CD of Accademia Amsterdam, Cantatas around Christmas time of F.W. Zachow
Performed by Accademia Amsterdam, Constanze Backes and Capella Frisiae. Director: Ludger Remy.
More information can be found here. You can order through the web shop.
Wilhelm Friedrich Zachow (1663-1712) is one of those 'hidden' composers who has disappeared under the dust because the big three - Bach, Handel and Vivaldi draw all our attention. Recorder player and oboist Onno Verschoor has rediscovered Zachow. His music is one of the missing links between Buxtehude and Bach.
Zachow composed various types of cantatas, from small ensembles to large-scale choral and orchestral works with virtuoso instrumental and vocal parts. This CD contains four cantatas, two of which are before Christmas: Meine Seel 'erheb den Herrn and Preiset mit mir den Herrn. The middle two are 'per omni tempore'. All cantatas are performed in low baroque pitch.
Soprano Constanze Backes takes care of the 'canto' in the first and second cantata with her radiant voice. The other soloists are members of the vocal ensemble Capella Frisiae. Not all solo singers have the same high level, but the chorus sound is beautiful. The instrumental ensemble Accademia Amsterdam plays superbly. - BD
Akkoord Magazine, December 2010
[...] Beauty can be found primarily in the sololistic middle sections. Surprising is the diversity of the exposed instruments. The continuo playing on the Arp Schnitger organ of the Pelstergasthuis church in the city of Groningen was very successful.
Kerk & Muziek, April 2010