MAHLER (transcr. Gottwald) Erinnerung. Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen. Um Mitternacht. Die zwei blauen Augen. Urlicht. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Scheiden und Meiden. Es sungen drei Engel. Im Abendrot. A. MAHLER (transcr. Gottwald) Drei frühe Lieder • Marcus Creed, cond; SWR Vocal Ens Stuttgart • CARUS 83.370 (63:41 Text and Translation)


Once upon a time (1960, to be exact), choral conductor Clytus Gottwald created the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, a chamber choir whose specialty was music by that era’s most avant-garde composers . . . Ligeti, Ferneyhough, Penderecki, and so on. This ensemble attracted the attention of Pierre Boulez, and it was Boulez who inspired Gottwald to transcribe Ravel’s song Soupir for the ensemble. The results were so effective that Gottwald continued transcribing other works for his ensemble, including music—some of it not even vocal—by Gustav Mahler and his wife Alma. Those transcriptions have outlasted Schola Cantorum Stuttgart. The ensemble disbanded in 1990, but within the past few years, several of Gottwald’s transcriptions have been recorded by the French ensemble Accentus (for the Naïve label), and English conductor Marcus Creed has taken them up for Carus with one of his ensembles, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart. (It doesn’t hurt that the printing arm of Carus publishes three of these selections.) Almost none of them have been recorded before, the exceptions being Die zwei blauen Augen, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen , and Scheiden und Meiden. Im Abendrot is a transcription of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Accentus has recorded a different transcription, believe it or not, of that same music, prepared by Gérard Pesson. Gottwald’s transcription uses the same Eichendorff text that Strauss used in his Four Last Songs.


This disc reveals the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart to be spiritual descendents of Gottwald’s ensemble. In the 1970s, there was no practical reason why Mahler’s music needed to be treated this way. It is my impression that Gottwald did it because it presented him with an interesting intellectual puzzle, and as a challenge for Schola Cantorum Stuttgart. These “auxiliary” transcriptions (to use Gottwald’s word, from the interview printed in Carus’s booklet) present the music in a striking and different light, and help to make Mahler’s music a little strange again, which is not a bad thing in a world in which we risk being overexposed to Mahler. (Imagine saying that 60 years ago!) These transcriptions are not likely to appear on the next program of your local amateur choir. They are, in fact, intimidatingly complex and difficult. For example, the transcriptions of Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen and Im Abendrot require a 16-part ensemble. Overall, these transcriptions are punishing exercises in breath and pitch control, in the modulation and matching of vocal colors, and in the precise blending of sound. What is needed, really, is a team of vocal gymnasts who can approach the music as if with one mind.


Fortunately, it is unlikely that any performers will stumble blindly into this repertoire, and the recorded performances I’ve heard are uniformly excellent, but not identical. One can hear Gottwald’s Schola Cantorum Stuttgart perform Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen in a giant doorstop of a CD set (no longer in print) from Cadenza/Bayer. Gottwald is significantly faster than Creed, to good effect, and solo voices come out of the texture more prominently than they do for Creed. Gottwald’s ensemble is more closely microphoned, and the effect is almost claustrophobic. Creed’s ensemble, while a bit more impersonal, may come a hair closer to technical perfection. Accentus (directed by Laurence Equilbey) adopts almost exactly the same tempo as Gottwald, but the ensemble’s sound is less warm than either Gottwald’s or Creed’s. Given the song’s text, I find Accentus too edgy, but still mightily impressive.


The only caveat I have about the present disc—also about the other two I’ve mentioned—is that these transcriptions are so intense that emotional and intellectual fatigue is a risk for listeners. Several tracks into Creed’s disc I asked myself, “Why are they singing so loudly?,” but then I realized it wasn’t the volume as much it was the laser-like concentration of the transcriptions and the performances. Beautiful stuff, this, but it is far from relaxing!


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

Carus continues to bring previously unrecorded--and often unpublished--music to renewed life in distinguished performances and authoritative printed scores. In this case, with the disc's title and musical program the label capitalizes on the attention given to the event of the re-opening of the historic Dresden Frauenkirche, recently re-consecrated after a 10-year, multinational restoration project, returning the church (Bach played its Silbermann organ on at least one notable occasion) to its former glory following its complete destruction in the firebombing of the city near the end of World War II. In fact, this wonderful recording, filled with gorgeous, inexplicably neglected music, was made at another Dresden church, the Lukaskirche, before restoration at the Frauenkirche was complete. The point, however, is that the program--four church cantatas for Advent, Christmas, and New Year's Day--leaves nothing to be desired from a musical standpoint. These compact, expertly written works are not only functional (their primary purpose), but are enormously, immediately appealing (not a bad thing for church service music!), with grand, lively opening choruses, vibrant orchestral accompaniments, and strong, perfectly singable arias where even the brief formulaic stuff sounds absolutely right and natural.

