Classical Music

Richard Hickox conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the second volume of Leighton's orchestral works. BBC Music Magazine wrote of volume 1, "Hickox directs superbly paced and eloquent performances of this fine music." Volume 2 presents two large-scale orchestral works, Symphony No.2 'Sinfonia Mistica', which receives its first recording; coupled with Te Deum Laudamus in its orchestrated version. One of the most successful British composers of the latter half of the twentieth century, Kenneth Leighton's lifelong musical relationship with the human voice, exemplified in the two works of this recording, began as a chorister in the choir of Wakefield Cathedral as a young boy. It was to impact greatly on his writing. Over the course of his life he wrote almost continually for the voice, absorbing vocal lines in all settings. It provided an excellent vehicle for some of his most lyrical and expressive writing. Leighton wrote three numbered symphonies. Symphony No.2 was composed in 1974 as a direct response to the death of his month, and Leighton referred to the work as a 'meditation on the subject of death.' Composed over six movements and approaching an hour in length Sinfonia Mistica contains some of Leighton's most personal and reactionary music, being at various times angry and emotional, yet serene and thoughtful. While he describes the symphony as a 'requiem' the conventional texts for this service are not employed, instead he used texts by John Donne, George Herbert and Henry King, poets who have been a constant source of inspiration to British composers. The original setting of Te Deum was written for choir and organ, but two years after its completion, Leighton received a request from the Oxford Bach Choir for an orchestral version of the work, which was completed in 1966. Scored for chorus and full orchestra it is an imaginative setting of what is a liturgical text of praise, and written in honour of St Cecilia. This climatic work contains some of Leighton's most enduring and significant music. Chandos has received widespread appreciation for embarking on this revelatory new orchestral series. Volume 3 will be released in spring 2009. Also available: Volume 1: CHAN 10461

Louis Spohr’s only mass is one of the most important works of post-classical church music. In this unaccompanied mass, Spohr combines in a harmonious way the contemporary interest in Baroque compositional techniques and his own search for an individual, modern compositional style. The Kammerchor Stuttgart under its conductor Frieder Bernius succeeds in bringing to life the numerous facets of the work in a particularly impressive way. As well as the mass, this release also includes the Three Psalms op. 85. These two works by Spohr have been interleaved for the first time in a recording: the three Psalms have been inserted in the relevant places, representing the positions of the Introit, Gradual and Offertory, resulting in a truly impressive experience for listeners.

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

This superb programme combines the beautiful 'Alto Rhapsody' with the much more rarely performed 'Gesang der Parzen' and the cantata 'Rinadlo' - a work which gives us some idea of how a Brahms opera world would have sounded. This is the third and final volume of Brahms's works for chorus and orchestra, performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under its distinguished Principal Conductor, Gerd Albrecht.

Phenomenal... no superlative is wasted in praise of this choir, wrote DIE ZEIT about the Kammerchor Stuttgart and it's director, Frieder Bernius. Now the ensemble presents a new a cappella CD with psalm settings by Otto Nicolai (1810-1849). Some of these settings are conceived for double choir and were composed by Nicolai for the choir of the Berlin Cathedral - where Nicolai had succeeded Felix Mendelssohn.

Hans-Joachim Lustig and the chamber choir I Vocalisti present a selection of Franz Liszt’s sacred vocal works that is well aimed to provide a comprehensive view of Liszt’s choral oeuvre. Opulent harmonic sequences countered by sparser passages frequently pervade these compositions, furnishing thee works with captivating sounds and sonorities. The compositions on this recording, all of which date from the second half of Liszt’s life, show the creative power of the religious searching which he experienced in 1853 as “an enduring feeling which controls me”.

Classical Music

Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 30 November-2 December 1987, 11-13 October 1988, 30 January-1 February 1989 and 24-26 May 1989 Producer: Martin Compton Sound Engineer: Anthony Howell

On the occasion of it's 40th anniversary Carus has initiated a new series Carus Classics, featuring ten outstanding CD productions from the past library of recordings. This exclusive collection, designed by Friedrich Forssman and Cornelia Feyll, is presented in high-quality DigiPacs and each CD includes an extensive booklet. '... exemplary recording.' (New Classics, September 2005)

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

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

Classical Music

This much-admired disc of French sacred music from the seventeen and twentieth centuries, beautifully performed by the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge under George Guest, is now available at chandos Classics price for the first time. These performances were well received on their initial release, with reviews such as 'The choir's silk-sheen sound brings Poulenc motets to perfection' (South Wales Argus) and 'This is another quality disc from Chandos which offers beautiful performances of these attractive French choral works' (Canberra Times). The recording is sure to be welcomed at the new, lower, Classics price.

