Invocazioni Mariane is a new CD from counter-tenor Andreas Scholl and his long time collaborators the Accademia Bizantina and their conductor Alessandro Tampieri.

It consists of 18th century music from Naples; all of which is in some way connected with the Virgin Mary and is mostly drawn from oratorios or similar pieces designed to be performed during Holy Week.

Back in the day, with women not permitted on the stage in Naples (or the Papal States) the high parts would have been sung by castrati. That, of course, is where Scholl comes in.

1. Porpora: Il trionfo della divina Giustizia ne’ tormente e morte di Gesù Cristo
2. Vinci, Leonardo: Oratorio Maria dolorata: Sinfonia
3. Vinci, Leonardo: Oratorio a 4 voci
4. Anfossi: Salve Regina
5. Pergolesi: Concerto per violino in si bemolle maggiore in B-Flat Major
6. Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, RV621
7. Ragazzi: Sonata a 4 in F minor, Op.1

On this elegantly crafted, majestically-hued new recording, it opens with Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Il trionfo della divina Giustizia ne’ tormente e morte di Gesù Cristo: and the opulent Ouverture, the stirring Occhi mesti and finally the gently boisterous Per pietà, turba feroce, and that is itself backed up by a pair from Leonardo Vinci: the fervently-charged Oratorio Maria dolorata: Sinfonia and then a majestical pairing that makes up Oratorio a 4 voci: the ornate Chi mi priega and the flourishingly fresh Tutti son del materno mio seno.

Along next is the sextet that makes up Pasquale Anfossi’s Salve Regina: the swirls and twirls within the titular Salve Regina, the spirited Ad te clamamus, the playful Ad te suspiramus, the flirtacious appeal of Eja ergo advocata nostra, and then we get both the adamant Et Jesu benedictum and the strident O clemens, and then comes Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s three-part Concerto per violino in si bemolle maggiore in B-Flat Major: the skittish Allegro, the languishing beauty of Largo, and then comes the dutiful Allegro.

The album rounds out on Antonio Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater, RV621: opening on the warming Stabat Mater dolorosa, the delicate Cuius animam gementem, the intricate O quam tristis, and the we get brought forth the sumptuous Quis est homo, the veritably stoic Quis non posset contristari, the free flowing nature of Pro peccatis suæ gentis, the set ending on the jaunty Eia Mater, fons amoris, the luxuriant Fac ut ardeat, and the embodied Amen, closing on three parts from Angelo Ragazzi’s Sonata a 4 in F minor, Op.1: the sheer elegance of No.4, Imitatio in Salve Regina mater misericordiæ: in C Minor: I. Andante, the impassioned Adagio, the collection finishing on the almosy crystalline nature of Allegro.

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