Jan Dismas Zelenka

Like Sebastian Bach and François Couperin, Sylvius Leopold Weiss came from and continued a musical tradition. His father was Johann Jakob Weiss, his brother was Johann Sigismund Weiss, and his son was Johann Adolph Faustinius Weiss. Also, like Bach and Couperin, Sylvius Leopold was the most famous member of his musical clan, and during his long and distinguished career he taught a number of students who would become exceptional lutenists, Adam Falckenhagen and Johann Kropfgans among them. Following demands created by his exceptional reputation, Weiss traveled extensively before he settled at the court of Augustus the Strong in 1728; he remained there for the rest of his life. Weiss and Bach certainly met on more than one occasion as the latter visited his son Wilhelm Friedemann and also had an interest in music-making at the Saxon court. As a performer, Weiss was considered the finest of his time and many believed that his ability as a lutenist rivaled that of Bach as an organist and Scarlatti as a harpsichordist. His Berlin colleague, Ernst Gottlieb Baron, mentioned to a “Weissian Method,” probably a reference to his astounding and masterful technique, not to mention his style. Hundreds of Weiss’s works survive, chief among them six-movement sonatas or partitas that follow the accepted blueprint for the genre, i.e., Allemande, Courante, Bouree, Sarabande, Minuet, and Gigue.

The debut album from countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński – born in Warsaw, trained at New York’s Juilliard School, and 2016 winner of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious National Council Auditions – Anima sacra features what are believed to be world premiere recordings of eight Baroque arias, notably by composers of the Neapolitan school. Orliński is partnered by Il pomo d’oro conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev.

The only early eighteenth century composer from Czech-speaking lands to have gained much exposure in western Europe and North America has been Jan Dismas Zelenka. But there's a great deal of music left to discover from that culturally rich part of the world, where early music is a comparatively new concept. This Czech release, compiling performances from 2003 and 2005, examines two publications by composer Jan Josef Ignác Brentner, both with grandiloquent Latin titles: the Harmonica duodecatometria ecclesiastica, Op. 1, is a set of Latin sacred arias, issued in 1716; the Horae pomeridianae seu concertus cammerales sex, Op. 4, is a group of chamber concertos with diverse instrumentation, from 1720; they have some traits of the Italian concerto grosso.

Il Giardino Armonico, founded in Milan in 1985, brings together a number of graduates from some of Europe’s leading colleges of music, all of whom have specialised in playing on period instruments. Many of its members are also in demand as international soloists and have appeared in concert with such eminent artists as N. Harnoncourt, G. Leonhardt, T. Pinnock, Ch. Coin and J. Savall. The ensemble’s repertory is concentrated in the main on the 17th and 18th centuries. Depending on the demands of each programme, the group will consist of anything from 3 to 30 musicians…

This collection of music for Vespers by J S Bach’s youngest son includes Domine ad adjuvandum, Confitbor tibi Domine, Beatus vir, Laudate pueri Dominum and his setting of the Magnificat. Domine ad adjuvandum is a world premiere recording.

It was literally "highly virtuosic" when the great composers of the 18th century brought together solo soprano and clarinet trumpet in glorious praise of God.