The Zürcher Barockorchester: La Dresda Galante

When one contemplates the Augustan era in Saxony, the large residential city of Dresden immediately comes to mind. The city experienced an apex across all areas of cultural development in the eighteenth century, poignantly reflected in the city’s uniquely elegant architecture. The music at the court of Dresden in particular was widely renowned, and it incorporated a number of different European styles of the day. Under the direction of Renate Steinmann, the Zürcher Barockorchester perform works from this exceptionally diverse repertoire. Their selection of vocal and instrumental compositions by Johann Adolf Hasse, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann David Heinichen, Antonio Vivaldi, and Giovanni Alberto Ristori creates a broad canvas which demonstrates the multifaceted range of music that was performed and valued at the Dresden court in the eighteenth century. The twelve musicians of the Zürcher Barockorchester (Renate Steinmann, violin; Jermaine Sprosse, harpsichord) are joined by soprano Miriam Feuersinger. Paying much attention to nuance, the musicians achieve today what had been achieved in Dresden two-hundred years ago: curiosity and a cosmopolitan worldview allow the performers to combine diverse musical styles, generating something truly unique.

Miriam Feuersinger
Zürcher Barockorchester
Renate Steinmann

 Crescendo Magazin - CD Besprechung (Oktober 2014, MW)

„Der Einfluss Italiens ist deutlich spür- und hörbar. Dazu trägt nicht zuletzt das brillante Zürcher Barockorchester bei, dessen Solisten - allen voran Konzertmeisterin Renate Steinmann und Cembalist Jermain Sprosse - restlos überzeugen. Es agiert aber auch als geschlossenes Instrumentalensemble wendig und kraftvoll. Miriam Feuersingers klare Stimme passt sich hervorragend ein und vervollständigt eine rundum gelungene Aufnahme."

Overture - das Klassik Blog (27. Juli 2015)

"herrliche weite Bögen, gekonnt und farbenreich musiziert"

American Record Guide (8. Juli 2015, Peter Loewen)

“tight, intense sound that puts one on the edge of one’s seat. […] They play the concerto with such gusto that one can hardly imagine what could follow. But it is the perfect set up for the fireworks in Hasse’s motet ‘Alta Nubes Ilustrata’, sung by Miriam Feuersinger, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite sopranos. Her voice is remarkably supple, adaptable to every requirement – the decorative coloratura in the opening and closing arias ‘Alta Nubes Illustrara’ and ‘Alleluja’ and the gentle contours of ‘Coelesti Incendio Amoris’. Feuersinger’s voice also breathes life into Giovanni Alberto Ristori’s cantata Lavinia a Turno. Ristori came to Dresden in 1715, 16 years before Hasse, though his music bears many of the characteristics that Hasse would make famous – coloratura and rich contours.”

Overture (27. Juli 2015, NN)

“gekonnt und farbenreich”