CLAUSEN All That Hath Life and Breath, Praise Ye the Lord. O magnum mysterium. The Tyger. The Lamb. Mass for Double Choir. Magnificat. Prayer. O vos omnes. A New Creation: Set me a seal • Charles Bruffy, cond; Kansas City Chorale • CHANDOS 5105 (SACD 62:25)

René Clausen has been the director of the famed Concordia Choir of Concordia College in Morehead, Minnesota, for more than 25 years. He is best known to the public as the artistic director of the annually broadcast Concordia Christmas concerts, and in choral circles as an outstanding teacher and conductor. He is also a popular composer, writing for his own ensembles as well as on commissions from other choral organizations. Despite this, I had until recently steered clear of Clausen’s compositions, as early contacts had left me with an impression of a technically accomplished but prosaic prettiness that I do not find particularly interesting. However, Eternal Rest, the second disc that Charles Bruffy and his chorales recorded for Chandos, includes a performance of Clausen’s In pace that suggested I might be missing something. And indeed I have been; a number of the works included on this SACD, Life and Breath, exhibit a compelling harmonic and contrapuntal sophistication, reminiscent of the music of Eric Whitacre, though with less insistent (and ecstatic) dissonances.

The centerpiece of the release is Clausen’s Mass for Double Choir, written in 2011for Bruffy and his two chorales in Kansas City and Phoenix. It is here recorded by an augmented Kansas City Chorale, boasting 31 rather than the usual 24 singers. I suspect that this Mass, the composer’s first, may have been inspired by the Frank Martin masterpiece. If it was, Clausen quickly found his own way, creating a distinctive setting of rich but subtle coloration and great depth of feeling. There are few antiphonal effects for a work ostensibly for double chorus, but the text—or most of it, as Clausen has made some odd, assumedly musically dictated, word and phrase excisions—has been set with skill, clarity, economy, and more than a little imagination. The Mass is the most challenging and substantial work on the program, but other recent pieces like the restlessly inward O magnum mysterium and the Prayer on a text by Mother Theresa—achingly beautiful but never mawkish—further demonstrate the composer’s expressive growth.

There are a few quibbles. The clever Blake settings, The Tyger and The Lamb, provide welcome contrast to the liturgical works, but Clausen never really invites us below the surface of Blake’s vision into either the darkness or the wonder. A couple of the earliest works include quotes of Lutheran chorales, which, while imaginatively done, now seem a little passé. Finally, “Set Me a Seal” from Clausen’s 1989 cantata A New Creation sails dangerously close to the shoals of preciousness. It is, however, his most popular work, so its inclusion is inevitable, and it serves reasonably well as an encore/benediction to the program that precedes it.

The Kansas City Chorale—in conjunction with its sister group, which actually got the first release—is the first American chorus to record with English label Chandos. It is not hard to hear why it was accorded this honor. It offers some of the finest a cappella singing to be heard on disc, on a par with the best of Great Britain’s vaunted choruses, and is Chandos’s answer to Hyperion’s similarly thrilling Polyphony. Tuning is impeccable, and blend is faultless, though I might have liked an additional bass in the balance. Diction is clear and tone varies easily by mood, though projection is slightly restrained, as is Bruffy’s way. The sound and artistry are exemplary. Many a soprano section I’ve heard on disc lately could take a lesson from this choir’s superb singers on how to negotiate leaping high notes. Chandos engineers have provided just enough distance and resonance to support blend while maintaining clarity, and in surround the choir is placed out in a believable space. To anyone who enjoys beautifully crafted, thought-provoking but accessible choral music, this release is most highly recommended.

FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

HOMILIUS Habe deine Lust an dem Herrn. Kommt her und sehet an die Wunder Gottes. Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot. Die Elenden sollen essen. Domine ad adiuvandum me. Magnificat in C. Deo dicamus gratias. Ich will den Herrn loben. Mir hast du Arbeit gemacht. Dennoch bleib ich stets an dir. Die richtig für sich gewandelt haben. Lasset euch begnügen. Wo ist ein solcher Gott. Der Herr ist meine Stärke. Siehe, den Herrn Auge sieht • Stefan Schuck, cond; sirventes Berlin • CARUS 83.266(Text and Translation)

HOMILIUS Warum toben die Heiden. Frohlocke, Zion, dein Erlöser. In der Zeit meiner Not. Kommt, frohe Völker. Steig, Allgewaltiger, von deinem festen Sitze • Rainer Johannes Homburg, cond; Marie-Pierre Roy (sop); Henriette Gödde (alt); Knut Schoch (ten); Markus Köhler (bs); Handel’s Company Ch; Handel’s Company • CARUS 83.267 (71:10 Text and Translation)

