Psalm 51

Description

Damien Guillon sings and conducts his ensemble, Le Banquet Céleste, in a fascinating collection of psalms by Bach revisiting Pergolesi, and Vivaldi. The countertenor Damien Guillon, an admirable interpreter of the most spiritual baroque music, makes his debut with Glossa by singing and conducting a fascinating diptych of psalms by Bach and Vivaldi: Tilge, Hochster, meine Sünden, BWV 1083 and Nisi Dominus, RV 608. As Konzertmeister in Weimar, J. S. Bach was tasked with transcribing scores by Vivaldi that the Duke of Saxe-Weimar had acquired in Amsterdam. The Venetian style, particularly that of the concertos, had a profound fascination on the young Bach. But Bach chose the music of another composer, Neapolitan and of the next generation, Pergolesi, to write Tilge, Hochster, meine Sünden on the text of Psalm 51. This is a masterful reworking - in the form of a parody or pasticcio - of Pergolesi's theatrical (and Catholic) Stabat Mater: Bach adapted the work by shaping it to the genius of the German text, and Protestantism. The warm voice of countertenor Guillon finds its ideal complement in that of the fantastic soprano specialized in the baroque repertoire, Céline Scheen, whose vocal agility and purity of tone amaze today's European audience.