These discs are the second and third of the six that will include
the complete oeuvre of Mikolaj Zielenski, a composer from the
early 17th century about whom even Polish music-lovers knew
little. Not that there is much to know: the years of his birth
and death are unknown. It is only through his single extant
collection of music that we know that that he was an organist
and director of music to Wojciech Baranowski, archbishop of
Gniezno and primate of Poland from 1608. The archbishop was
a great music-lover. He had been in Italy and was impressed
by the splendour of the music he had heard. He wanted Zielenski
to compose music of the same kind which could be used as Propers
during Mass.
It was the archbishop who made the publication of Zielenski's
Offertoria and Communiones totius anni possible,
and it is to him that the composer dedicated the collection.
This was printed and signed by Zielenski in Venice in 1611.
This suggests that he has been in Italy for some time, probably
studying with Giovanni Gabrieli as his music strongly reflects
the style of the Venetian master, for instance in the writing
for cori spezzati. However, there is no documentary evidence
of this. Zielenski stated that his music was written in the
'new style', but at the time of its printing the style of the
Gabrieli's was already making way for the new concertante style.
Among its features are virtuosic parts for (solo) voices and
instruments and the use of a basso continuo. These are absent
in Zielenski's music. The organ part is not a basso continuo,
but written in four voices, meant to support the singers.
In 2010 I reviewed the first
volume of this project and one year before a kind of sampler.
I expressed my appreciation for the efforts of Galonski and
all the musicians involved for making this music available.
At the same time I questioned several aspects of these performances
which made me express my hope for a better interpretation which
would do greater justice to Zielenski's music. Volumes 4 to
6 include the Communiones which are mostly for solo voices,
and therefore it seemed appropriate to review them separately.
The booklet for Volume 6 includes an essay by Galonski, in which
he discusses the problems a modern interpreter has to solve
if he wants to perform Zielenski's music. It would have been
useful if that essay had been printed in the booklet of Volume
1. That would have allowed the listener to understand some of
the decisions the conductor has taken.
He states that we don't know how large the choir was which Zielenski
had at his disposal. Actually, we don't know anything about
performances in his own time, where and when these offertoria
were sung. Even so, a number of singers as used in these recordings
is not in line with what was common at the time. The Collegium
Zielenski comprises up to 27 singers (8-9/3-4/6/9). The relatively
small number of altos and tenors results in an imbalance. One
of the problems a performer has to solve is that the collection
includes just one partbook for the organ, whereas the offertoria
are for two choirs. This isn't much of a problem with performances
in smaller churches, where the choirs are rather close to each
other, with the organ in the middle. Galonski takes it for granted,
though, that in larger churches the two choirs would have been
placed much further from each other. That is a common assumption
which is not necessarily true. I refer here to the interview
with Paul McCreesh in the booklet to his recording "A Venetian
Coronation 1595" in which he states that even in the San Marco
in Venice not always the whole space was used. The presence
of just one organ partbook could well be an indication that
Zielenski expected the two choirs to be allocated quite close
to each other, even in large spaces.
In my review I also questioned the use of instruments: why so
infrequently, and why only sackbuts? The answer can be found
in Galonski's notes about the performance. "Reading Zielenski's
comments on possible use of the instruments, you can be tempted
to use in your performance the instruments from his epoch. Noteworthy
is the fact that Zielenski himself didn't realize such an idea,
marking only in which pieces the specific instrumentation should
be used. That is why this recording is confined to the use of
instruments only where it is consistent with the author's indications.
Making a recording in a different way would introduce a subjective
performing element, impinging on the authorship of the composer".
This view is highly questionable. The fact that the composer
has indicated the instrumentation for a number of pieces doesn't
necessarily exclude the use of instruments elsewhere. It can
be seen as an expression of the wish of the composer that at
least these pieces should be performed with instruments, leaving
the instrumental scoring of other pieces to the performers.
We need to know more about the instruments which were used in
Polish churches at the time, an issue which the booklets don't
touch. Only then it is possible to decide whether it is plausible
to use only sackbuts and omit instruments such as cornetts,
dulcians, violins and viole da gamba. The effect of the strict
adherence to the letter of Zielenski's indications is that the
performances are less differentiated than one would wish.
However, even without instruments the performances could have
been more interesting if the vocal ensembles had been considerably
smaller and the singers would have paid more attention to the
text. These performances are good enough to suggest that Zielenski's
music is really worthwhile and a substantial addition to the
vocal repertoire for double choir. Therefore I repeat my wish
for a performance which is more in line with what we know about
the performance practice of the time. For the time being these
recordings are well worth investigating.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track Listing
Vol 2
Ascendit Deus [3:47]
Confirma hoc Deus [3:18]
Portas caeli aperuit Dominus [3:17]
Benedictus sit Deus pater [3:38]
Sacerdotes Domini [3:27]
Mirabilis Deus [3:02]
Gloriabuntur in te omnes [2:42]
Beata es virgo Maria [2:47]
Filiae regnum in honore tuo [3:01]
In omnem terram exivit sonus [3:02]
Confessio et pulchritudo [3:50]
Assumpta es Maria [3:22]
In virtute tua Domine [3:54]
Protege Domine plebem tuam [3:03]
Stetit angelus [4:02]
Iustorum animae [3:04]
Domine Deus in simplicitate cordis mei [4:07]
Vol 3
Afferentur regi Domino [3:30]
Gloria et honore [2:46]
Laetentur omnes [2:49]
Felix namque es [3:17]
Factus est repente [2:50]
Tanto tempore [2:56]
Assumpsit Jesus Petrum [2:29]
Per merita Sancti Adalberti [2:41]
Ortus de Polonia [2:52]
Igneo Ignati iubar [2:38]
Estuet puris [2:43]
Salve festa dies [4:18]
Spiritus sancti gratia [3:10]
Fulget in choro virginum [2:39]
Domine ad adiuvandum [2:19]
Magnificat [7:09]
Collegium Zielenski/Stanislaw Galonski 
