Andreas Scholl (countertenor); Czech Ensemble Baroque/Roman Válek
Aparté AP340 48:00 mins
As the music historian Charles Burney observed, 18th-century Bohemia was a finishing school for talented and well-educated musicians who sought their fortunes elsewhere. Musical establishments across Europe were the beneficiaries of a legion of Czech composers and performers, but Vienna was perhaps their prime destination.
Among the most celebrated plying his trade in the imperial capital was František Tůma. Born in north-eastern Bohemia in 1704, Tůma spent most of his working life in Vienna in the service of members
of the court and the imperial family. While his music is solidly founded in the Italian tradition practised by his teacher Johann Fux, it possesses an undeniably seductive brilliance where nothing is entirely predictable, nor – for the most part – overlong. In addition, his purely orchestral writing, showcased here in a three-movement Sinfonia, is full of sparky imagination.
This collection offers the listener a handsome conspectus of Tůma’s talents, performed with plenty of enthusiasm and stylistic understanding. The brief motet for the opening St John the Baptist is a delight, with nicely focused choral singing, particularly in the upper registers, and an engaging central aria sung by Andreas Scholl, flavoured by his familiar rich timbre and elegant phrasing.
Scholl also takes the lead in two solo motets, which include some magnificent, deeply felt arias. Even more rewarding is a grand concerted setting of Dixit Dominus. The resonant acoustic is an advantage and helps to conceal some untidy playing in the strings. If overall the standard of performing is not of the highest, it rarely gets in the way of this richly enjoyable music.