HOMILIUS MUSIK AN DER DRESDNER FRAUENKIRCHE: Jubiläumsedition • Various performers • CARUS 83.268 (2 CDs: 141:14 Text and Translation)

With three exceptions—a 1980 recording of organ works issued by Arion, a 1985 CD of motets released by MDG (reviewed by J. F. Weber in 8:6), and the 1992 Berlin Classics set of the St. Matthew Passion (see the enthusiastic review in 18:3 by Martin Anderson)—the revival of the music of Gottfried August Homilius (1714–1785) appears to be entirely an endeavor of the Carus label. Like CPO, a label which has also devoted much effort to reviving the work of neglected German composers, Carus—the publishing division of which is producing a complete edition of the works of Homilius—is to be congratulated for both its courage and discernment in selecting this repertoire for revival. Along with Anderson, Weber, Brian Robins (in a review of a disc of cantatas in 29: 6), and Michael Carter (in multiple reviews in 29:2, 29:6, and 30:6), I concur in ranking Homilius as an unjustly overlooked figure who composed works of unfailingly high quality that fully merit renewed attention.

Since the biographical data for Homilius is scattered throughout multiple previous reviews, I will summarize it here in one place for convenience. The son of a Lutheran pastor, Homilius was born in Porschendorf, a village southeast of Dresden. He attended school in Dresden in 1722 after his father’s death, and then came to Leipzig in about 1735, where (according to Johann Nikolaus Forkel) he studied keyboard with Bach and occasionally substituted for him at the Nikolaikirche organ. In 1742 he was appointed organist at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, and in 1755 was appointed Kreuzkantor of the Kreuzkirche, which made him music master for the city’s three main churches (the third one being the Sophienkirche), serving in that position until his death 30 years later. He composed some 180 sacred cantatas and 60 motets, several Passion settings, a Christmas oratorio, and chorale preludes for organ.

While firmly anchored in the late Baroque and showing the influence of Bach (and perhaps, even more, of Telemann), the music of Homilius also clearly evinces the absorption of the Empfindsamkeit aesthetic of the mid-18th century. There is less use of devices such as fugue and counterpoint (though these are far from absent), and correspondingly greater employment of primary melodic lines with chordal accompaniment. This is particularly true of the motets featured on the first CD here, where the settings are highly homophonic, though still quite challenging technically; the cantatas by contrast adhere more closely to the older Baroque stylistic contours. What makes this music so enjoyable is Homilius’s talent for shapely and expressive thematic lines, which unfailingly fall gracefully and gratefully on the ear. Had not his music, like that of Bach’s sons, been so unfairly eclipsed for so long, some of his melodies might be as familiar to us today as those of Bach. What he does lack, of course, is Bach’s stunning originality, daring, and ingenuity; his music is well crafted but comfortable and safe rather than challenging and provocative. But then, it is hardly fair to blame any other composer for not being Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven.

With the first two items listed above, Carus has now issued 10 sets devoted to Homilius, and these uphold the extremely high standards of quality of their predecessors. Both the sirventes Berlin (the lower case letter of the first word being the usual unfortunate and now hopelessly clichéd current naming affectation) and the Handel’s Company Choir are both exceptionally polished vocal ensembles, and the instrumentalists of Handel’s Company are an equally crackerjack company. All four vocal soloists are quite accomplished, and conductors Stefan Schuck and Rainer Johannes Homburg lead energetic, crisply pointed performances that engage one’s attention at every turn. The recorded sound is ideally balanced, clear and yet warm; detailed booklet notes and complete German (or Latin when occasionally required) texts with English translations are provided.

Readers may be puzzled as to why I have said nothing until now about the third set listed above. The reason is that it is not a new release, but rather an anthology drawn from previous releases in the Carus series. More specifically, it features three of the four cantatas (omitting Selig seid ihr, wenn ihr geschmähet werdet ) from Carus 83.183 (reviewed by Michael Carter in 29:2) with soloists, chorus, and instrumentalists conducted by Roderich Kreile; the closing chorale from the St. John Passion on Carus 83.261 (reviewed by Carter in 30:6) featuring the same performers; the Christmas Oratorio from Carus 83.235 (reviewed by J. F. Weber in 32:4) with assembled forces under the leadership of Ludwig Güttler; and two cantatas, four chorales, and an oboe sonata from Carus 83.261 (not reviewed) again with various performers led by Güttler. Once again, Carus is to be praised and congratulated in that, with the exception of the Passion excerpt, instead of offering bleeding chunks it provides the more extended works (the oratorio and five cantatas) complete, so that the release is actually worth acquiring in its own right rather than being a sampler disc to audition once and discard. The same care has been taken as with the original releases to provide detailed booklet notes and full original texts with English translations. This is a veritable model of how such compilations ought to be done, and increases my already high estimation of the quality of this label. In sum, the whole lot is highly enjoyable and heartily recommended.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

