The Wiegenlieder-Projekt (Lullaby Project) bu Carus Verlag in 2009 succeeded in drawing broad public interest for singing together in the family and in rejuvenating many of the songs that have been handed down. This marked the start of the Liederprojekt, which was pursued successfully in the following years. A unique, high-quality archive of German-language songs was developed that has been expanded since then to include international repertoire. Following the various themes such as lullabies, children's songs, folk songs, Christmas songs and love songs, the Liederprojekt now devotes itself to some of the oldest song forms alive today: the psalms. One composer, whose oeuvre finds an exceptional variety of equally impressive and moving psalm settings, is placed here front and center: Heinrich Schutz. The ''father of German music'' created a ''psalms project'' of a breadth and depth unlike any other composer through the musical arrangement of the Becker Psalter and of many other works. He is thus representative of all composers who have devoted themselves to the psaltery over the centuries, with the aim of continually reaching people - whether as singers or as silent listeners - through the settings of these oldest songs.

Classical 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.

A High Point in the CPE Bach Anniversary Year: Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart are marking the composer’s 300th anniversary with a recording of the oratorio "Die Israeliten in der Wüste" (The Israelites in the Wilderness). In 1768, right at the beginning of his long period as musical director of the Hamburg principal churches, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composed this masterpiece. The new, sensitive musical language he used delighted contemporaries and colleagues alike. This recording contributes a fitting concluding note to the anniversary year.

The 500th anniversary of the generally agreed beginning of the Reformation–when Martin Luther published his famous “disputations” (the Ninety-five Theses) in October, 1517–not surprisingly has sparked an outpouring of recordings focused not on the Reformation but on Luther’s justly famous chorales and the many settings and re-imaginings by numerous other composers, from the 16th century to the present. This program follows that line, except it doesn’t feature a choir, neither is there an organ or instrumental ensemble in sight.

Calmus is a vocal ensemble with one soprano and four guys who cover the rest of the parts (countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass). Together they take on everything from cantata movements by Bach, motets by numerous composers (from Praetorius and Schütz to Mendelssohn and Brahms), and even organ chorale preludes, the latter sung in a cool, sensuous Swingle Singers style, enlivened by impeccably tuned, complementary vocal timbres. Notable among these are a couple by Bach–BWV 599 and 659 (sound clip)–and several by Carl Piutti, a 19th-century German composer/organist, who wrote more than 200 organ preludes and did serious time at the Leipzig Thomaskirche, beginning in 1880.

Although this program is very thoughtfully based on Luther’s hymns–beginning with settings of the classic Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott and proceeding through Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Christ lag in Todesbanden, and several others, all arranged in neatly flowing sections, following the church year from Advent through Pentecost, it’s really about excellent ensemble singing, the art of coordinating and balancing voices, developing and shaping musical interpretations, and using the unique aspects and qualities of the voice to illuminate and give life to words and music. And these singers demonstrate this at every turn and phrase, capturing the glory and grandeur of all manner of musical conceptions–and they do endings in a manner that makes you just want to savor every last note and chord.

It takes a very accomplished ensemble to successfully juxtapose so many styles and settings of these great hymns, and the Calmus Ensemble does it with world-class expertise and just the right amount of charm–yet I have to say, that although every one of these singers is excellent, soprano Anja Pöche, with her seemingly effortless technique and gorgeous sound (not to mention a true, untempered sense of intonation) is a particular treasure. Enthusiastically recommended.

– ClassicsToday (David Vernier)

Isfried Kayser (1712-1771) spent almost his entire life in the Premonstratensian Abbey marchtal, where he soon gained a reputation as an especially versatile musician. Numerous spiritual organizations commissioned church music or sacred music dramas. As a play of words on his surname (Kaiser - Emperor), his confreres soon called him the ''Caesar of Music.'' His Magnificat and the Missa VI are presented here in a recording together with several smaller works; they document Kayser's extraordinary accomplishments. These majestically sacred works are interpreted by the Orpheus Vokalensemble and Ars Antiqua Austria under the direction of Jurgen Essl.