From 1742 Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785) was an important figure in the vital 18th-century Dresden music scene, spending most of his career as organist at the Frauenkirche and Kantor of the Kreuzschule, during which time he composed a couple of hundred church cantatas. Although he was a pupil of Bach, and some of his music retains significant (and well-learned) elements of that style, most of the works on offer here--all world-premieres--demonstrate aspects of the developing "classical" style, especially in the choral writing and use of the orchestra. And yet throughout each work, there's an interesting and invariably effective mix of baroque and classical mannerisms that makes for absorbing listening.

The singing and playing is first rate--Homilius could not have asked for better advocates of his music!--and there's a variety of scoring from cantata to cantata, ranging from double choir with soprano and tenor soloists, to single choir with SATB soloists. The cantata for Christmas Day, Ein hoher Tag kömmt, contains a wonderful trio for two sopranos and tenor, and there are excellent solo arias in each work. As mentioned, the choruses, which serve as the cantatas' opening movements, are outstanding and ideally convey the celebratory mood of their respective texts and occasions. After all of this, it probably goes without saying that the sound engineering is top-notch--full and dynamic and faithful to the Lukaskirche's space and ambience. Highly recommended. [11/15/2005]

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Earlier, long before pure technical skill, creativity in improvisation was the most important measure for judging the abilities of an organist. Kay Johannsen, Kantor of the Stiftskirche Stuttgart, has a masterful command of this art, which he demonstrates here by means of international Christmas songs from many lands, including German, Great Britain, the USA, Norway, Poland and Bolivia.

Körnerscher Sing-Verein, Dresdner Instrumental-Concert, Peter Kopp

Music by Josef Seger, Johann Georg Schürer, Johann David Heinichen, Giovanni Alberto Ristori (world premiere recordings)

The music of the present CD convey to the listener a musical picture of the celebration of Christmas Eve which took place in the Church of the Court of Dresden in around 1750. The works recorded here all belong to the first flowering of Catholic church music at the Court of Dresden, which began in the 1720s and ended with the Seven Years War (1756–1763), which proved disastrous for Saxony. The demands of August the Strong and his son August III to display prestige led composers such as Johann David Heinichen or Giovanni Alberto Ristori to compose in a separate style for the Catholic Court Church in Dresden a wide-ranging repertoire of Catholic church music for the entire church year. In the holdings of the Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek there are numerous of these works which have survived as handwritten autographs. The music from the present CD is also drawn from the rich storehouse of music in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek. They lay undiscovered, hidden away in cabinets for over two centuries and with this world premiere recording they are now being present to the public for the first time.

The orchestra of the Court of Dresden was considered to be one of the most established orchestras in Europe. The Körnersche Sing-Verein Dresden and the Dresdner Instrumental-Concert, who are dedicated to presenting compositions of the 18th-century in historically accurate performances, allow the excellent quality of the music of the Court Church of this time to live again. In addition, the internationally renowned soloists draw on their wealth of experience in the performance of baroque music.

“Choral Music for Christmas” presents the very best of Advent and Christmas choral music from the Carus catalog. Contemporary arrangements of popular Christmas carols by composers such as Fredo Jung and Giacomo Mezallira feature alongside works by well-known composers including Handel, Bach, Heinichen, and Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The performers, including the Calmus Ensemble, the Kammerchor Stuttgart conducted by Frieder Bernius, the Dresdner Kammerchor conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann, and the ensemble L’arpa festante, guarantee an absolute choral treat.

Although a contemporary of Mozart, Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) lived to the age of 81, which means he experienced the fullness of the stylistic changes now known as Romanticism that captured the creative imagination of composers from Beethoven and Schubert to Brahms and Berlioz. Nevertheless, his Requiem in C minor, written for a belated memorial funeral service for the executed Louis XVI (the performance was at Paris' church of St. Denis in January, 1817), in style, tone, and texture has Mozart written all over it.

Anyone familiar with Mozart's D minor Requiem will immediately be drawn to the similarities with Cherubini's work (although no biographical references make any mention of a Mozart/Cherubini connection), particularly its dark color, richly exploited minor-key harmonic palette, and (like Mozart) melodic/dramatic elements suited to a first-rate opera composer (which Cherubini was). Even some of the thematic material is uncannily Mozartean.

