The name of
Franti¿ek T¿ma
is known mostly to scholars of the middle 18th century, and possibly not even to all of those, but the
Czech Ensemble Baroque
and conductor
Roman Válek
have been trying to change that situation, with
Válek
pointing out that both
Haydn
and
Mozart
knew
T¿ma
's music and were influenced by it in their early years, especially in the realm of sacred music. This release comes with a guest star, countertenor
Andreas Scholl
, and his large legion of fans will certainly take to it; he is in fine form, and he is to be commended for lending his presence to this fairly obscure project in the midst of the big crossover releases he can often command. However, the sections with the other soloists are hardly less strong. Sample the second-movement "Tecum principium" tenor-bass duet with
Ond¿ej Holub
Ji¿í Miroslav Procházka
in the
Dixit Dominus
. This work is from 1743, slightly earlier than most of the other works on the album, but it is the most progressive, with lots of light galant figures in the first movement. It may be the stylistic variety that turned off the keepers of the historical canon; sometimes, as in the
Motettum de tempore
of 1750, he writes big arias that wouldn't have been out of place in an earlier Baroque opera. For today's listeners, though,
's music is an appealing immersion in the various stylistic currents churning through the music of the middle 18th century, and it is, without exception, well made.
's orchestra and his choral singers are equally strong in a recording that will appeal to any lover of the late Baroque and early Classical periods. ~ James Manheim