"Hallelujah. Gospels and Spirituals" transports us into the fascinating world of African American Folk Songs. The arrangements for mixed voice choir are extremely varied – sometimes rhythmic, sometimes solemn, but always emotional and exciting – in all their highs and lows. The Europäischer Kammerchor conducted by Michael Reif presents classics (Go down Moses, Kumbaya, Good news, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen) as well as some discoveries from the beginnings of spirituals, in some new and some well-known arrangements. Matching the album, Carus-Verlag also publishes the choral collection Hallelujah, which includes many more settings of gospels and spirituals.

For the 500th anniversary of the Reformation a collection of all 35 hymns by Luther is being released on a double CD for the first time. The Lutheran hymns in choral settings and chorale cantatas from the 16th century to the present day (including works by Praetorius, Scheidt, Bach, Mendelssohn, Jennefelt, and Schwemmer) are performed by the Kammerchor Stuttgart under the direction of Frieder Bernius and the Athesinus Consort Berlin conducted by Klaus-Martin Bresgott. These choral settings are complemented by chorale arrangements for organ. Margot Kassmann, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Markus Meckel, Judith Zander, and others have offered extensive liner notes with meditations on the selected hymns, and Johann Hinrich Claussen, Cultural Officer of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, has provided a knowledgeable forward.

Two superlative German ensembles assemble for an eminently creative summit meeting: the Calmus Ensemble and the musicians of Wolfgang Katschner’s Lautten Compagney meet one another under “Bach Arcades”: Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorales, so to speak, form the pillars on which the musicians, with curiosity and a willingness to experiment, erect a new and fascinating cupola of sound with works by Arvo Pärt, Guillaume Dufay, John Tavener and others. In addition, the timbres of the marimba and saxophone imbue the sound of the works recorded here with freshness and ease, time and again. With much humor and charm, unusual and surprising elements flow into many a familiar chorale, thus causing us to prick up our ears. Surprising arches of sound, supported by the foundation of Bach’s music, come into being and, with every Bach chorale, open up new musical spaces for the listener.

The first two of Three Motets of op. 110, all dedicated to the Thomanerchor, present a demanding challenge to choral singers. On the other hand, in the Acht Geistliche Gese�nge op. 138, Reger shows his mastery of the straightforward setting - a masterly "new simplicity" - in which the composer spanned the bridge to his earlier choral works.

All over the world, millions of mothers, fathers and grandparents get their children to sleep by the pacifying ritual of singing and rocking the infant or toddler. “Slaap, kindje slap”, for example, is sung in the Netherlands, “Baju, bajuschki, baju” in Russia, and “Thula baba” in South Africa.

Singers and instrumentalists from all over the world have recorded the most beautiful lullabies from their home countries exclusively for this CD collection. The accompaniment by tradition instruments highlights the original sound of these songs. The CD contains lullabies from Armenia, Belgium, China, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, North America, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary and a lullaby in Yiddish.

With this recording the prize-winning “Liederprojekt”, promoting singing with children, is being continued and expanded by an international collection.

The Calmus Ensemble is on a musical journey of discovery: With “Folk Songs,” the Leipzig vocal quintet invites you on a journey around the world. From Ireland and England to Scandinavia, Russia, Taiwan and all the way to Ecuador! And all this with only five singers? Yes, indeed! Folk songs from five continents can be heard on the album, the spectrum ranging from traditional, simple settings to highly virtuosic new arrangements made especially for Calmus. This recording is part of the prize-winning "LIEDERPROJEKT". A perfect blend of sound, precision, lightness and wit. These are the hallmarks of Calmus, now one of the most successful vocal groups in Germany. The ensemble has forged a refined sound which few groups achieve. The wide range of sound colors, the joy in performing that musicians convey on the concert platform, and their varied and imaginative programs are praised by the press time and time again. These five Leipzig musicians have won a whole string of international prizes and competitions, including the ECHO Klassik and Supersonic Award, and the reach of their activities is constantly expanding, taking them throughout Europe as well as to North and South America. In 2010 the quintet made its debut at Carnegie Hall, New York.