Dated 1650 and 1653 respectively, the Requiem Masses by Mario Capuana and Bonaventura Rubino are apparently the only two Requiem settings composed in Sicily during the Baroque period. Capuana’s work is imbued with the intense emotion of the madrigal school whilst Rubino’s is a true apotheosis of Renaissance polyphony. The Namur Chamber Choir, founded 1987, champions the musical heritage of its native region while at the same time tackling the Great Works of the choral repertoire. In January 2010, the Argentinian conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcón was appointed the Choir’s artistic director.

Classical Music

Paul Hindemith's compositions for a cappella choir are distinguished by a richness of expression and mood manifested in various compositional techniques and artistic forms. Again and again in his writings and textbooks, Hindemith emphasized the important role of the singing voice as a natural instrument for the composer-in-the-making to test his compositional sketches as well as for the layperson and music lover for spontaneous singing and music making. The CD presents choral compositions on texts by Bertolt Brecht, Gottfried Benn, Walt Whitman, Fitz-James O'Brien, medieval and self-composed texts. Both dramatic and humorous, light tones in these choral works show the breadth of Hindemith's skillfulness. The CD was awarded the Quarterly German Record Critics' Award and the "Echo Klassik 2001" (best choral-work recording)!

A worthy addition to the repertoire for Passiontide.

About ten years ago the German label Carus started a project of recording compositions by Gottfried August Homilius and publishing the scores. This has borne fruit in a series of remarkable productions, with cantatas, motets and passions (see below). No fewer than three of the latter genre have been released so far, the latest being this setting of the St Mark Passion. It is not documented when it was written, but there is evidence that it was performed a couple of years before 1765 in Berlin. Homilius' Passions were quite famous and were performed in the German-speaking world well into the 19th century. That is the more remarkable as they had to compete with the then most celebrated Passion, Der Tod Jesu, by Carl Heinrich Graun, which dates from 1755.
 
The latter is a so-called passion oratorio. This was mostly a combination of a paraphrase of and contemplation on the story of the Passion. Passion oratorios were usually performed outside the church, in the form of a concert, but in the second half of the century they became part of religious services as well. This St Mark Passion belongs to the older type of the oratorio passion like those by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is based on the Biblical account of the suffering and death of Jesus, with additional chorales and arias. Even so, this work is quite different from Bach's Passions in various ways.
 
It is interesting to compare Homilius's Passion with Bach's St Matthew Passion. This will reveal in what way the Passions from the Enlightenment differ from those of the previous era. Bach's Passion is written in the spirit of Luther's theology of the Cross, which emphasized that the suffering and death of Jesus for the sins of mankind are an absolute precondition to receiving the grace of God. In order to imprint this into the minds of the congregation it should 're-experience' as it were Jesus' sufferings and take part in the unfolding of the events as described in the gospels. To that end the references to the happy outcome of Jesus' passion are very limited. It is telling that Bach's St Matthew Passion ends with an expression of grief on Jesus' death. This Passion by Homilius ends on a positive note: "God is reconciled, he layeth down his thunders. (...) The heavens exult, with hallelujahs echoing. Join forces with them in this solemn song!" The scene which describes the Last Supper is followed by an aria of an uplifting character, referring to the Lord's Supper which is celebrated in the Christian church: "If by sin ye are distressed, come and the Lord will refresh you. (...) O taste and see how gracious he is!" It is followed by a chorus which expresses the same thought. This connection is completely absent in Bach's Passion.
 
The purpose of the congregation 're-experiencing' the events also explains the dramatic character of Bach's St Matthew Passion. Homilius's St Mark Passion is considerably less dramatic. A typical example is the scene where the High Priest asks Jesus whether he is the son of God. Jesus answers: "I am, and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." In Bach's Passion the Evangelist immediately mentions the High Priest rending his clothes and saying that Jesus has spoken blasphemy. Homilius inserts a chorale, and only then the Evangelist recounts the response of the High Priest. The same happens in the scene of Peter denying Jesus. After his last denial Bach's Evangelist tells that the cock crew and that Peter wept bitterly. In Homilius's Passion the last denial is followed by an aria: "Do not misconceive the God of gods! His anger flares, go, kiss the Son!" In these passages the inclusion of a chorale and an aria respectively interrupt the dramatic flow of the story.
 
