Posts by Alistair

  • Popularity of Website

    Hi Xanaseb,


    Thanks for this post, and sorry for the delay in replying.


    There has been a sudden upsurge in the number of new members of the forum, which just topped 1,000 per month in December 2013. In addition, the average number of visits to the forum at any one time is now around 150. Much has happened in this respect during 2012-2013, and Zelenka's popularity just keeps growing. Hopefully we will see a greater number of new recordings during 2014, which will have a knock-on effect both on the forum and on the Discover Zelenka website.


    Incidentally, in December 2012 there were over 4,000 unique visits to the whole Discover Zelenka website. One year later, in December 2013, the equivalent figure is already more than 10,000 visits from unique IP addresses.


    The Discover Zelenka website itself needs a facelift. This would be cosmetic, of course, as there is not much new factual material (apart from updates to the Recordings database). This may change when the article on Zelenka by Janice Stockigt and Johannes Agustsson is finally published.


    Regards from Sweden.


    Alistair

  • Live Recording of Missa Omnium Sanctorum

    The recording of ZWV 21 I was referring to was in CD form, and it was recent. Since I posted this thread, the CD has disappeared from the PremiereOpera.it catalogue. Someone has made a conscious decision to remove it...


    By the way, the conductor of the Il Diamante issue (Adam Viktora) had no idea that this recording existed on CD. After all, why would he agree to a live (radio?) recording being issued when there was also a much more professional one recorded especially and issued by Nibiru?

  • Live Recording of Missa Omnium Sanctorum

    The Luks recording of Missa Omnium Sanctorum (ZWV 21) on Premiereopera Italy that David Nelson has described in his review (http://www.jdzelenka.net/Zelenka_survey.pdf) is interesting. It was recorded live at a concert performance in Prague in the autumn of 2012. Luks takes the first number (Kyrie eleison) quite slowly, but by and large the tempos are fitting. The alto, Kamila Mazalova, certainly does have an "old-fashioned" voice regarding performance, which might be better suited to a 19th century opera!


    I didn't find the recording quality to be as bad as David suggested; quite OK actually. On the other hand, the "cover" is a plastic pocket containing an amateurish printout of a front page (on HP Invent paper!) with only essential details of the performers on the other side. There are no cover notes whatsoever, and not even the ZWV number of the work. A poor show for an asking price of 14 euros. I wonder whether this issue (can we call it a commercial issue?) is worthy of a place in the Discover Zelenka database of recordings.

  • Downloads of recordings

    It appears that it will only be a matter of time before the CD format gives way to better-quality downloads (in other words, 24-bit files rather than 16-bit data -- which is what the CD format has to use because of space limitation).


    Any ideas about how to handle this in the Discover Zelenka database?


    Should there be a separate page dedicated to downloads, or should the downloadable recordings and CD recordings be treated as one commodity?

  • Unrecorded works

    I just want to point out that the Discover Zelenka database is a rather powerful tool.


    The database can show you all the works that have been recorded. It can show you all the works that have not been recorded. It can even show you, for example, all the masses that have not been recorded.


    If you are an alto looking for something to record, you can discover that there are 6 works for solo alto and that they have all been recorded already at least once. (This does not include movements from masses and from works for the stage, which are not detailed separately in the database).


    Did you know, for example, that currently there are only two works for soprano that have not yet been recorded? ZWV 27 and ZWV 38! :)

  • Looking for Zelenka arias for bass voice and small ensemble

    Here are the works for bass voice that Zelenka wrote, taken from the database on Discover Zelenka. ZWV 71 has been recorded, and there is a fine rendition by Tomas Kral available on YouTube.


    ZWV 37 Agnus Dei. Key: C. Composed: 1722-c.1724. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo; SATB, ch.; Ob.; 2Vn.; B.c.] Category: Mass Movement.


    ZWV 71 Confitebor tibi Domine. Key: C minor. Composed: 1729. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo; 2Ob.; 2Vn.; Va.; Org.] Category: Psalm, Magnificat, or Hymn Setting.


    ZWV 82 Laudate pueri. Key: F. Composed: c.1725. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo; SSA, ch.; Tpt.; 2Vn.; Va.; Org.] Category: Psalm, Magnificat, or Hymn Setting.


    ZWV 139 Salve Regina. Key: D minor. Composed: 1724. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo; 2Ob.; 2Vn.; B.c.] Category: Marian Antiphon.


    ZWV 165 Motet: Chvalte Boha silného. Key: G. Composed: 1725. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo; 2Hn.; 2Ob.; 2Vn.; Va.; B.c.] Category: Short Liturgical or Spiritual Work.


    ZWV 176 Italian arias, number 8. Key: C. Composed: 1733. Type of work: Vocal. [B, solo (#8); 2Vn.; Va.; B.c.] Category: Secular Vocal Work.

  • 15th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music

    Thank you, Johannes. You have made a tremendous contribution to Zelenka research, and I for one am eternally grateful to you. I am sure that the others on the forum are too. We look forward to seeing all this in print. Thanks for posting the abstracts here. It makes such a difference to get some "inside" information from you.


    Alistair

  • 15th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music

    We now wait eagerly to hear what was said about Zelenka in Southampton on 14 July! Who will be the first to enlighten us? :p


    Apart from those mentioned above, there were two other talks on Zelenka:


    Roberto Scoccimarro
    Jan Dismas Zelenka's settings of the Marian Antiphons.


    Patricia Corbin
    The Missa Dei Filii ZWV 20: An Introduction to the Late Masses of Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745).

  • 15th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music

    If you are interested in Zelenka, this is the place to be in mid-July! There will be two very important papers revealing new information about our composer, one from Jan Stockigt and one from Jóhannes Ágústsson.


    11-15 July University of Southampton, UK.


    http://www.southampton.ac.uk/baroque_music_conference


    Janice B. Stockigt
    Jan Dismas Zelenka: Recent Research.


    Jóhannes Ágústsson
    The secular vocal music collection of Jan
    Dismas Zelenka: A reconstruction?

  • Forum Runner

    Our new Zelenka Forum supports an app for your smartphone (Android-based or iPhone). The app is called Forum Runner and costs only $2, and there is even a free version. :)


    http://www.forumrunner.com/


    So you can get the latest posts and even post from your phone when you are on the move.

  • Zelenka Forum active again!

    Dear Members,


    As you can see, the Zelenka Forum is up and running again. Don't be fooled by the similar look and feel. The forum software is the very latest, and the programming environment and database software are also up to date. In effect, this is a brand-new forum that just happens to have inherited 6 years of posts!


    Many thanks to the nine people who contributed financially - and very generously - to this upgrade (David, Andrew, Roman, Germund-Atle, Johannes, Stian, Leszek, Janice, and Jim). There is money left, which will be used to keep the site online for the next year or two. It will also be used for something completely new, which I will reveal in due course.


    Thanks also to the programming forum member who convinced me at short notice that all was certainly not lost (KingMaximilian).


    Very best wishes, and thanks for all your support.


    Alistair