Lotti: Vesper Psalms

Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Jung, Matthias, Saechsisches Vocalensemble, soliści

CPO 777180

During the first third of the eighteenth century Antonio Lotti doubtless numbered among the most important Italian composers, but today general knowledge of his music hardly corresponds to its true significance. Born in Venice, Lotti also spent most of his professional life there — and thirty years of it as the organist at St. Mark's Basilica. Sacred music of course formed his compositional focus, but he increasingly turned to the writing of operas that became extraordinarily popular and brought him a two-year appointment as the music director at the Saxon-Polish court in Dresden. After his return to Venice he finally (by then he was seventy years old) was elected music director at St. Mark's. His two years in Dresden (1717-18) occasioned a flourishing of sacred music at the court of August the Strong, who had just converted to Catholicism, and this renaissance hardly seems surprising once one gets to know this great Venetian's music. For example, the Dixit Dominus presented on our CD interprets the text genially, in a way standing alone in its times and ranging from the highest emotional intensity to the most filigree tenderness. This is the discovery of one of the greatest of the great masters of the eighteenth century!

CD x 1

CPO

19.02.2007

761203718023