The aria just mentioned reveals a feature of this Passion which clearly reflects the spirit of the Enlightenment. In Bach's Passions the arias express the emotions the congregation is supposed to feel while witnessing the sufferings of Jesus: "May my weeping and my mourning be a welcome sacrifice" (Buss und Reu), "I wish my heart to offer thee" (Ich will dir mein Herze schenken), "Have mercy, Lord, on me" (Erbarme dich). It is the congregation speaking; in Homilius the congregation is addressed. They are warned: "Be merciful, o mortal man, break thou thy bread with the hungry". That is the opening sentence of the first aria which follows the scene when Jesus' disciples complain about the woman pouring ointment on Jesus' head. This shows that the arias often have a strong moral content. In other arias participants in the story are addressed: "Condemn him, if ye must, ye unjust judges", but "when the Son of Man shall return as judge on the clouds of heaven, then flee, evildoers, flee!"
 
The recitatives of the Evangelist bear witness to the less dramatic character of Homilius's St Mark Passion as well. They are more straightforward, and the text is less drastically depicted in the music. The compass of this part is considerably narrower and there are far fewer modulations. The most dramatic parts of this Passion are the arias. The tenor aria mentioned above, 'Verdammt ihn nur, ihr ungerechten Richter' is a kind of operatic rage aria. There’s drama also in the two accompanied recitatives of the soprano in the second part, which strongly contrast with the ensuing arias. Some arias are quite long: several take seven or eight minutes. The most expressive of these is also the longest: 'Ich geh, von Leiden ganz'. The words are put into the mouth of Jesus (another feature of Enlightenment Passions): "I go hence, surrounded by sorrow on all sides, and there is none to ask: Whither goest thou?" Its expressive character is reinforced by the strings playing with mutes.
 
The mixture of 'old' and 'new' elements has resulted in a compelling Passion with music of great beauty and incisive expression. The performance does full justice to its character and quality. Hans Jörg Mammel gives an excellent account of the part of the Evangelist, in a true declamatory manner. The part of Jesus is lighter than in other Passions: Thomas Laske is a baritone rather than a bass, and his agile voice perfectly suits this part. His aria which I already mentioned is one of the most moving parts and is exquisitely sung. His voice is more powerful in the aria 'Mit Preis und Ruhm gekrönt'. Monika Mauch has a beautiful and clear voice; especially moving is the aria in the second part, following the death of Jesus: "Flow, flow, ye tears!" The dramatic accompanied recitatives I referred to are not lost on her either. No less beautiful is the voice of Ruth Sandhoff, whose warm timbre suits the aria 'Wenn euch eure Sünden drücken'.
 
The Basler Madrigalisten are a vocal ensemble of twenty voices and sing the turbae in a fitting dramatic fashion. The chorales are often a weak spot in recordings of works like this, but not here. Words and phrases are effectively singled out, for instance through dynamic accents, such as in the last lines of 'O weh demselben' (CD 1, track 13). The articulation is also immaculate. The orchestra gives full weight to the dramatic aspects, and displays its expressive powers in the arias.
 
This recording shows why Homilius was considered the greatest German composer of sacred music in his time. It is a worthy addition to the repertoire for Passiontide.
 
-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International

The twelfth part of the acclaimed complete recording of works by Heinrich Schütz contains the Symphoniae sacrae III. With this recording, the Dresdner Kammerchor under Hans-Christoph Rademann, supported by well-known soloists, has devoted itself to one of the pinnacles of German early Baroque music. No lesser person than Johannes Brahms presented "Saul, was verfolgst du mich?" to the discerning 19th century Viennese public, causing an outright musical sensation and impressively substantiating the modernity of Heinrich Schütz's oeuvre. Even today the Symphoniae sacrae III continue to remain a legacy whose music, with it's abundance of musical ideas, tonal splendor, intricacy and sensuality, has the power to overwhelm, stir up emotions, cause reflection, astonish and comfort.

Einhorn: Voice of Light

The music of the Court of Dresden is of special interest to Hans-Christoph Rademann and his two Dresden ensembles, the Kammerchor and the Barockorchester. Johann David Heinichen's Masses Nos.11&12 are presented in a manner in which the musicians can display the entire majestic sound of this festive court music from the baroque era. Mr. Rademann is one of the most sought-after choral conductors and widely acknowledged specialists in choral sound in the world. His concerts and recordings of music from the 17th-18th c., particularly the musical treasures of Saxony, are pioneering.

Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123