[…] AFFETTO managed to incorporate anonymous spiritual 14th century compositions along with the current work of contemporary Czech composers into the programme of their concert. When performing, they followed the chronological order of the music. The musicians take a profound interest in an interpretation of the historic materials and they consider the virtual identity of the composition as an inevitable feature for the performance. The vocal and ensemble technique of the artists runs with an impeccable flow. When listening to them performing, the member of the audience can distinguish great variability of the individual compositions. The singers master different kinds of vocal techniques, including the opera voice training. They present a number of compositions ( such as pieces by Schütz, Bach, Arvo Pärt, spiritual Nobody knows as a bonus piece ) in an impressive manner. The singers are excellent at maintaining fine tune, intonation and diction. They did not even get disrupted by the accustics in the St.Blasien Cathedral which has a specific reverberation. All of these qualities of the vocalists were shown in the performance of a quite difficult vocal quartet called Veni vere by Petrus Wilhelmi de Crudenz composed in 15. century. Each of the music line of this piece carries particular lyrics. It is also remarkable to notice the way singers perceive the vocal utterances of one another, this feature of the ensemble is very important for the uniqueness of the performance. The ensemble is unique also in a way of carrying of the artistic ideas, considering there is no ensemble director appointed. Martin Jakubiček, the organ player, fused the individual parts of the performance with his improvisations. The ultimate result of the performance which enhances the spirituality of one´s soul dwell on the peaceful homogenuous unity of the organ sound and the individual voices. […]
Badische Zeitung, 10. 8. 2004
[…] The cheering audience could hardly express their admiration to the singers who gave a breathtaking and emotional performance making it even more exceptional by introducing three additional songs. Four member ensemble" Affeto" from Brno (CZ) accompanied by the organ player Martin Jakubíček, enchanted and inspired the members of the audience of the 138th concert that was taking place on the chateau ground. The composition of the concert comprised of songs that could be dated in the time range from late Middle Ages to the contemporary music. Pieces of music were sung in various languages such as Latin, English and Czech. Contratenor Jan Milušek, tenors Marek Olbrzymek and Vladimír Richter, as well as Aleš Procházka enthralling with his unbelievably deep bass, have charmed the audience in the very first moments of the concert. Every part of Kodex Special has been interpreted with a great amount of energy and in a very tender way related to its content. Contratenor Milušek captivated with swerving his natural voice into the soprano range . The most significant part of the concert was undoubtedly "De profundis" composed by Arvo Pärt. The contrast between the dark and the brighter parts was interpreted in an utmost impressive way, particularly the escalation from the absolute silence into an ardent forte. The artists took their leave performing the original arrangement of spiritual Amazing Grace, Nobody knows and Steal away. […]
Numer 266, 11/2003
[…] The climax of the concert was undoubtedly an excellent performance of a meditative piece called De Profundis by Arvo Pärt who is an Estonian composer. His music is being successfully performed by Hilliard Ensemble. Affetto proved by performing Pärt's music that their interpretation can be undeniably compared with this foreign ensemble. […]
MF Dnes 9. 9. 2003
[…] When choosing their festival programme, the Affetto ensemble concentrated mainly on the music of the renaissance and baroque period. Single voices were thanks to their perfect intonation and cathedral acoustics united in a unique timbre, at times dominated by rarely heard contra-tenor. A real experience was their performance of the little cantata Lupi (Wolves) by a Brno author M. Štědroň, which was composed in the autumn 2001. As a textual material were used extracts from the preaching by Milíč from Kroměříž, the predecessor o John Hus. The title of the preaching is Grex perditur ex luporum invasione, the meaning of which is something like the Right Way Is Blocked by the Wolves Invasion. This composition includes the following parts: Lupi matutini, Lupi meridiani, Lupi vespertini and Lupi nocturni. The topic was treated in a smiling way, which was underlined by a stunning performance of the Affetto ensemble and as a consequence, the work received a most positive response from the audience. […]
Opus musicum 5/2002
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