Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Musical Offering BWV 1079, is a collection of contrapuntal pieces by J.S. Bach, based on a single musical theme by Frederick the Great. The particular occasion for this version by Helmut Bornefeld (1906-1990) for organ, violin and flute was the imminent dedication of the Schorndorf choir organ in 1975.

The Carus Classics series feature outstanding CD productions from Carus’ past library of recordings. In the works introduced here, Schubert presents vocal chamber music as an independent genre. The male voice ensemble “Schubert hoch vier” – consisting of four internationally renowned Lied singers – together with Schubert specialist Thomas Seyboldt at the piano offered this unfortunately little regarded group of works with a masterful balance between ensemble spirit and soloistic expressivity.

Classical Music

The present album explores the question of how two ostensibly opposite protagonists, such as a solo violin and a mixed choir, can form a closed artistic form. European composers with various stylistic roots were confronted with this question. The result is an exciting conceptual album filled with compositional surprises and new sonic ideas which demonstrate how varied the respective composers’ approach to the task was and how they found coherent and creative solutions. The composers reveal differing conceptual approaches when answering these questions. Nystedt and Hubner decided to write a kind of concerto for violin and choir in which the violin as soloist outdoes the choir- in its role as orchestra- with its virtuosity, simultaneously commenting on the test or affirming it with doublings. Hoybye stages a theater piece, assigning clear roles to the solo violin and the choir; the violin, representing the voice of God, enters into a dialogue with the choir which represents the voice of man. They speak to one another, they comment on each other, wrestle with each other, spur each other on and thus develop a musical momentum. Buchenberg works with a cross-fading technique and sound surfaces, Miskinis alternates between the violin taking on the function of a descant and a blending of violin and choir, whereas Gjeilo integrates the violin in the choir’s sound weave, turning it into an additional soprano voice, as it were.

Classical Music

Together with the Hamburger Ratsmusik, soprano Dorothee Mields presents several of the most beautiful solo cantatas by Baroque master Johann Philipp Krieger. Krieger's music effortlessly blended French and Italian elements of style, making him an important model for the milieu in which Bach and Telemann would thrive. His early trio sonatas round out the disc.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Next to Stabat Mater, the Petite Messe solennelle is Rossini's second extensive sacred composition and without a doubt a highlight of his late works. On this recording with Tonu Kaljuste and the Kirchheimer Vokal-Consort, one can hear the original version of the mass, in which the orchestra comprises a piano and a harmonium.

Classical Music

As with scarcely any other work of the 17th c., Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers has found its way into today’s repertoire. + Nevertheless, the Vespers still leaves open many questions. + The present recording is based on the new edition by Carus, which takes up oft-discussed issues concerning scoring possibilities, performance practice, transpositions and liturgical unity and invites an individual musical approach to the challenges the Vespers presents. + Two of Germany’s finest ensembles, the Lautten Compagney Berlin and amarcord, have accepted this challenge.

Classical Music