Les Passions de l'Ame - Divina (2020) [Hi-Res]

Spiritual-worldly baroque rarities by Schmelzer and Biber
After the highly acclaimed albums "Spicy" (jpc 1072640), "Schabernack" (jpc 6598872) and "Variety" (jpc 9267561), the Bern-based early music ensemble Les Passions de l'Ame has once again dedicated its new CD "Divina" to the works of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (ca. 1623-1680) and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704). The ensemble also completes the complete recording of all trio sonatas, also known as "parts", from Biber's collection "Harmonia Artificiosa-Ariosa".

Selected for "Divina" are instrumental and vocal compositions written for the church and the court. The album title reflects the main idea of the album: The music has the power to combine the earthly with the heavenly. And with their works, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber should succeed in this feat. The two baroque composers revolutionized the repertoire for this string instrument with their highly demanding violin works. In addition, the Austrian Schmelzer and the Bohemian Biber exerted a great influence on the development of Austrian-South German music.

On "Divina", the connection between the secular and the clerical is echoed, among other things, in Schmelzer's title of his string sonatas "Sacro-Profanus Concentus Musicus", intended for both the church and the court. In the two sonatas to be heard, Schmelzer contrasts the bright colours of the violins with the tone colours of the low strings and plays in a baroque manner with rapidly changing affects. Also two sonatas are heard from Biber's collection "Harmonia Artificiosa-Ariosa" (1696). In addition to a Passacaglia for solo violin, beautifully titled "Guardian Angel", Biber will also perform two rarely heard sacred vocal works: in the two Psalm settings "Nisi Dominus" and "Lætatus sum", the solo violin once again excels in its secular virtuosity.