Reviews

Pergolesi’s Stabat mater and Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus must be high on the list of frequently recorded Baroque music, and I often wonder whether we need a continued focus on what are now canonic and well-known pieces. This new release, however, is moving and poignant: it is obvious these artists have something personal to say about the Stabat mater.

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The orchestra are superb accompanists, often setting scenes with striking moods and then operating subtly but persuasively when singers (and, crucially, text) enter.

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All in all a very moving and engaging performance from one of the newest and slickest ensembles on the scene.

[...] De opname van Engeltjes is een schot in de roos.

Mild en soepel trekt Cum Dederit voorbij, de Bondmuziek, met pulserende violen en tokkelende luist. In Pergolesi's Stabat Mater krijgt de counter gezelschap van de Israëlische sopraan Shira Patchornik. Haar heldere gevlamde stem steekt mooi af bij het fluweel van Engeltjes. [...[

"Countertenoren Maarten Engeltjes en Andreas Scholl zijn op tournee met duetten van Purcell. Hun stemmen mengen schitterend, terwijl barok ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam uitstekend begeleidt"

(...)

“Tussendoor droeg acteur Frans van Deursen zeven Shakespeare-sonnetten over muziek en liefde voor. De sonnetten waren goed gekozen en door Van Deursen zelf losjes maar communicatief vertaald.”

“The trumpets sound (Sound the trumpet), the lute chirps (Ah, Heav'n! What Is't I Hear?), the music becomes a source of comfort and joy in the air: If music be the food of love (concert title) and Music for a while. Purcell, nicknamed the British Orpheus, sets the English language to music with refinement, declining states of love in all their diversity (…). The program thus highlights the richness and variety of the composer's body of vocal works (…)” (original in French)

“The orchestra of twelve musicians sounds with fullness and faithfully follows the aesthetic proposal of its charismatic leader Josef Zák: this is a very beautiful violin, dense, embodied and whose ornamental proposals are always solidly conducted. Cello and double bass provide a powerful and articulate support, particularly sensitive.”

“Maarten Engeltjes enjoys a clear voice with a very even color throughout his range, a quality that is appreciated in the virtuoso duets of "Sound the trumpet" and "Ah heav'n! What is’t I hear.”

“While keeping an exceptional control of the breath, the singer sculpts the word and plunges into the poetic material, finds a new flexibility in the garlands of eighth notes of "Music for a while", presents with disarming sincerity the beautiful poem of an "Evening Hymn ”almost hypnotic. In great vocal form, the German countertenor revives the discourse art cultivated by Alfred Deller while adding a variety of colors very noticeable in the acoustics of the Salle Gaveau. After a cover of the hit "Sound the Trumpet", the duo will offer a moving transcription of the traditional Scottish "Annie Laurie" whose totally assumed kitsch (pizz bass, violin duo in traditional style) undoubtedly equal the iconic version of Deanna Durbin!”

“But it is undoubtedly in the duets that the tandem excels, the complementarity of the voices being a part of musical magic. From the introductory tête-à-tête, "Here The Deities", we immediately understand that between these two voices the affinities are more than friendly, they are elective. This will eloquently confirm the jubilant “Sound The Trumpet” given as a reminder. Whether they confuse their tessitura as in "O Dive Custos Auriacae Domus" or whether they respond from one solo to the other as in "No, resistance is but vain", they go well beyond a formal association of an evening. They marvelously inhabit the voluptuous waves of "Fairest Isle" as well as the languid dialogue of "Ah heav'n! What is’t I hear ”from one of Purcell's Masters, John Blow. The pleasure of hearing these two voices as a duet is such that the public asks for more and is then exhilarated, the two artists offering the audience as a final gift a Scottish Song "Annie Laurie" to close the evening.”

“The program also gives pride of place to music, the Ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam is much more than a simple accompanist, it is a real breath. Under the direction of Maarten Engeltjes, the ensemble never gives in to the sometimes artificial enthusiasms into which more than one conductor can be drawn into this treacherously flattering repertoire. The roundness and flexibility of the sounds allow us to hear again and rediscover the music of Purcell with this characteristic blend of softness and firmness, rigor and flexibility, thus reminding us that he was one of the greatest melodists of his time.”

"(...) Het was een genot om beide stemmen virtuoos om elkaar heen te horen wervelen in aria’s zoals No, resistance is but vain en het euforische Sound the trumpet. (...) Een andere oerkracht die tijdens het programma de revue passeerde, was de winter in Purcells uitzonderlijk modern klinkende Cold Song uit King Arthur, zeer expressief door Engeltjes gezongen. Met ferme horten en stoten maakte hij de snijdende vrieskou bijna tastbaar en veroorzaakte bij de luisteraar een zeer toepasselijke fysiologische reactie: kippenvel."