Special offer. Telemann: Missa & Cantatas for Countertenor
Alex Potter (countertenor)
La dolcezza
The cantatas, mass and instrumental music are winsomely performed; Alex Potter’s countertenor is a constant pleasure.
Special offer. Telemann: Missa & Cantatas for Countertenor
Alex Potter (countertenor)
La dolcezza
Purchase product
The cantatas, mass and instrumental music are winsomely performed; Alex Potter’s countertenor is a constant pleasure.
About
Alex Potter – praised by the press as "a rising star in the world of countertenors" – interprets sacred works by Telemann for cpo on this album. The setting of Psalm 6 continues to be thoroughly obliged to the tone of the sacred concertos of the seventeenth century associated with names such as Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmüller, and Johann Schelle. However, even though this psalm setting entitled "Ach, Herr strafe mich nicht" very much resembles similar works by older authors, it nevertheless displays a very special aura. Accompanied by two violins and basso continuo, an affectively nuanced narrative of a soul plagued by fear and hoping for the end of its torments is heard. The Missa in B minor is similar in style to the music of the psalm; it is what is known as a Lutheran »short mass,« which with its Kyrie and Gloria merely consists of two compositional complexes. All the numbers comprising "Me miserum" concern the faithful soul, which tells its story, is aware of its insufficiency but does not yield to despair, and therefore is able to register its experience of faith. A sonata and two fugues round off the album.
Contents and tracklist
- Alex Potter
- La Dolcezza
- Veronika Skuplik
- Michael Fuerst (organ)
- Alex Potter, Michael Fuerst
- La Dolcezza
- Veronika Skuplik
- Michael Fuerst (organ)
- Alex Potter, Michael Fuerst, Felix Knecht
- La Dolcezza
- Veronika Skuplik
- Alex Potter, Michael Fuerst
- La Dolcezza
- Veronika Skuplik
Awards and reviews
September 2019
The cantatas, mass and instrumental music are winsomely performed; Alex Potter’s countertenor is a constant pleasure.
January/February 2020
countertenor Alex Potter is spot on. His resonant voice contains a lovely timbre, while his phrasing is precisely what this music needs to bring it to life. All in all, this is another good addition to the vast Telemann repertory, and while these seemingly early works are nowhere as progressive as his later ones, they do give a good picture of one of the Baroque’s most prolific composers.
July 2019
Potter delivers incisive and moving performances of these fine works by Telemann.