But equally notable are the work's many more "modern" features, such as the surprising tam-tam crash just before the Dies irae, and the subsequent choral movement that to the keen observer may be closer to a refugee from Orff's Carmina burana or a 20th-century film score than to a movement from an early 19th-century setting of a sacred funereal text.

No matter how you look at it, Cherubini's music is equal to the final creative gasp of Mozart, or to the more labored choral efforts of Beethoven (he regarded Cherubini as the greatest living composer--after himself--and requested this Requiem at his own funeral). Frieder Bernius and his excellent choir and orchestra present the finest rendition of the C minor Requiem yet recorded--signified by taut ensemble and scintillating harmonies and vibrant, dynamic textures that confirm Cherubini's solid, successful communion of text and musical ideas.

Highlights include the entire Offertorium sequence, but especially the sensitive expression of the lovely passages of the Hostias, along with the energetic and texturally well-delineated fugues and finely articulated orchestral playing. Unlike Mozart's work Cherubini's contains no solo vocal parts, and we don't miss them (not to disparage the former's masterful creations)--the entire piece is no more than 45 minutes long, and every bar seems efficiently, purposefully written.

My only complaint--other than the sound that very occasionally obscures inner detail of the choral parts--is the insertion of the Tractus "Absolve, Domine" (nevertheless beautifully sung by the Gregorian chant experts Schola Gregoriana Tübingen) just before the Dies irae, thus negating the stunning effect of the brass signal and tam-tam crash following the subdued ending of the Gradual. There's no explanation of this insertion in the notes, although there is a pointed reference to the dramatic effect of the brass/tam-tam transition directly from the Gradual to the Dies irae.

However, if these are our only criticisms we are indeed fortunate; this is a marvelous performance of a shamefully neglected work. When you hear how beautiful and finely crafted it is you can only ask, if we can so readily perform a non-authentic, incomplete work by Mozart without a shrug, what's wrong with a totally authentic masterpiece by a reputable and highly talented contemporary--and you don't even need to hire a soloist? Listen to this and you will be converted. Highly recommended.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

An intelligently planned and well performed recital.

The young Argentinian counter-tenor Franco Fagioli has already appeared on disc in the title roles of Gluck's Ezio and Handel's Teseo. This new disc is an altogether smaller affair. It’s a charming disc of chamber cantatas and songs starting with Monteverdi, through Vivaldi and Handel and finishing with Paisiello. Fagioli is accompanied by an ensemble of harpsichord, cello and lute. A number of items omit the harpsichord which gives these pieces a nicely intimate feel.

Fagioli has a high counter-tenor voice with an impressive range going above the stave. He has a significant vibrato which gives his voice a nicely vibrant feel, but with a good core to the voice. His lower register is inclined to chestiness at times, but he has nice sweet tone over his whole range, plus some impressive flexibility and depth of tone in his very upper register.

The drawback, from my point of view, is the combination of a significant vibrato with fast baroque passagework; this is something which may not bother everyone. But in Monteverdi's Ecco di dolci raggi and Ferrari's Amanti io vi so dire the results sound, to my ears, less than ideal. On the other hand we are rewarded by the limpid beauty of Fagioli's performance of Monteverdi's Si dolce e l'tormento.

Fagioli opens with Se l'aura spira which comes from Frescobaldi's 1603 publication Arie musicali - printed in Florence. Frescobaldi is well known for his keyboard works but his vocal oeuvre is far less known. Fagioli includes two pieces from Arie musicali, finishing the opening group with A miei pianti. But whilst these two are attractive, they are rather put in the shade by the two Monteverdi items: Ecco di doci raggi from Scherzi musicali published in Venice in 1632 and Si dolce d l'tormento which dates from 1620 when Monteverdi came across the setting of the poem in a collection of music by Francesco Petratti. In the middle of this group is a rather charming satirical song by Benedetto Ferrari, who wrote both the words and the music. Ferrari was deeply involved in the early 17 ^th century Venetian operatic scene, but his music has not survived.

Separating the early baroque group from the late is an anonymous Corrante played on the lute by Luca Pianca.

