Apart from an arrangement of the Baroque carol "Adeste Fideles," for carillon, Rorate Coeli: Music for Advent and Christmas in Baroque Prague doesn't include the traditional holiday fare, but for the listener who wants to explore Christmas music from another time and place, this elegant album has much to offer. It includes both vocal and instrumental works, and the composers range from the somewhat obscure to the utterly unknown. This CD marks the first recordings of music by Antonín Reichenauer, including a delightful Italianate Trio Sonata and two graceful vocal works. Václav Karel Holan Rovensky is known to scholars for the massive collection of hymns, songs, and liturgical music he assembled late in the seventeenth century, and he is represented by seven exceptionally lovely hymns. The other Czech composer included is Jan Dismas Zelenka, whose Alma Redemptoris Mater is a marvel of late Baroque elegance and expressiveness. German composer Johann Friedrich Fasch served as a chapel musician in Prague and is represented by a lively and refined Sonata for flute, two recorders, and basso continuo. Italian Antonio Caldara is the only composer without a direct connection to Prague, but his nativity aria "Qual pargoletto," which has the character of a pastorale, was widely popular throughout Europe and may well have been performed in Prague, where Italian music was held in especially high regard. The performances are consistently excellent.
Jana Semerádova leads
Collegium Marianum in nuanced and spirited performances, and her realizations of accompaniments to Rovensky's hymns are especially effective. The vocal soloists are above reproach, singing with purity and energy, but baritone Marián Krejcík stands out for the resonance of his voice and the expansiveness of his performance. Supraphon's sound is clear, balanced, and nicely ambient.