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

Calmus Ensemble is one of the most successful a cappella ensembles on the international scene. For their new album touched, the singers from Leipzig have chosen songs and lieder from several centuries on themes which never fail to touch our hearts, and have arranged them for their own forces with the utmost skill. What results is a vocal CD in a class of its own: Sting stands alongside Henry Purcell, Michael Jackson next to Adriano Banchieri, and Elton John beside Monty Python. The ensemble describes the concept in the CD booklet as follows: “As far as themes go, nothing whatsoever has changed: love, longing, pain, but also joy, pleasure and exuberance. That which touches our hearts, which moves us, has been convincingly expressed in music since time immemorial. Then as now, songs were one thing above all – a living expression of the soul! In this common ground the boundaries of the two eras of music on this recording become blurred.” We’re offering you the opportunity to contemplate the texts and music of two very different epochs in a new light and from new perspectives. The CD is a must for lovers of a cappella singing! - Carus-Verlag

O charming night – like a common thread, the romantic motifs of yearning for peace, farewell to lovers and mystical experiences of nature run through the works in this recording. With particular sensitivity and subtle harmonic effects, Rheinberger brings the world of elves and mermaids to life. Brahms’s “charming night,” moonlit and enhanced by the song of the nightingale, serves as the backdrop for an implied amorous adventure. And Herzogenberg’s Notturnos evoke an entirely otherworldly reverie. The Orpheus Vokalensemble, consisting of singers from all over the world, was founded in 2005 as the Landesakademie Ochsenhausen’s professional chamber choir. Since then, the ensemble has grown into a significant chamber choir enjoying international respect, working with renowned choral conductors such as Michael Alber, Gunnar Eriksson, Gary Graden, Florian Helgath, Bo Holten and others. The musical and stylistic spectrum of the ensemble is documented by further artistic partners such as Ida Bieler, Konrad Elser, Jürgen Essl, Edita Gruberová, Dieter Ilg, Sibylla Rubens, the Stenzl Piano Duo, Ars Antiqua Austria, Concerto Köln, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden/Freiburg and many more.

With its highly complex and artful opening chorus, the cantata "Ein feste Burg" is one of the highlights among Bach's cantatas. With the Kammerchor Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius and the soloists Sarah Wegener, David Allsopp, Thomas Hobbs and Peter Harvey, this masterpiece finds a more than adequate recording here. The cantata is supplemented by the Missa brevis in G minor, BWV 235, one of the four Lutheran masses Bach composed at the end of the 1730s. The Kammerchor Stuttgart, which was founded by Frieder Bernius, has gained a reputation as one of the foremost European vocal ensembles, its changing to accomodate the given stylistic requirements. The ensemble has won many international prizes and has made frequent guest appearances in most European radio stations and at festivals. In 1988/89 the schedule of the Kammerchor Stuttgart included concert tours of the Far East, Poland, the USA, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Some 40 albums have been recorded, many of them winning prizes.

The boys' choir Knabenchor collegium iuvenum Stuttgart is based at the Stuttgart cathedral singing school. The ensemble's strength lies in it's very broad repertoire, which particularly includes works of sacred choral music from the Renaissance to the modern age. This is reflected in the varied selection of Christmas carols on this album: in addition to traditional carols, modern arrangements and new Christmas songs are also included. Instrumental arrangements by the composer and conductor Michael Culo for flute and organ as well as works for oboe and organ ensure a beautiful versatility of sound and style. Conductor Michael Culo studied church music and singing in Rottenburg and Tubingen. He has won prizes in organ, choral conducting, and composition competitions and has received numerous commissions. Since August 2013, Culo has been artistic director of the boys' choir collegium iuvenum Stuttgart.

With their new album “Madrigals of Madness” the Calmus Ensemble presents a musical journey to 16th and 17th c. Europe with madrigals from Gibbons, Flecha, Monteverdi, Gesualdo and Desprez. This first CD of a promised future series of madrigal compilations about the different emotions pictured in the music is about the madness found in love, war, loneliness and lovesickness. The liner notes contain an interview with a psychiatrist about madness from a medical point of view. A striking blend of sound, precision, lightness and wit: these are the hallmarks of Calmus – a unique line-up of soprano, countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass voices – now one of the most successful vocal groups in Germany. The reach of their activities is constantly expanding, taking them throughout Europe as well as North and South America. They are naturally at home in the vocal music of the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Romantic, with music of our own time – including pop, folk and jazz, as well as chansons and evergreens from the 1920s – also a real passion. Over the years Calmus has commissioned numerous new works and given many world premieres.

