In 1677 Johann Schelle became the music director at the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, succeeding his teacher Sebastian Knüpfer and preceding Johann Kuhnau in this post. His own pupils included important composers like Johann Christoph Graupner, Johann David Heinichen, Reinhard Keiser, Johann Theodor Roemhildt and Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow. Schelle is known to have produced more than 180 compositions, of which unfortunately only 48 have survived. His importance lies mainly in his chorale cantatas and in the combination of Biblical texts and freely written sacred poetry he employed in his more advanced sacred concertos- an early form of what would later become the Lutheran church cantata. The present release gathers together Schelle’s known compositions for Advent and Christmas. In doing so it also sheds light on the musical role of the St. Thomas Choir in Leipzig’s musical culture during the final third of the 17th century.

This release—the Taylor Festival Choir’s second album for Delos—features original Christmas works by two distinguished American composers: Brian Galante, whose choral works and arrangements have met with worldwide acclaim; and the late, great Stephen Paulus, whose many choral and orchestral compositions have been performed by America’s leading choirs and orchestras. The two multi-movement works presented in this album—Galante’s So Hallow’d the Time and Paulus’s Christmas Dances—are heard here in world premiere recordings. Based in Charleston, SC, the Taylor Festival Choir (Robert Taylor, founder and conductor) has gained international recognition since its inception in 2001 as one of America’s finest professional choral ensembles; and proudly claims Brian Galante as its regular Composer-in-Residence. They deliver truly transcendental performances in this lovely recording.

This specially priced double CD features a collection of the beautiful and popular music from the Baroque for the Christmas season. Many of the melodies you will hear are familiar seasonal favorites while other lesser-known works will offer you with an enchanting listening experience.

With performances drawn from the Hänssler Classic catalog, featuring the artistry of Helmuth Rilling and his Gächinger Kantorei, the early music specialists Ensemble Musica Poetica Freiburg, Ulrich Stötzel's Collegium Vocale, and several of Europe's most distinguished organ soloists, this beautiful 2-CD collection captures all the moods of the Christmas season – joyous, festive, reflective and spiritual.

Tracks:

1.1 J. S. Bach, Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich 00:45
1.2 J. S. Bach, Jauchzet, ihr Himmel, frohlocket, ihr Engel 03:23
1.3 J. S. Bach, Magnificat anima mea 02:53
1.4 J. S. Bach, Brich an, du schönes Morgenlicht 01:05
1.5 J. S. Bach, Zu Bethlehem geboren 01:01
1.6 A. M. Brunckhorst, Sollen wir uns heut nicht freuen 01:32
1.7 P. Nicolai, Zion, hört die Wächter singen 03:51
1.8 A. Hammerschmidt, Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle 04:01
1.9 J. S. Bach, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland 02:47
1.10 J. S. Bach, Wie soll ich dich empfangen 01:18
1.11 G. Schnitter, Sieh nicht an, was du selber bist 04:06
1.12 Ch. H. Rinck, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe 01:44
1.13 A. M. Brunckhorst, Fürchtet euch nicht 00:55
1.14 J. S. Bach, Seid froh, dieweil 00:53
1.15 Es ist ein Ros entsprungen 03:00
1.16 J. S. Bach, Vom Himmel hoch 00:34
1.17 Ch. H. Rinck, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe 00:55
1.18 J. S. Bach, Jauchzet frohlocket 07:25
1.19 P. Gerhardt, Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen 05:05
1.20 A. M. Brunckhorst, Nun zeiget der Himmel die schönsten Gebärden 01:50
1.21 J. S. Bach, Wohl mir, dass ich Jesus habe 03:03
1.22 J. S. Bach, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern 00:46
1.23 Wittenberg, Nun singet and seid froh 03:13
1.24 J. S. Bach, Wir singen dir in deinem Heer 01:11
1.25 J. S. Bach, Uns ist ein Kindlein heut geboren 00:53
1.26 Ch. H. Rinck, Auf, Christen lasst uns unsern Gott 01:31
2.1 A. M. Brunckhorst, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe 00:43
2.2 J. S. Bach, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ 04:26
2.3 J. G. Herder, O du fröhliche 02:11
2.4 J. S. Bach, Nun seid ihr wohlgerochen 02:58
2.5 G. Joseph, Dies ist die Nacht, da mir erschienen 02:28
2.6 J. S. Bach, Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein 01:09
2.7 J. S. Bach, Gottes Sohn ist kommen 02:44
2.8 J. S. Bach, Dein Glanz aller Finsternis 00:55
2.9 P. Gerhardt, Kommt, and lasst uns Christus ehren 03:50
2.10 J. S. Bach, Gloria in excelsis Deo 06:40
2.11 P. Strauch, Du Kind, zu dieser heilgen Zeit 03:38
2.12 J. S. Bach, Jesus richte mein Beginnen 02:01
2.13 Ch. H. Rinck, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe 04:19
2.14 J. S. Bach, Als der gütige Gott 01:14
2.15 J. S. Bach, Lasst uns nun gehen gen Bethlehem 00:41
2.16 Ch. H. Rinck, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe 00:50
2.17 J. S. Bach, Zwar ist solche Herzensstube 01:11
2.18 J. S. Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland 04:43
2.19 J. S. Bach, Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich 03:10
2.20 Ch. H. Rinck, Nach seinem gnadenvollen Rat 01:09
2.21 Ch. F. Gellert, Dies ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht 03:23
2.22 J. S. Bach, Ich will dich mit Fleiß bewahren 01:11
2.23 J. S. Bach, Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier 03:45
2.24 J. S. Bach, Nun singet and seid froh 02:19
2.25 J. Mohr, Stille Nacht 02:49

