Matthias Maute and the singers of Ensemble ArtChoral – formerly Ensemble Vocal Art Québec – pursue their unique project tracing the history of choral singing over nearly six centuries, from the Renaissance to the present day, accompanied by Dorothéa Ventura on the organ. After an Christmas album of the same kind of corpus, this one focuses on late baroque composers such as Johann Ludwig Bach, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Gottfried August Homilius, Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonio Lotti and a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Listening to this new opus, the praise is once again in order. The same intelligent pacing and vocal quality are present. Matthias Maute directs the voices of his ensemble with an expert hand, bringing together works, some of which are little known to the average listener, that offer a varied panorama of vocal writing from the second half of the 18th century, from the most stripped-down harmony to the most complex contrapuntal, imitative and fugal passages. Examples include Lotti’s “Crucifixus” for 10 voices and basso continuo, whose relentless rhythmic theme and harmonic treatment evoke the pain of Christ on the cross, as well as the motets “Ein feste Burg” by Telemann, “Die mit Tränen säen” and “Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden”, by Homilius and J.S. Bach respectively, which are among the most consistent pieces on the album in terms of musical illustration. An album of serenity and lively emotion for a repertoire to (re)discover.
