Search - Zelenka, Chandos Baroque Players :: Lamentations of Jeremiah

A voice teacher and early music fan

George Peabody | Planet Earth | 03/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"JEREMIAH LAMENTS - SKILLED SINGERS PRESENT - ZELENKA'S CONTENT!



Many composers through the centuries have written musical settings for 'Tenebrae', which is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before Maunday Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week. The liturgy is taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the bible. A few of these composers are: Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Francois Couperin and of course, Jan D. Zelenka.



Zelenka's music sounds somewhat like Bach, but it is different enough from Bach in structure and instrumentation that you would not mistake it for Bach. However, like Bach, he values counterpoint, fugal technique and careful craftsmanship, besides it's sonorous color which is shown by the use of a variety of obligato wind instruments, in complex chromatic harmony and in descending and ascending scales ending in unexpected harmonies.



Having said all of this I need to mention the skill is takes to perform these Lamentations. For that we have 3 excellent soloists: Michael Chance(countertenor): sings 'Lamentations II for Maunday Thursday and Easter Eve. His voice is warm, almost hypnotic and a pure joy to hear. Michael George (bass) sings 'Lamentations I for Maunday Thurday and 'Lamentation II for Good Friday. His voice is deeply sonorous with much resonance; a pleasure to hear. John Mark Ainsley(tenor) sings 'Lamentations I for Good Friday and Easter Eve. He sings precisely with clear diction and intense tone quality. They each have lengthy solo portions and perform them in a proper emotional framework.



I love listening to this disc and have done so many many times. If you haven't heard Zelenka's music this is a good album with which to start. This disc is accompanied by an excellent booklet with pertinent information and a complete text."