Hasse: Serpentes ignei in deserto

“This oratorio, Serpentes ignei in deserto, was written in the 1730s by Johann Adolf Hasse, who was probably one of the most famous composers of his time – as famous as Handel, or even more famous than Handel in some countries,” explains Thibault Noally. Both violinist and conductor, Noally founded the ensemble Les Accents, which specialises in vocal and instrumental music of the 17 th and 18 th centuries – notably reviving works that have fallen out of the repertoire. Gramophone has praised Noally’s “dramatic flair” and his instrumentalists’ “crisp, thoroughly idiomatic playing“, and their advocacy for Hasse’s vivid Old Testament oratorio – ‘Fiery Serpents in the Desert’ – is reinforced by a cast of six virtuoso singers: soprano Julia Lezhneva, sopranist Bruno de Sá, and countertenors Philippe Jaroussky, Jakub Józef Orliński, Carlo Vistoli and David Hansen.