Dominik Kiefer

Jan Dismas Zelenka, court composer of August Elector of Saxony in Dresden, is steadily regaining his deserved reputation.In thi snew recording for Pan Classics, the accomplished young British countertenor Alex Potter succeeds in displaying a wide emotional range in selected works for alto solo: he dazzles with astounding virtuosity in the motet 'Barbara, dira effera' and soars in tender arcs of tension in his performance of the 'Christe eleison' from a late unfinished mass.

A graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, Reverend Richard Mudge (1718­-1763) was appointed curate of both Great and Little Packington in 1741. He may have been private chaplain to Lord Guernsey, who would later become the Earl of Aylesford. The family had significant musical connections, the best known being Handel's friend and librettist, Charles Jennens. In 1750, Mudge obtained a position at St. Martin's, Birmingham, where he became a popular preacher. In 1756, we find him in the post of rector at Bedworth, where he lived until his death. Even though Mudge's liturgical career is well documented, there is almost nothing pertaining to his musical pursuits.