Handel's cantata Aure soavi e lieti was written in 1706 for Marchese Ruspoli for the Roman Arcadian Academy, where it was Handel's job to entertain the guests. As with many of these cantatas, Aure soavi has an erotic pastoral theme and works rather well accompanied just by lute and cello. The second Handel cantata Dolce pur d'amor l'affano was part of the first group which Handel wrote when he came to London in 1710. Fagioli and his accompanists draw a really intimate feeling from these cantatas; they are never short on drama, and still manage to convey the idea that the performance is for a small group of listeners.

The second Handel cantata and Vivaldi's Pianti, sospiri a dimandar mercede are both accompanied by cello, lute and harpsichord, giving a nice rich texture. The Vivaldi is quite a showpiece with a pair of simile arias. This is far closer to Vivaldi's operas than Handel's cantatas are. That said, some of the melodic outlines of Handel's arias on this disc seem to prefigure his later operatic arias.

The three instrumentalists contribute a cello sonata by Francesco Geminiani. This is perhaps closer to trio-sonata than to later ideas of the sonata.

Fagioli finishes with something in a lighter vein, Paisiello's variations on the aria Nel cor piu non mi sento from his opera La Molinara. Here Fagioli insouciantly throws off some impressive high notes. It makes a charming and fun finale to a very accomplished recital.

The CD booklet gives full texts and translations, though the English translations are separate from the original texts, which is slightly annoying.

Fagioli and his accompanists, Luca Pianca on lute, Marco Frezzato on cello and Jorg Halubek on Harpsichord, create a suitably intimate atmosphere for these chamber pieces. This is an intelligently planned and well performed recital.


-- Robert Hugill, MusicWeb International

To give familiar melodies a fresh, rich and colorful new look and thus to present them in an attractive new light is the essential direction which the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig followed for this Christmas CD. The arrangements of well-known Christmas songs in this collection make use of structures from both classical as well as popular music from a variety of eras, always taking only the best of both worlds. It is hoped that the listener will not only be delighted, but will also be pleasantly surprised. That listening to this international Christmas album brings continually good feelings and that one listens with much joy and pleasure is due not only to the fine arrangements, but also to the lively interpretation and the perfect sound of the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig, which knows how to create an entirely genuine, uninhibited Christmas feeling.

Complete Track List:
1 Ludwig Böhme Maria durch ein Dornwald ging 04:23
2 Bob Chilcott Nova! nova! 02:39
3 Ludwig Böhme O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf 02:37
4 Ludwig Böhme Gaudete! 03:06
5 Philip Lawson Hark! The herald angels sing 03:16
6 Morten Schuldt-Jensen Away in a manger 01:56
7 Gregor Meyer Noel nouvelet 02:35
8 Gregor Meyer La Peregrinacion 03:19
9 Joe Roesler Tu scendi dalle stelle 03:52
10 Hannu Lepola Sylvian joululaulu 05:29
11 Sebastian Krause Es ist ein Ros entsprungen 03:10
12 Fredo Jung Weihnachten / Im Balladenton 02:21
13 Max Reger Schlaf, mein Kindelein 03:18
14 Claus Bantzer Was soll das bedeuten 03:02
15 Wolfram Buchenberg Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht 03:02
16 Ludwig Böhme O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein grünes Kleid 02:49
17 Ludwig Böhme Jingle bells 02:40
18 Ludwig Böhme Thank God it's Christmas 03:16
19 Harald Banter Leise rieselt der Schnee 01:58

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Carus Classics series feature outstanding CD productions from Carus’ past library of recordings. This selection of Brahms’ sacred choral music shows a clear line of development from the early works, such as the songlike Ave Maria, to the later and progressively contrapuntal masterwork motets, clear evidence of the composer’s brilliance at motivic variation. The esteemed British conductor Roger Norrington leads the Schütz Choir of London.

The Kammerchor Stuttgart, under the direction of Frieder Bernius is one of the finest choirs worldwide. Their many prizewinning recordings have set a standard. Now Frieder Bernius presents Beethoven's "Missa in C major" (op. 86). With its tonal language of subjective avowal, the first of Beethoven's two masses opens up new worlds of expression which are expressly modern and point towards the future. Not to be considered a preliminary work to the Missa solemnis, it is an entirely independent work which set standards for the further development of settings of the Mass in the 19th century. The world premiere recording of Luigi Cherubini's "Sciant gentes" (1829) rounds out this CD.

Excellently presented and performed … Bach collectors and lovers of sacred music should not hesitate.

