Lacrimae / Jan Dismas Zelenka – CD

This recording brings together Jan Dismas Zelenkas outstanding liturgical works for bass, performed by the distinctive bass voice of Tom elc with Collegium Marianum, led by Jana Semerdov. elc works across eighteenth- to twentieth-century cantatas and oratorios, Romantic song and opera, but in the music of Zelenka and J. S. Bach he seems to have found his most natural artistic home. The album presents three of Zelenkas major liturgical compositions for bass, written for the Dresden court ensemble over seven years: the solemn and oppressive atmosphere of the First Lamentation of Jeremiah for the Wednesday of Holy Week (1722), the dignified praise of the Lord in Confitebor tibi Domine (1729), and the pleading voice from the worlds vale of tears in the Marian antiphon Salve Regina (1724). Giuseppe Tartinis G major flute concerto offers a contrasting note of consolation in Jana Semerdovs gentle, colourful flute playing. The programme includes Zelenkas Lamentation I, Confitebor tibi Domine and Salve Regina, together with Tartinis concerto for flute and orchestra. Salve Regina appears here on CD for the first time.