DESCRIPTION:
Giacomo Antonio Perti (Bologna, 1661-1756)
MESSA A 12 (1687) - Sinfonia (0:00) & Kyrie I (02:05)
For 12 soloists, 3 choirs, strings and basso continuo
Manuscript: S. Petronio's Music Archive

Recorded live in the Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, Italy, 2nd October 2006
Included in the CD Dynamic CDS707 "Perti G. A., Messa a 12"


Performers:


FIRST CHOIR in cornu evangelii

Soloists
Sonia Tedla, soprano
Francesco Giusti, alto
Michele Concato, tenor
Carlo Bonarelli, bass

Ripieni
CHOIR OF THE CAPPELLA MUSICALE DI SAN PETRONIO
Michele Vannelli, maestro di cappella

Sara Dieci, organ (Baldassarre Malamini, 1596)


SECOND CHOIR in cornu epistolæ

Soloists
Francesca Cassinari, soprano
Jacopo Facchini, alto
Alberto Allegrezza, tenor
Gabriele Lombardi, bass

Ripieni
COLOR TEMPORIS VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Marco Belluzzi, Chorus Master

Marina Scaioli (Lorenzo da Prato, 1471-75 and Giovanni Battista Facchetti, 1531)


THIRD CHOIR in the apse

Soloists
Elena Bertuzzi, soprano
Raphaël Mas, alto
Baltasar Zúñiga, tenor
Abramo Rosalen, bass

Ripieni
COLLEGIUM MUSICUM ALMAE MATRIS CHAMBER CHOIR
David Winton, Chorus Master

Francesco Tasini, organ


MICHELE VANNELLI, maestro di cappella

This recording represents a testimony in sound of the concert for the feast of San Petronio held on 2nd October 2006, in coincidence with the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the death of Perti. For the occasion over 120 performers were lined up along the horseshoe choir-stall that surrounds the presbytery of the basilica: the first chorus was on the left; the second set opposite nearly thirty metres away; the third choir was placed on the central balustrade of the choir-stall, beneath the semi-circular tribune which housed the orchestra. This arrangement made it possible to recreate the performance and acoustic conditions, documented by copious iconography, which influenced both the composition and the performance of music in Bologna churches in the seventeenth century.

The CAPPELLA MUSICALE ARCIVESCOVILE DELLA BASILICA DI SAN PETRONIO, founded in 1436 at the request of Pope Eugene IV, was one of the most important music institutions in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; it produced important forms of instrumental music and boasted such outstanding musicians as Cazzati, Colonna, Perti, Vitali, Gabrielli, Torelli and Jacchini. The Cappella was formed anew in the 1980s, seeking to rediscover and enhance in a systematic manner the repertoire of the Bologna school, conserved in abundant quantities in the basilica's music archive. The rebirth came about in the light of recent studies of musical philology and of performance practice: under the direction of Sergio Vartolo, the Cappella Musicale di San Petronio formed the first orchestra with period instruments in Italy, boasting the collaboration of the most important musicians active in the field of so-called early music. The Cappella has given concerts all over Europe and has made recordings with Bongiovanni, Dynamic, Harmonia Mundi France, Naxos and Tactus. Michele Vannelli became maestro di cappella in 2006.

Scores transcribed and edited by Michele Vannelli

www.cappellamusicalesanpetronio.it
www.dynamic.it

background image: Basilica of San Petronio, detail of the inside; photo by Andrea Simili