This impressive live recording of the St. Mark Passion, BWV 247 forms part of the Carus label’s series of recordings ‘ Music from the Frauenkirche Dresden’. Fittingly I received this release - an account of Jesus’s Passion based on the Gospel of Mark - during Lent in time for Easter. Founded in the eleventh century the Dresden Frauenkirche was burnt out and destroyed as a result of Allied bombing in February 1945. After decades of inactivity extensive reconstruction work commenced in 1992. The work in the interior and organ was finally completed in 2005 when the restored Frauenkirche was consecrated.

Just as the Frauenkirche Dresden was reconstructed so was the St. Mark Passion. Bach’s obituary from 1750 claimed that he had written five passions. Only the St. John Passion (1724) and the St. Matthew Passion (1727) have survived in their entirety. The St. Mark Passion was known to have been first performed on Good Friday 1731 at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. It seems that Bach’s score of the St. Mark Passion was at one time held under the stewardship of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. Virtually all of the music is now lost and only two printed copies of the Picander texts were known. In 2009 another printed copy of the text was found in St. Petersburg, Russia containing two additional arias. Over the years there have been several attempts to reconstruct the music to the St. Mark Passion. Notably Dietmar Hellmann realised a version of the score in 1964. This adaptation for Carus of the St. Mark Passion directed by Michael Alexander Willens has been prepared by Bach scholar Andreas Glöckner based on Dietmar Hellmann’s reconstruction.

Unity is provided in the reconstructed score to the St. Mark Passion by the often repeated use of familiar chorale melodies. Probably best known for its use in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 and the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 is Hans Leo Hassler’s well known hymn tune Herzlich tut mich Erlangen which is employed here on three of the tracks. Also used is the famous chorale melody attributed to Martin Luther Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott that Bach used in his cantata BWV 80 of the same name. 
Vocal ensemble Amarcord was founded in 1992 originally by former male members of the St. Thomas Church choir in Leipzig. On this Carus recording of the St. Mark Passion Amarcord use nine soloists who also perform the choir parts. Normally Amarcord consist of five male voices: Wolfram Lattke (tenor); Martin Lattke (tenor); Frank Osijek (baritone); Daniel Knauft (bass) and Holger Krause (bass). For this project and some other projects with music by Heinrich Schütz and his contemporaries the ensemble are augmented by four guest female singers: Anja Zügner (soprano); Dorothea Wagner (soprano); Clare Wilkinson (alto) and Silvia Janak (alto). Under their talented music director Michael Alexander Willens the fifteen strong Die Kölner Akademie (The Cologne Academy) perform Bach’s late-baroque music on instruments appropriate to the period.

Bach recordings using large-scale forces on modern instruments were the norm in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s but are far less common today. A particular favourite Bach interpreter of sacred music is Karl Richter who in the period 1958/75 released over seventy cantatas for Archiv Produktion. Only the most passionate of authenticists would fail to acknowledge the distinction of these recordings. In addition Richter’s older contemporary and fellow countryman the conductor Fritz Werner recorded around 60 cantatas in the 1950s-1970s for Erato. I have enjoyed the splendid and passionate 1973/74 account of the Bach Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 from Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Wiener Singverein with a stellar cast of soloists on Deutsche Grammophon 459 4602. Following the tradition of using large-scale forces there are several other recordings that I admire especially the recordings from the 1950s and 1960s from conductors Carlo Maria Giulini/BBC Legends and Otto Klemperer/EMI.  

Michael Alexander Willens’ historically informed approach to Bach’s sacred choral music is in the spirit of the authentic performance style that quickly became fashionable and began to take centre-stage around the 1980s. Hearing the finest of these period instrument performances can persuade even the most diehard traditionalist that smaller forces can provide considerable advantages. With their intimate and lean approach to performing Bach the very finest of the period instrument exponents provide glorious clear tones, crisp and clear articulation with eloquent phrasing and rhythmic control. Probably the best known authentic instrument specialists performing Bach today are Harry Christophers/Caro; Paul McCreesh/Deutsche Grammophon; John Eliot Gardiner/Archiv Produktion and Soli Deo Gloria; Masaaki Suzuki/BIS; Andrew Parrott/Virgin; Sigiswald Kuijken/Challenge Classics and Philippe Herreweghe/Harmonia Mundi.

The relatively spare resources that Willens employs here in the St. Mark Passion reminds me of a similar approach taken by director Paul McCreesh with his nine vocalists and twenty-seven strong Gabrieli Players on their marvellous recording of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion on Deutsche Grammophon 474 200-2. Recorded in 2002 at Roskilde Cathedral, McCreesh using single voices to a part divides his vocal soloists who divide the choir into two and his Gabrieli Players are split too. Another period instrument specialist favouring a scaled down approach is Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Consort and Players on their highly successful account of the St. John Passion on Virgin Veritas 5 62019 2. Parrott who recorded the score in 1990 at Abbey Road, London with two voices to a part employs just eleven solo singers to form the choir with the use of additional boys’ voices.

