Ensemble BachWerkVokal Salzburg, Gordon Safari - Cantate Domino (2019)

“O sing unto the Lord a new song.” What a beginning for a piece of choral music! If you’re a composer, it draws you like a magnet. And so it has proven throughout the centuries. Who knows, maybe you’ll write the definitive version. And, until someone figures out a way to copyright the Bible, it’s free! Putting together a compilation of settings by great composers was a natural idea, and here it is. But—beware! Everything is not as it seems.
It looks like just another collection of short anthems. Yes, the composers represented make up an all-star cast. But we know from expensive gambling in the record store that Telemann is sometimes only Telemann, and Handel is usually Handel, but sometimes he’s HANDEL. Etc. But gambling sometimes pays off, and on this CD, every single note is wonderful, except for the ones that are terrific. Did they just flip a coin to decide which music they would use, and accidentally come up with the best the composers had to offer? Or—something I am forced to contemplate—Could it be possible that conductor Gordon Safari can make anything sound like this? Is he the Conductor whose coming has been foretold? I don’t know, but there’s a clue: On the back of the accompanying booklet there is a picture of the orchestra. Every single member looks like an undergraduate. If there’s anyone in that photo who’s 30 years old, the others must call him “Grandpa.” Of course it’s difficult to pick out individual orchestra members who are making remarkable contributions to the whole. However, when you buy this disc (not if—when), listen to track 12 of the Telemann. Two people are listed on the orchestra roster as horn players: Gerard Serrano Garcia and Simon Poieier. Presumably, the first listed player usually gets the solo passages, but they don’t specify who is playing on track 12. But listen to it. Can you think of a single piece of music for horn that you would not like to hear this man play? Over and over again? This person is either Gerard or Simon, but he should change his name to Gabriel. This is a hornblower. Attention must be paid.
A quick note: The Mozart represented here is a short canon to which Mozart offers “solutions.” This is the sort of thing we imagine Mozart must have been thinking while the other kids were out playing in the empty lot. Another quickie: The record producers, who have a great deal to brag about here, have chosen to do so about the sound quality. And in fact, it’s superb.