Search - Jan Dismas Zelenka, Konrad Wagner, Dresden Staatskapelle :: Zelenka: Missa Circumcisionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi

Magnificent

12/30/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Its a shame that I picked this up in a used record store in Cambridge, MA. The person who dumped it suffered a serious loss. Although the performance is on modern instruments, it is nonetheless quite vibrant. It is performed by the same ensemble that would have performed it at its premier in 1728. The mass was written for a festive occassion, and the trumpets, oboes, and drums give it a real aura of grandeur. Zelenka's sacred music is not as nimble or intimate as his chamber or orchestral works--he aims for the grandiose, in the same way Bach did. It sounds in many ways like a mini-B minor mass, although I mean that as a complement. Zelenka was very much his own man! Bach and Telemann thought very highly of the Dresden court chapel composer. Recommended, especially for the reasonable price."