La Tempesta
La Tempesta performs Bach's Purification Mass with brilliant soloists including Julita Miroslawska (Soprano), Mariusz Cyciura (Tenor) and Artur Jand.
The core of the Baroque Lutheran music for an exceptional feast was the cantata (concerto, motetto). We are quite familiar with marvelous cantatas for alto solo written by Bach; still there exists one that is rarely performed or recorded: the alto version of the famous bass cantata Ich habe genug BWV 82.
Scored for voice, oboe and strings, the cantata consists of three arias completely different in character and expression with two short recitatives between them. The ouvre was composed for the feast of Purification of Mary (2nd February) and its text concentrates on the subject of welcoming death according to the words of old Simeon who met Mary with the lifelong expected Messiah in the Temple.
While the feast of Purification was one of the most solemn occasions in the Lutheran liturgical calendar, there is a strong argument to complete the program with figural Latin mass parts.
All musical works are interpreted on period instruments by the ensemble La Tempesta under the artistic direction of Jakub Burzynski, who is not only a very renowned conductor but also an excellent countertenor. He is singing the alto parts in this wonderful production among other brilliant soloists like Julita Miroslawska (Soprano), Mariusz Cyciura (Tenor) and Artur Janda (Bass-Bariton).
