Bach Tilge Höchster meine Sünden BWV 1083 (After Pergolesi's Stabat Mater) - Vivaldi Nisi Dominus RV 608 Damien Guillon

• 1 Tilge, Hochster, meine Sunden (Soprano, Alto) 04:00
• 2 Ist mein Herz in Missetaten (Soprano) 02:05
• 3 Missetaten, die mich drucken (Soprano, Alto) 02:02
• 4 Dich erzurnt mein Tun und Lassen (Alto) 02:00
• 5 Wer wird seine Schuld verneinen (Soprano, Alto) 01:54
• 6 Sieh! ich bin in Sund empfangen (Soprano, Alto) 00:41
• 7 Sieh, du willst die Wahrheit haben (Soprano) 03:08
• 8 Wasche mich doch rein von Sunden (Alto) 02:14
• 9 Lass mich Freud und Wonne spuren (Soprano, Alto) 02:00
• 10 Schaue nicht auf meine Sunden (Soprano, Alto) 04:51
• 11 Offne Lippen, Mund und Seele (Alto) 03:38
• 12 Denn du willst kein Opfer haben (Soprano, Alto) 03:41
• 13 Lass dein Zion bluhend dauern (Soprano, Alto) 01:55
• 14 Amen (Soprano, Alto) 01:59
• 15 Nisi Dominus 02:40
• 16 Vanum est vobis 01:17
• 17 Surgite 01:32
• 18 Cum dederit 04:38
• 19 Sicut erat sagittae 01:39
• 20 Beatus vir 00:55
• 21 Gloria Patri 04:27
• 22 Sicut erat in principio 01:07
• 23 Amen 01:45
• Total Runtime 56:08

Info zu Bach Tilge Höchster meine Sünden BWV 1083 (After Pergolesi's Stabat Mater) - Vivaldi Nisi Dominus RV 608

Damien Guillon, who has been proving himself to be a much-admired interpreter of the more spiritual side of Baroque music, now makes his debut on Glossa both as countertenor soloist and director for a fascinating pairing of Bach and Vivaldi psalm settings: Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden, BWV 1083 and Nisi Dominus, RV 608. Guillon directs his ensemble Le Banquet Céleste (with which he recently made his stage conducting debut in Avignon with Acis and Galatea).

Whilst he was Konzertmeister in Weimar JS Bach was entrusted by his employer with transcribing scores by Vivaldi brought back from Amsterdam, and a fascination ensued with the Venetian composer’s style, especially with that of his concertos. As is pointed out by Stefano Russomanno in his booklet essay for this new recording Vivaldi will have employed the concerto logic also in his sacred vocal works, such as the early Nisi Dominus (Psalm 126) recorded here. It was however a Neapolitan composer from the next generation along in GB Pergolesi, whose music Bach turned to as the basis for a setting of Psalm 51, Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden. The result was a magisterially rendered reworking – in parody form – of Pergolesi’s theatrical (and catholic) Stabat Mater, adjusted by Bach to accommodate the different demands of the German Protestant text.

The warmth of Guillon’s countertenor finds an ideal match in the soprano Céline Scheen, another fabulous singer of Baroque music, whose vocal agility and purity has been entrancing audiences across Europe in recent years.

Damien Guillon, countertenor & direction
Céline Scheen, soprano
Le Banquet Céleste:
Baptiste Lopez, violin
Caroline Bayet, violin
Deirdre Dowling, viola
Ageet Zweistra, cello
Christian Staude, double bass
Kevin Manent, harpsichord & organ
Andre Henrich, lute

Damien Guillon
begins his musical knowledge in 1989 at the Maîtrise de Bretagne supervised by Jean-Michel Noël. He receives a full music education from his youngest age and quickly sings as solo soprano in many baroque oratorios as well as at the Rennes Opera in The Magic Flute by Mozart.

From 1998 till 2001, he is a member of the Maîtrise du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles directed by Olivier Schneebeli, where he improves his vocal technique and deepens his research about early music interpretations with Howard Crook, Jérome Corréas, Alain Buet, Noëlle Barker. In 2004, he is admitted at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis to receive the teaching of Andreas Scholl. At the same time, he studies organ with Frédéric Desenclos and Véronique Le Guen and graduated in Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory (continuo and harpsichord).

Currently, his vocal and musical qualities earned him invitations to perform with conductors as famous as Masaaki Suzuki, Vincent Dumestre, Hervé Niquet, Philippe Pierlot, Pierre Hantaï, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe and William Christie. His repertoire ranges from songs of the English Renaissance to Baroque oratorios and operas by Monteverdi (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Bach (Saint John Passion, Saint Matthew Passion, Mass in B minor, Lutherian masses, Christmas Oratorio and cantatas for solo alto), Händel (The Messiah), Purcell (King Arthur and Dido and Aeneas) etc... He performed in several staged productions such as Händel’s Athalie (Paul McCreesh in Ambronay), Teseo (Gilbert Bezzina, Nice Opera) and Giulio Cesare (François-Xavier Roth, Yannis Kokkos, Théâtre de Caen), Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Philippe Pierlot, Théâtre de La Monnaie, Brussels) or, recently, Landi’s Il Sant' Alessio (William Christie and Les Arts Florissants).

Damien Guillon is now frequently invited as a conductor: he conducted Caldara’s Maddalena ai piedi di Christo with Les Musicians du Paradis, Bach’s Magnificat with the Café Zimmermann and the Chamber Choir of Rouen at the Arques-la-Bataille Festival and Bach’s cantatas with the Collegium Vocale Gent in Saintes.

Recent engagements include his debut concert at the Edinburgh festival (Eustazio in Händel’s Rinaldo conducted by Maasaki Suzuki), a tour with Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel in Vivaldi’s Gloria and Nisi Dominus (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Opéra de Montpellier etc...) and the role of Arcane in Händel’s Teseo with Les Folies Françoises and Patrick Cohën-Akenine (Théâtre d’Orléans, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées).

This season, he will sing the alto solo part in Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion with Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent (Lincoln Center in New York, Palau de la Musica in Barcelone, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Baden-Baden Festival etc...) and Saint John Passion with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy (Palais Montcalm in Québec and Carnegie Hall in New York).

Booklet für Bach Tilge Höchster meine Sünden BWV 1083 (After Pergolesi's Stabat Mater) - Vivaldi Nisi Dominus RV 608