Saint Martin

La partition (manuscrit d'Uppsala, 1667) que viennent de restituer Martin Gester et son frère le musicologue Jean-Luc Gester est de tout premier ordre. On ne sait qui l'a écrite, mais celui qui le fit est un grand assurément. Climat sensuel et doloriste, beauté de l'écriture, raffinement de l'expression. Les solistes vocaux groupés autour de Gester sont épatants, chantant comme un madrigal spirituel cette passion de chambre.

This is another sensational performance of Saint-Säens’ Oratorio de Noël. If this ain’t a masterpiece, it’s so damned close. The singers and choir are stellar. The Dresden Philharmonic brings more of a symphonic strength to Opus 12 than its French counterpart: being the man I am, I appreciate this. Perhaps ‘Expectants expectavi Dominum’ is more seductively sung in the French version but there ain’t much between them.

Liszt’s predestination for sacred music doubtless stemmed from his childhood, when he had close ties to Catholicism through his father. He went on to compose many works expressing the virtues of various saints, and to those works Martin Haselböck and the Orchester Wiener Akademie are devoting a series of recordings.