Handel: Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 (with Steffani - Stabat Mater)

"The Sixteen's sincere and nourishing performance does glorious justice to Steffani's profoundly moving and lovely setting. The Sixteen's Dixit Dominus… retains only three musicians from two decades ago, and it is a markedly stronger interpretation - dramatically astute, plenty of weight in the dramatic G minor opening, and unbridled (yet never unfocused) choral singing..." Gramophone Magazine, November 2009

The Sixteen adds to its stunning Handel collection with a brand new recording of Dixit Dominus set alongside a little know treasure - Agostino Steffani's Stabat Mater. Full of virtuosity, vibrant colour and dynamic energy, Handel's Dixit Dominus captures absolutely the Italian style of the period. Handel's control of forces is masterly and the range of texture and style is breathtaking. Written during the composer's time in Italy in the early eighteenth century it is amongst his first autographed works and also one of his finest. By comparison Agostino Steffani's little known Stabat Mater was one of his last compositions. Written for the Academy of Vocal Music in London, this work is the most powerful expression of Steffani's religious fervour and, outside opera, his largest, most varied and most heartfelt composition.