Throughout the world Christmas is celebrated – and everywhere, singing Christmas carols is part of the celebrations. This limited special edition offers over 100 of the most beautiful German and international carols: For the first time, the “Weihnachtslieder” (German Christmas Carols) as well as the “Weihnachtslieder aus aller Welt” (Christmas Carols of the World) of the prize-winning LIEDERPROJEKT are being issued together in an incredible four-release set. The LIEDERPROJEKT is a charity project produced by Carus and Southwest German Radio. For every album set sold, 2 EUR will be donated to projects which promote singing with children.

Under the direction of Anne Kohler, the National Youth Choir explores the forest and nature musically and presents it's first CD with this project. The CD features works composed especially for the Federal Youth Choir, such as Jan Kopp's Ode to Sawdust. Compositions for mixed choir a cappella by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Robert Schumann, Max Reger, Maurice Ravel and Raymond Murray Schafer, among others, can also be heard. The choir interprets the compositions at the highest musical level, describing the forest not only as a place of silence and longing, but also as a mysterious place of magic with wolves, singing stones and clear water or as a metaphor for the human conscience and it's vulnerability.

It is both regrettable and incomprehensible that Louis Spohr is virtually unknown today as a composer of oratorios, as he was extremely highly regarded as such by his contemporaries. Among musicologists at least, he is counted together with Mendelssohn as one of the most important German composers of oratorios in the first half of the 19th century. Under the impression of a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Spohr wrote his Passion oratorio Des Heilands letzte Stunden WoO 62 in 1834, which reports the Passion events from an unusual perspective: Instead of an evangelist, the disciple Johannes takes on the role of the narrator directly involved in the events. Together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, he describes the story of Jesus' Passion - in an almost operatic and dramatic manner. The scenes before the judgment of Caiaphas and at the cross with the musically painted earthquake are particularly remarkable. With this conception, Spohr met the public's taste exactly, as people expected not only religious edification from such a work, but also a gripping plot. The premiere in Kassel in 1835 was correspondingly successful. Four years later, an English version was performed in Norwich, where, according to the Times, hundreds were moved to tears. No wonder, then, that Spohr considered this oratorio to be one of the best he had ever composed. Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and an outstanding ensemble of soloists (Johanna Winkel, Maximilian Vogler, Florian Sievers, Arttu Kataja, Thomas E. Bauer, Felix Rathgeber and Magnus Piontek) make this jewel of early 19th century sacred choral music available again on CARUS in an exquisite recording.

One of the duties of the office of municipal music director in Hamburg was to perform a Passion every year during Lent, alternating from year to year according to the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Telemann took on this task with particular fervour and created a total of 46 passions throughout his time in Hamburg, from spring 1722 until his death in 1767, half of which are unfortunately lost today.

The Christmas season can come. With this musical Advent calendar from the Landesmusikakademie Ochsenhausen, there is a new surprise every day. Each day of Advent has its own song to shorten the waiting time for children and families. Old and new Christmas carols in enchanting arrangements, sometimes contemplative, sometimes rousing and as if for dancing along, prepare us for a joyful pre-Christmas season. With the children's choir SingsalaSing, the Ulmer Spatzenchor and many more.

Armand Silvestre had actually wanted to pursue a military career, but then worked in a senior position in the French Ministry of Finance. He increasingly devoted himself to his real passion: literature. Numerous composers felt inspired by Silvestre's poetry, above all Gabriel Faure. Faure even set Mystere to music before the official publication of the poem in the volume "Le pays des roses" (The Land of Roses, 1882). He gave his "Melodie" the different title "Le secret": mysterious and melancholy, accompanied by simple yet harmonically rich piano sounds.

Hans-Christoph Rademann presents sacred vocal works from the pens of two of the most important Italian opera composers. The occasion and time of composition could not be more different. Puccini's so-called Messa di Gloria is an ambitious, large-scale youthful work that was composed for the annual festival of the patron saint of his home town of Lucca. The Quattro pezzi sacri, on the other hand, are Verdi's mature works, composed over a period of ten years and not originally intended for publication by the composer.