This is a Blu-ray Audio disc, playable on Blu-ray players only.

“In the Summer of 2019, we recorded our album Once Upon a Time, our first recorded version of a “story concert.” Although we had explored this concept for several years prior with storyteller Sarah Walker, Once Upon a Time was our first collaboration with Benedict Sheehan, who composed incidental music (almost like a choral movie score) to accompany Sarah’s dialogue and to connect the musical dots between existing works by an array of composers. That summer, it became clear that we had stumbled onto something unusual and special. First, the idea of a continuous choral story score – combining elements of classical performance, storytelling, film scoring, and theatricality – seemed to be a rich new idiom for choral performance art. Second, the collaborative team of the project seemed like a dream come true – there was a strong sense of mutual respect for everyone’s unique talents, and a rare ability for creative push and pull…” (Matthew Guard, Artistic Director)

“A heartfelt and joyous contemplation of the sweet Infant Jesus lying in the manger...“ - this quote by the songwriter Johann Rist gives us the theme for the collection of Christmas music by Werner Fabricius. The conductor of the ensemble La Protezione della Musica, Jeroen Finke, put together a cross-section of Werner Fabricius’ music focusing on Christmas music. Besides of a number of more intimate song settings for the Christmas festivities and some dance movements, he focuses on the two large vocal-instrumental compositions in Festo Nativitatis Christi from Fabricius’ most important work.

Previously released on The Gift of Music label. David Hill is widely respected as a choral conductor. This album features music for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany for mixed voice choirs, blending the old (O come, o come, Emmanuel; Coventry Carol) and the new (Eric Whitacre’s Lux aurumque), in a superb celebration of the festive season.

For years, Peter Kopp and his Vocal Concert Dresden have been making a name for themselves through the discographic release of highly interesting and hitherto little-noticed compilations and programs. After works of the Dresden court music or Venetian treasures, it was most recently Masonic music of the 18th century. Now music of the Moravian Church, the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine. Its historical significance and international appeal, which literally radiates from a tranquil village in Upper Lusatia into the entire world, will not only celebrate its 300th anniversary next year, but will also be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Through the brothers' emigration and mission to North America, they left behind a fascinating musical treasure there that is considered one of the cornerstones of North American musical history. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, one could encounter high-quality music from Europe in the settlements of the Brethren, there called "Moravians." The Moravians thus became a musical bridge between Europe and the New World. What is remarkable about this connection is that compositions written in faraway places were also brought back to Germany and again included in the repertoire here. This may have been an absolutely unique feature of the Herrnhuter in the 18th century. Notwithstanding its high repertoire value, this production presents festive Christmas music. It will appeal to the lover of baroque Christmas music as well as to the listener who wishes to broaden his or her musical spectrum.

