Actually, this concert by the Castor Ensemble should have been the prelude to the Advent concerts of the current Musica Sacra season. Due to the pandemic, the concert on Saturday in the Ursulinenkirche was the first for the baroque ensemble after a long dry spell. Therefore, the jubilant motto “Gloria in excelsis Deo” fit into the Lenten season, which is currently characterized by many horrors, and allowed a brief moment of stepping out of reality into a world of virtuoso ecstasy.
The program included instrumental works from Italy from the 17th and 18th centuries: “Arcadicha” from Op. 8 by Marco Uccellini, the Sinfonia in A minor Op. 5/1 by Giovanni Battista Bassani, a trio sonata in B minor by Giuseppe Brescianello and Georg Friedrich Handel’s Trio Sonata in G minor op. 2/5.
Handel spent three years in Italy and was largely inspired by the music of the time. This also applies to his “Gloria for soprano, two violins and basso continuo”, whose virtuoso vocal lines Johanna Rosa Falkinger celebrated enthusiastically and inspired with her crystal-clear soprano voice. Before that, she impressed with “Cara ceres”. The concluding “Alleluja” is reminiscent of Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate” counterpart in its stupendous virtuosity – ideal to sing it again as an encore at the end of the evening.
Source: Nachrichten
