Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi (2024)

Balance of splendour and measure: It is the story of a renaissance. Sorely neglected for many years, the music of Jan Dismas Zelenka has in recent decades regained its place on the concert stage thanks to newly edited scores and enthusiastic performers. Born in Bohemia, trained in Prague and later reaching his full maturity in Dresden, Zelenka placed his own unique stamp on the music of his age, already enjoying great admiration during his lifetime.

Having discovered Zelenka early in his career, Frieder Bernius has been a regular interpreter of his music. This recording features the festive Missa gratias agimus tibi of 1730, scored for trumpets and timpani. The 17 short movements of this Mass illustrate Zelenka’s ingenuity and technical mastery.

The Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra and soloists Hannah Morrison, Franziska Bobe, David Allsopp, Thomas Hobbs and Jonathan Sells are conducted by Frieder Bernius.

What is striking about the most recent recording is that the ‘Missa Gratias agimus tibi’, flanked on the album by Zelenka's magnificent D major Magnificat, among others, lives, like Bernius' previous Zelenka recordings, from the conductor's astonishing ability to keep splendour and moderation in balance. But despite all the control, Zelenka sounds more relaxed, softer and milder here than before; this becomes particularly clear in comparison to the ‘Missa Dei Patris’ recorded back in 1998. One hardly dares to use the cliché of old-age style with a conductor who despises few things as much as clichés. But it comes to mind again and again when listening, and with a thoroughly positive meaning.

The mostly short movements of the ‘Missa Gratias agimus tibi’, composed in 1730, are small, lively character pieces. They meander between extremes of instrumentation, tone colour and expression, they cultivate contrasts in a confined space, they are full of chromaticism, sensual secondary rhythms and delightful melodic inventions. Frieder Bernius performs all this with precision. Finished. He doesn't need the over-expressive. Even where the music holds its breath in ‘Et resurrexit’ with the words ‘Vivos et mortuos’ and ‘mortuorum’, Bernius refuses to overdo it - and achieves a strong effect precisely because of this.

The quality and intensity are created through focussing. The strings of the Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra often seem light as a feather in their fine phrasing, oboes and flutes provide strong concertante moments, timpani and trumpets radiate splendour. The vocal soloists are not only each first-class in their own right, but also come together in the finest coordination, including in the ‘Et incarnatus est’ of the Credo movement and in the second, soloistic ‘Agnus Dei’ movement, which gives us an idea of the splendid castrati Zelenka had at his disposal at the Dresden court. The chamber choir itself is once again a vocal phenomenon, whose voices interact seamlessly over, alongside and with each other. The Bernius trademark, a completely flicker-free, luminous soprano, contrasted here with the agile bass figures typical of Zelenka, extends right into the orchestral sound. Great music, great interpretation. This album is the ultimate Christmas tree recommendation.

Hannah Morrison, soprano
Franziska Bobe, soprano (Tracks 16, 21)
David Allsopp, countertenor
Philipp Cieslewicz, countertenor (Track 16)
Thomas Hobbs, tenor
Jonathan Sells, bass
Stuttgart Chamber Choir
Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra
Frieder Bernius, conductor

TRACKLIST

1. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: I. Kyrie
2. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIa. Gloria in excelsis Deo
3. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIb. Laudamus te
4. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIc. Qui tollis peccata mundi
5. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IId. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus
6. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIe. Cum Sancto Spiritu
7. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIf. Amen
8. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIIa. Credo in unum Deum
9. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIIb. Et incarnatus est
10. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIIc. Crucifixus
11. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IIId. Et resurrexit
12. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IVa. Sanctus
13. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IVb. Benedictus
14. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: IVc. Osanna
15. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: Va. Agnus Dei I
16. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: Vb. Agnus Dei II
17. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi, ZWV 13: Vc. Agnus Dei III et Dona nobis pacem
18. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Magnificat in D Major, ZWV 108: I. Magnificat anima mea Dominum
19. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Magnificat in D Major, ZWV 108: II. Suscepit Israel
20. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Magnificat in D Major, ZWV 108: III. Amen
21. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Laudate pueri Dominum in F Major, ZWV 82
22. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Beatus vir in C Major, ZWV 76: I. Beatus vir
23. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Beatus vir in C Major, ZWV 76: II. Gloria Patri
24. Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart & Frieder Bernius - Zelenka: Beatus vir in C Major, ZWV 76: III. Amen