Gunar Letzbor, Ars Antiqua Austria & St. Florianer Sängerknaben - Biber: Missa Alleluja; Nisi Dominus (2017) [CD-Rip]

Several masses scored for large forces attest to the outstanding compositional skills of the Salzburg master Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704). For Salzburg Cathedral, Biber prepared polychoric pieces modelled on the grand performance practice in Venice. The 'Missa Alleluja' was probably composed after 1690 and certainly before 1698: the original score from Salzburg is lost but excellent copies have been preserved at the Upper Austrian abbey at Kremsmünster, which serve as a basis for the present recording. Biber fully exploited the possibilities of Baroque instrumentation in the Missa Alleluja: a chorus with 2 sopranos, 2 altos, 2 tenors and 2 bass voices grants him a large number of combinations of voices and thus constant changes of timbre. The strings 'choir' also has six parts, with both violins often written virtuosically. A 'chorus' of 3 trumpets and 2 cornetti is even surpassed in tonal mass by that composed of 2 clarinets, 4 trumpets and timpani. This large number of trumpets emphasises the cheerful character of the work and is luxurious by Austrian standards.