Schroeder,Pierre / Manfredini / Lagc Chamber Orch - Pagan Mass - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Various Artists - Bergtoene - Sounds from the Mo / Various [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/01/2004

In Rysum in East Frisia a particularly valuable historical organ has been preserved This unique instrument from the years 1442 and 1513 still has most of it's original pipes. The organist Lorenzo Ghielmi and the Ensemble Biscantores present here a kind of organ mass in which organ pieces and liturgical chant alternate according to the practice of the time. The Italian organist and harpsichordist, Lorenzo Ghielmi, is organist on the Ahrend organ (1991) at the Basilica di San Simpliciano in Milan, where he performed from 1992 to 1994 the complete organ works of J.S. Bach. He gives concerts throughout Europe, Japan and the USA as an organist and harpsichordist. He has made many radio and studio recordings. He plays with his instrumental ensemble La Divina Armonia and in duet with his younger brother Vittorio Ghielmi (viola da gamba and harpsichord). In France, he received the Diapason d'Or for his recordings of Bruhns and Bach. He also played organ & harpsichord in the first recordings of Il Giardino Armonico. Lorenzo Ghielmi, teaches organ, harpsichord and early music at the Milan Accademia Internazionale della Musica.

New light on Pergolesi! This album sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of the great Italian composer, offering two masterpieces in their first modern edition and first recording the Mass in D major and the mottettone Dignas Laudes. Both editions are the outcome of recent musicological research carried out by the Centro Studi Pergolesi in Milan, and show a facet of Pergolesi - his energetic and solemn character - that complements and amplifies the dramatic and introspective moods of his most renowned sacred works. This Arcana inaugurates a collaboration with the Ghislieri Choir & Consort and celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of the ensemble, which specialises in eighteenth-century sacred repertory and has already recorded works by Galuppi, Jommelli, Perez (Il Mattutino de' Morti) and Handel (Handel in Rome 1707) for Sony-DHM. The soloists on this recording, conducted by Giulio Prandi, are the soprano Marlis Petersen, one of the leading sopranos on the international scene, and a quintet of young Italian singers who already perform in the most important and prestigious European venues.