Gramophone Magazine
Awards Issue 2021
Editor's Choice

Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Il Pomo d’Oro, Francesco Corti

Zelenka: Barbara, dira effera, ZWV 164, I. Barbara, dira, effera, II. Vicit leo de tribu Juda, III. Alleluja
Fux: Il fonte della salute, aperto dalla grazia nel calvario K. 293: "Non t'amo per il ciel"
Zelenka: Laetatus sum, ZWV 90
Almeida, F A: La Giuditta: "Giusto Dio"
Bartolomeo Nucci: Il Davide trionfante: "Un giusto furore che m'arde nel core"
Manna: Laudate pueri
Handel: Antiphon in D Minor, HWV 269 "Alleluja, Amen"

Anima Aeterna, an adventurous album of sacred arias and motets from the 18th century, follows in the vein of Anima Sacra, which in 2018 decisively announced Jakub Józef Orliński’s arrival as a recording artist. Its programme – music by Zelenka, Handel, Fux, and the little-known Gennaro Manna, Francisco António de Almeida, Bartolomeo Nucci and (on the LP version) Davide Perez – contains several world premiere recordings. Joining Orliński in Zelenka’s sparkling ‘Laetatus sum’ is the captivating soprano Fatma Said, and Francesco Corti conducts the orchestra and chorus of Il pomo d’oro. Orliński feels that “the shades and colours to be heard in in sacred music of baroque era touch people’s souls, even today. Anima Aeterna means ‘eternal soul’, which for me means nature … Something so vital, wild and dangerous, yet also so calm, mesmerizing and healing.”