Although compact the vocal forces of Willens, McCreesh and Parrott should not be underestimated. They are eminently characterful and can convey a real potency. In reality these directors probably employ a larger number of singers and players than the resources that Bach could afford and usually had available to him. For Willens the recitatives and choral responses are expertly narrated by actor Dominique Horwitz as the Evangelist who is placed in a slightly over-resonant location at the Dresden Frauenkirche. I did find it hard to get used to the concept of spoken recitatives and choral responses. A far more satisfactory effect is achieved by both Paul McCreesh/Deutsche Grammophon in the St. Matthew Passion and Andrew Parrott/Virgin Veritas in the St. John Passion who use sung recitatives with basso continuo accompaniment with responses from the choir. John Eliot Gardiner’s period instrument account of the St. Matthew Passion from 1988 at Snape Maltings for Archiv Produktion also uses sung recitatives with basso continuo and a chorus for the responses.  

Michael Alexander Willens is in total sympathy with the music and directs his orchestral and choral forces with significant effect. Most impressive is the crisp and sensitive playing from the period instrument ensemble Die Kölner Akademie. In the choruses Willens obtains consistently glorious singing from the augmented vocal ensemble Amarcord. High on expression and reverential character the balance of the nine strong choir never cries out for increased weight. Overall the blend between the vocal forces and the instrumental accompaniment feels just right. I think placing the woodwind a touch further forward in the balance would have been preferable.

Of the cast of soloists alto Clare Wilkinson performs both Mein Heiland, dich vergeß ich nicht! ( My Saviour, I’ll forget thee not!) and Falsche Welt, dein schmeichelnd Küssen ( Untrue world, thy fawning kisses). Her two arias are excellent vehicles for the alto to demonstrate her attractively creamy and flexible timbre. Singing with dutiful distinction in Falsche Welt the smoothness of her long vocal line is striking. In the soprano aria Er kommt, er kommt, er ist vorhanden! ( He comes, he comes, he is now present!) I enjoyed Dorothea Wagner’s bright and fresh tones with excellent diction and piety. It would be remiss not to mention the delightful violin playing from leader Pauline Nobes.

Wolfram Lattke performs his aria Mein Tröster ist nicht mehr bey mir ( My Helper is no more with me) with appropriate regard for the sacred text. The tenor felt especially comfortable when under pressure in his high register but I was less than enamoured with his trait for ‘r’ rolling. Notable is the violin playing from Pauline Nobes that prefaces the aria Welt und Himmel nehmt zu Ohren ( World and Heaven, O now Hearken). The smooth, light creamy timbre of soprano Anja Zügner is most attractive. She seems most secure and happiest at the top of her range. 

This is a live recording from Dresden Frauenkirche. I couldn’t hear any significant audience noise and there is no applause at the conclusion of the score. The Frauenkirche acoustic has a noticeable if slight reverberation but nothing to detract from the pleasure and the agreeably clear sound. This excellently presented and performed release of the St. Mark’s Passion from Carus includes a fine and informative essay together with full German texts with English translations. Bach collectors and lovers of sacred music should not hesitate.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International 

Johann Sebastian Bach himself thought very highly of his Easter Oratorio BWV 249 of 1725. Even though it never attained the popularity of the Christmas Oratorio, Bach himself performed it four times during his lifetime. Some parts of the oratorio originated as parody movements from the birthday cantata "Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen" for Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weißenfels. The second work on this CD, the Ascension oratorio "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen" BWV 11 (1735) also goes back to another work, namely "Froher Tag, verlangte Stunde," a no longer extant cantata composed for the inauguration of the new St. Thomas’s School. In his recording, Frieder Bernius demonstrates at the highest level, that both these oratorios are masterpieces which do not need to hide behind their better known sibling works. - Carus-Verlag, (translated from German text.)

Johann Sebastian Bach arranged many of his own works, and works by other composers, in order to study them, to learn other compositional styles, and to adapt them for particular performance conditions. In the same spirit, Flautando Köln has now arranged several works by composers from the Bach family for recorder ensemble. The result of this challenging arrangement process is a varied CD full of surprises and the discovery that sometimes, much more is possible than first imagined.