Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) was, during his lifetime, just as renowned and beloved as his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach. However, unlike the "Bach Revival" that began in 1829, Graupner's rediscovery only started in the early 20th century. To this day, a significant portion of his over 2,000 works remains unpublished. Pandolfis Consort, founded by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler and performing on period instruments, presents three of Christoph Graupner's more than 1,400 church cantatas, featuring Austrian soprano Lisa Rombach. The texts are based on the works of Georg Christian Lehms (1684-1717), and the mood of these cantatas-titled "Angst und Jammer" ("Fear and Misery"), "Furcht und Zagen" ("Dread and Trembling"), and "Verleih, dass ich aus Herzensgrund" ("Grant That I May from the Depths of My Heart")-inspires this album's title: "Lamentare". As interludes, two of Graupner's instrumental chamber works are featured: excerpts from "Entrata per la musica di tavola" in G minor (GWV 468) and the Sonata in G minor (GWV 724).

In 1722, Christoph Graupner missed being appointed as the new cantor of St Thomas' Church in Leipzig by a hair and not Johann Sebastian Bach. But Graupner's employer, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, refused to let him go. He knew exactly what a talented court conductor he had obtained around ten years prior. He was skilful at composing operas, cantatas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music and piano works and was therefore worth every penny of his handsome salary. Graupner imaginatively filled even small sacred works with life, producing great expression in even the most modest instrumentation using subtle voice leading. This is what we hear in these works, which are performed just as "agilely, nimbly and often with joyful and declamatory vigour" (Klassik-Heute) as the first recording of these so-called "Dialogue Cantatas".

The court of the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt developed a magnificent and richly varied music culture very much standing up to comparison with larger music centers such as Hamburg and Mannheim. The Darmstadt court ensemble must have had considerable musical forces at its command. For five decades the court chapel master Christoph Graupner was the absolute ruler in this musical kingdom. This universal spirit and highly individual and original composer unfortunately receives much too little attention today. Along with the Mannheimer Hofkapelle Baroque Orchestra under the conductor Florian Heyerick and with top soloists, we at cpo have committed ourselves to changing these circumstances. Vol. 1, Das Leiden Jesu, presents recordings of three passion cantatas by Graupner. What we hear is a composer of the late Baroque who (like his friend Telemann) participated in a perennial quest for new expressive options – which brings genuine pleasure! The key to his personal style is found in his delight in experimentation and his incredibly individual instrumentation technique. Graupner fascinates us not so much with compelling »melodies« as with intensive playing with the various tone colors made available to him by the energetic members of the court ensemble and their instruments.

Compared with his more than 1,400 cantatas, operas, and other vocal works, his instrumental works account for only a small portion of his oeuvre, but they demonstrate that, like Telemann, Graupner was a late baroque composer who always lived in quest of new expressive possibilities. The concertos presented here, composed in 1736-37 and 1742, were used either as table music pieces or for concert events.

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Christoph Graupner, active for over 50 years at the Hessian court in Darmstadt, is a kind of insiders' tip whose rich musical production is hardly accessible.The reason his works remain largely unknown is that the original scores were kept strictly under lock and key for decades.The present CD introduces first recordings of three of his unusually colorful bass solo cantatas as well as an original Suite for Chalumeau.The melodic language of these cantatas frequently proceeds in tortuous paths; the content of the text repeatedly depicted with harmonic surprises and sharp dissonances.

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On its brand-new second Graupner album the Kirchheimer BachConsort performs solo and dialogue cantatas by this composer who always met the highest standards of his times. Graupner sought opportunities for original expression and was open to the latest developments and to unfamiliar instruments. With his inexhaustible imagination he was able to create cantatas rich in contrasts and with variability, originality, diversified instrumentation, special tone color opulence, intelligent voice leading, and drama schooled on the opera as their hallmarks. The interplay of the vocal and instrumental parts is also a special feature of his music. In the introduction to his Hymnbook published in 1728 Graupner emphasized what in his view was the most important task facing a composer: “Edifying words in a song make an even deeper impression on human hearts when the meaning and message of the text, as it were, are vividly presented through the music with carefully considered and select expressions. And this is the noblest thing in every composition in which specific texts and words are prescribed.” In his cantatas Graupner succeeded in employing purposeful musical affections to illustrate and represent the texts. For him there was no difference between secular and sacred music; he knew how to engage in skillful negotiations between these two genres.

The present recording of Christoph Graupner's Passion Cycle of 1741 concludes on Vol. 4 with the highly expressive cantata for Laetare Sunday GWV 1123-41. Laetare Sunday ("Joy" or "Refreshment" Sunday), the fourth Lenten Sunday, actually assumes a certain special positive status with it's central focus on God's action, which alone can rid human beings of their failings. However, Johann Conrad Lichtenberg, the author of the text, had a different view: here the dominant theme is the inequity of the rulers and judges who pronounce on Jesus while he bears everything with patience. In the end the verdict concerns the collective guilt of humankind, for which there initially seems to be no remedy. Here two things stand out: the decision in favor of two duets (instead of two arias) and the instrumentation of the cantata as a whole. The blend of instrumental color renders audible what is a direct musical realization of the textual content. The selection of chorales from Graupner's oeuvre between 1713 and 1751 illustrates the extraordinary variety of his compositional production, and the constantly changing coloration brought about by the nuanced instrumentation conveys this to the listener with special clarity. "The Baroque boom - here it in fact has brought new gems to light" (klassik-heute. Com of Vol. 3).

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Listening to these works is synonymous with pure joy: Graupner's expressive chromaticism, the uncommonly manifold instrumental color artistry in the arias, and the most highly proficient application of the Baroque doctrine of the affections are enchanting and gripping. All of this is more immediately understandable and emotionally more heartfelt than the works of Bach. This is what klassik-heute. Com wrote following the release of our Vol. 2 with the Passion cantatas of Christoph Graupner. And now - for the Passion season - we are releasing Vol. 3. Once again the instrumentation has been designed with great variety, and it is here that the key to Graupner's personal style is to be found: he captivates listeners not so much with impressive, highly memorable �melodies� but with intensive playing with the various tone colors made available to him by the court chapel members and their instruments on each particular occasion. For all their individuality and rich variety, however, the cantatas are linked together: the three works for Quinquagesima, Passion Sunday, and Holy Thursday presented here adhere to the formal structure with seven numbers as a rule most frequently employed by Graupner. Their design is largely symmetrical, with framing choral numbers and one soprano aria and one bass aria. These cantatas have in common a contrast principle assigned central importance and employed on a textual and dramatic level as well as in the musical design. It is precisely here that Graupner's original background as an opera composer is reflected, a circumstance that had enabled him to gather experience with pronounced dramaturgical oppositions.

In his will, Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) decreed that every single one of his compositions should be destroyed after his death. It is quite unimaginable that the composer’s last will should have been carried out! Fortunately, posterity preserved the musical memorial, and so today we find his musical legacy in the library of the ‘Darmstädter Hofkapelle’. To date, very little of Graupner’s extensive vocal oeuvre has been recorded, and thus the Anton-Webern-Chor Freiburg together with the Ensemble Concerto Grosso conducted by Hans Michael Beuerle present imaginative baroque vocal music recorded for the first time. A program of four passion cantatas was selected from the enormous body of Graupner cantatas – altogether 1414 sacred cantatas grouped in 46 annual cantata volumes are extant!

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Classical Music