MUSIC FROM 18th CENTURY PRAGUE SERIES

Supraphon’s ac­claimed Music from 18th century Prague edition is now in its seventh year. The new recordings released within the series have drawn upon the musicological discoveries made over the past few decades, as well as the high artistic standard of Czech ensembles specialised in historically informed performance of early music. The Supraphon edition provides listeners with the opportunity to acquaint themselves with a repertoire that has been overlooked, or even completely forgotten, for centuries, thus creating a vivid picture of the musical life in 18th-century Prague. This autumn, two new titles within the MUSIC FROM EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PRAGUE series have been released. The first is a CD with Jan Zach’s Requiem solemne and Vesperae de Beata Virgine (SU 4209–2), splendidly performed by the Musica Florea and Collegium Floreum ensembles, and four soloists, conducted by Marek Štryncl.

JAN ZACH / REQUIEM SOLEMNE, VESPERAE DE BEATA VIRGINE (MARIAN VESPERS)
Jan Zach (1713–1773), whose name is appearing in the MUSIC FROM EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PRAGUE series for the first time, has been ranked among the “Czech music exiles” who in the 18th century moved to Western Europe. Yet before having left Bohemia, at the age of 28, in the wartime year of 1741, Zach had composed a great number of pieces. The bulk of his oeuvre rests in liturgical music (he set the text of the requiem alone three times). His Requiem solemne in C minor was frequently performed at Prague churches (as documented by the numerous copies preserved) during his lifetime and even continued to be played in the 20th century. Today, Zach’s mass can be listened to as a textbook summary of the compositional styles customary at the time, with their diversity ranging from conventional contrapuntal movements to modern coloratura arias. The Vesperae de Beata Virgine (presented on the Supraphon CD in modern-time premiere), already drifting towards Viennese Classicism, was amply performed in Prague too. The two Zach pieces give us a good idea of what type of music was heard at the newly built churches in the city in the 1730s. The internationally renowned Musica Florea undertook the premiere with their typical zest and enthusiasm.

Recorded by: Michaela Šrůmová – soprano, Sylva Čmugrová – alto, Čeněk Svoboda – tenor, Jaromír Nosek – bass, Musica Florea, Collegium Floreum, conductor: Marek Štryncl

For further details please visit:
www.musicaflorea.cz