Johannette Zomer – Laudate! (CD, Channel Classics)

LAUDATE! A few years ago I founded my own ensemble, the Tulipa Consort. As a singer, I am entitled to perform with many conductors, orchestras and choirs and in the most beautiful and unique places in the world. That always gives me a lot of joy in singing, but when preparing these concerts it turns out that often compromises have to be made between the individual performers (especially between the conductor and the singer) in order to come to a common understanding, and that is sometimes quite a difficult task. Now that I have founded my own ensemble, it turns out that I have also acquired my own artistic freedom, because I can now choose repertoires and people with whom I feel completely musically comfortable, and that is only beneficial for the performance. As the first CD project for the Tulipa Consort, I decided on sacred works by Antonio Vivaldi. The seeds for this were planted when I was allowed to perform Laudate Pueri with the cellist Jaap ter Linden in Montreal a few years ago. I was touched and impressed by the versatility of this work: Vivaldi is all too often associated only with his Four Seasons or the Gloria, but there is so much more. This soon became apparent when I began to set up a program around this Laudate Pueri. In particular, the somewhat slower works, such as the second movement from the Laudate Pueri Sit nomen Domini and the second aria from RV 631 Rosa quae moritur, proved to be of an undreamt-of depth and beauty. But also the energetic Ascenda Laeta, which bubbles and roars so much that it is a real pleasure, could not be missing. I hope you enjoy listening to this music as much as we, the Tulipa Consort, enjoy it.