Mikołaj ZIELEŃSKI (c. 1560-c. 1620)
Offertoria et Communiones Totius Anni (published 1611) - excerpts
Wrocław Baroque Ensemble/Andrzej Kosendiak
Rec. September 2019, Main Hall of the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music, Wrocław, Poland
Sung texts and translations included
ACCORD ACD272-2 [48:35]
The few salient facts which are known about Mikołaj Zieleński are invariably repeated in every CD booklet and review dedicated to his music. To compress them into a couple of sentences: his single extant legacy, the enormous two-part collection Offertoria et Communiones Totius Anni was composed during the lengthy period he served as Kapellmeister and organist to the Polish primate Wojciech Baranowski, whose regular visits to Italy rendered him a connoisseur of the Venetian polychoral experiments emanating from the likes of Giovanni Gabrieli. Whilst it is not known for certain if Zielenski accompanied his employer on any of these trips, it seems likely that Baranowski would have encouraged the composer to make use of this style, which dominates his Offertoria and provides further evidence of how the Venetian influence spread further into Northern Europe beyond Germany, via channels other than Heinrich Schutz. Whilst these Offertoria are laid out in line with the sequence of the liturgical calendar, Zieleński’s Communiones are arranged according to their performance requirements, proceeding from pieces for single voice with organ, via instrumentally accompanied bicinia and tricinia to more complex motets involving as many as six parts.
Zieleński is little known outside Poland which is most unfortunate, given that this music seems very fine; in so far as I have been able to make comparisons, in spite of its relative brevity the present issue seems to represent the best case for it on disc to date. In fact I was surprised to discover that Zieleński’s entire collection has been recorded before, in an ambitious project on Dux whereby the 113 single numbers which have survived are spread across six discs, with the Offertoria allocated to the first three volumes and the Communiones to the final three. My colleague Johan van Veen reviewed Volumes 2 and 3 of the Offertoria here, whilst Byzantion’s musings on the entire set can be found here and here.
Another interesting single disc collection can be found on the Swiss label Divox ; this is Rosarium Virginis Mariae, performed by the Warsaw-based early music group La Tempesta under Jakub Burzyński. (DIVOX ANTIQUA CDX 71401-6). On that issue the conductor has collated pieces with a pronounced Marian inflection from both parts of Zieleński’s work to form a kind of oratorio based upon the Mysteries of the Rosary. Its 2018 release was accompanied by publicity which emphasised Burzyński’s desire to recreate the style and actual sound of the era as authentically as possible; thus falsettists, countertenors and virile sounding basses are prominent within the choral mix.
It has been suggested that in terms of the single pieces Zieleński’s crowning achievement is the Magnificat which is the second track on the new disc, a six minute epic (in relative terms) involving three four-part choirs accompanied by an opulent instrumental ensemble enriched by a fruity harp and three superbly matched sackbuts. The Warsaw Baroque Ensemble’s twelve singers project a glorious timbral blend which has been expertly realised by the Accord engineers, helped considerably by the sympathetic acoustic of the main hall of the NFM in Wrocław. It is instructive to compare this account with the interpretations included on both of the issues I mentioned above. The Divox account seems swifter but it isn’t; it is instead a bit too hyperactive for my liking, individual voices are impassioned (some arguably verging on histrionic) and often vibrato-laden. On the whole the text is clearly rendered and the instrumental group is prominent and impactful. Although it’s recorded in a helpful acoustic, bigger climaxes seem somewhat congested. If I was to comment on that disc as a whole I would suggest that whilst it is certainly distinctive and colourful it becomes increasingly tiring to listen to. As for the Dux reading of the Magnificat (it’s the last track on Volume 3) the Capella Cracoviensis are recorded in a very resonant acoustic (St Mary of Fatima Church in Cracow) and are accompanied by rather inaudible sackbuts and organ. The singing is competent rather than inspired. I have sampled a number of tracks across the three Dux discs of Offertoria and can only concur with Johan van Veen’s view that insufficient differentiation between the sound-worlds of each single piece is something of a fatal flaw.
Which reinforces my view that single disc compilations of Zieleński are probably the best way forward in terms of promoting the considerable merits of this neglected figure. And in that regard where this new Accord disc scores over its Divox rival is in the refinement of the singing and playing, the care taken over the planning of the programme which magnifies the distinctive character of the individual pieces, and the convincing realisation of the sonics, whose immersive warmth disguises neither the instrumental detail nor the singers’ immaculate diction. This is consistently excellent and highlights this composer’s fastidious approach to word-setting. Indeed it’s evident from the outset in the communion chant Ecce Virgo concipiet, an arrestingly ornamented duet for soprano and bass with a tastefully florid organ accompaniment. Thereafter the sequence of pieces follows a kind of narrative structure determined by the events surrounding Christ’s Nativity and Resurrection, an order somewhat at odds with the composer’s original intentions.
The brief offertory Deus firmavit orbem terrae is a setting for two choirs of words from Psalm 92 in which the contrasts between groups of high (strings with harp, theorbo and an especially piquant harpsichord) and low register instruments (brass with bassoon, violine and organ) seem to neatly mirror the implications of the text. The clarity of the singers’ conveyance of the words in more modestly proportioned Communiones such as Viderunt omnes and Vox in Rama affords them a spiritual impact which is at least the equal of the more ornate, polychoral Offertoria. It is probably unfair to identify individual voices but I enjoyed especially the solo contributions of sopranos Aleksandra Turalska and Aldona Bartnik, the countertenor Piotr Olech and the bass Jaromir Nosek. The instrumentialists of the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble are outstanding; Andrzej Kosendiak’s direction is expertly paced and ensures that all this music glides along with optimum grace and purpose.
I would advise any reader drawn to this repertoire to pay little heed to the modest playing time; this selection of pieces from Mikołaj Zieleński’s magnum opus (more accurately solum opus) is performed with utmost care and impeccable taste. Accord’s packaging is crowned by an impressive booklet containing an informative essay on Zieleński’s life, a detailed introduction to each of the pieces, full texts with translations and several images of the recording sessions. On a related note, my engagement with this disc gives me an excuse to remind interested parties of an equally fine Naxos recording from a couple of years back of another largely overlooked Polish polychoral master, Andreas Hakenberger of Gdansk, whose 55 Motets from the Pelplin Tablature deserve similar attention - review.
Richard Hanlon
Contents
1. Ecce Virgo concipiet [3:12]
2. Magnificat [5:51]
3. Deus firmavit orbem terrae [2:37]
4. Viderunt omnes fines terrae [2:43]
5. Vox in Rama [2:54]
6. Vidimus stellam eius [2:25]
7. Responsum accepit Simeon [2:26]
8. Fantasia a tre [3:33]
9. In monte Oliveti [3:18]
10. Salve festa dies [4:34]
11. Mitte manum tuam [2:56]
12. Ascendit Deus [3:05]
13. Spiritus Sanctus docebit vos [1:47]
14. Video caelos apertos [3:42]
15. Benedictus sit Deus Pater [3:24]
