COMPOSERS: Handel,Hoffmann,Jacobi and Torelli,Manfredini,Melani
LABELS: Berlin Classics
WORKS: Works by Melani, Hoffmann, Manfredini, Handel, Jacobi and Torelli
PERFORMER: Deborah York (soprano); Elbipolis
CATALOGUE NO: 0016602BC
A gleaming festive concerto for two trumpets by 17th-century composer Alessandro Melani launches this loosely-themed celebration of the Christmas message. Only the Handel Gloria is remotely well-known, and that is a recent discovery.
It is sung with minimal vibrato by soprano Deborah York, who also solos in Melchior Hoffmann’s Magnificat and Christian August Jacobi’s effervescent cantata Der Himmel steht uns wieder offen!, where the trumpets re-surface happily burbling. Hamburg-based period ensemble Elbipolis accompany crisply, and delight in Manfredini’s beguiling little Sinfonia Pastorale.