and I am pretty sure he borrows a theme from one of Conti's arias for his Sub Olea. Don Chisciotte was performed 3 years ago by Rene Jacobs and Akademie f. Alte Musik Berlin and it's a masterpiece. Why Harmonia Mundi haven't released it is hard to understand, I think it would be a hit and historically it's such an important work, influencing Telemann and many others.

And while I am at it - check out Conti's brilliant oratorio David (1724) on Virgin. No wonder Zelenka held him in high regard and collected his masses - there's something unique to his style, which Quantz called "bizarre". We even know of Conti and Zelenka performing in the same work: In Fux's opera Costanza e fortezza in Prague 1723 Conti played the Theorbe while Zelenka sang in the choir!

[Osbert Parsley]

Any further news about a release date for the disc?

Further to the comments about the ensemble, it is very worthwhile getting hold of their Torri disc. What a great composer (he wrote in so many different styles too) and there is some splendid solo singing especially by Ulrike Hofbauer, the soprano.

[Peter]

Hi all,

Two years ago I mentioned a possible recording of Zelenka's Miserere ZWV 56 by the Neue Hofkapelle Munchen. It turns out that ORF hasn't released a complete recording but added some excerpts to a recording of a lecture about music and faith by Joseph Ratzinger - yes, the german pope Benedict XVI!

This is the cd:
http://shop.orf.at/oe1/shop.tmpl?art=4209&lang=DE

Best wishes,
Peter