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.

To many contemporaries it might seem incomprehensible that Pfitzner had his poetic and musical masterpiece Palestrina followed by this slight fairy-tale opera, whose libretto could scarcely satisfy higher artistic demands. Pfitzner was captivated by the cozy sphere, reminiscent of old picture-books, of this typically German Christmas fable (in which also appear folklore figures like Knecht Ruprecht). The sound of Christmas bells and carols awakens in an elf the wish to draw close to humans. Although the old fir tree warns the elf of the heartlessness of the human race, he has his way and leaves his forest home. He in fact becomes acquainted with grief and illness and at last offers himself to be taken to heaven instead of Trautchen. The Christ-child agrees to the exchange, Trautchen is cured, and from now on the elf will come to earth from heaven each year at Christmas as a Christmas elf. The piece ends with a happy Christmas party by Trautchen’s family. The present recording is a production by the Bavarian Radio in which the original texts that Pfitzner placed between the individual numbers are replaced by a text by German journalist and literary writer Alois Fink. Sung and spoken in German language, the booklet contains a synopsis in English.

December holds in its hands many worlds of celebration as the month unfolds with Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas and the eve of the New Year. Over the centuries a great deal of music has marked this time of year, but very little has been added to the canon in recent decades. Gordon Getty inspired us with his composition of delightful new Christmas carols to invite a group of American composers to celebrate the season in music. The resulting New Carols by Seven American Composers, a rich and tuneful recording of new holiday classics for all to share with their friends and families, features the work of Mark Adams, Jake Heggie, Joan Morris and William Bolcom, David Garner, Luna Pearl Woolf, John Corigliano, and Gordon Getty, who, in addition to his Four Christmas Carols arranged Franz Gruber’s Silent Night for mixed chorus and chamber orchestra, the culminating album track.

On Christmas Eve, a young girl has a dream... Emotional awakening, physical transformation, childhood that slowly merges into adulthood... behind what seems to be a tale for children slowly emerges a danced initiatory journey. And while children revel in Drosselmeyer’s magic tricks and enjoy a good scare with the apparition of the Mouse King, the adults notice all the finesse that pervades this narrative and admire the virtuosity of the choreography. A first class company, the Ballet Company of the National Opera of Ukraine has toured all around the world: from the United States to Europe and Asia. Thanks to its rich classical heritage, the Company has managed to win the hearts of its audience thanks to its amazing technique and artistic maestria, and as in every good dance company, the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. The Company has also, over the years, establised itself as a unique talent pool, that has nurtured first class dancers such as Iana Salenko (Staatsballet Berlin), Alina Cojocaru (Royal Ballet), Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko (American Ballet Theater).

Also available on Blu-ray

On Christmas Eve, a young girl has a dream... Emotional awakening, physical transformation, childhood that slowly merges into adulthood... behind what seems to be a tale for children slowly emerges a danced initiatory journey. And while children revel in Drosselmeyer’s magic tricks and enjoy a good scare with the apparition of the Mouse King, the adults notice all the finesse that pervades this narrative and admire the virtuosity of the choreography. A first class company, the Ballet Company of the National Opera of Ukraine has toured all around the world: from the United States to Europe and Asia. Thanks to its rich classical heritage, the Company has managed to win the hearts of its audience thanks to its amazing technique and artistic maestria, and as in every good dance company, the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. The Company has also, over the years, establised itself as a unique talent pool, that has nurtured first class dancers such as Iana Salenko (Staatsballet Berlin), Alina Cojocaru (Royal Ballet), Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko (American Ballet Theater).

RYBA: Czech Christmas Mass / Missa Pastoralis

BRITTEN: A Ceremony of Carols / Friday Afternoons

CALDARA: Christmas Cantata

Charpentier, M.-A.: Messe de Minuit pour Noel / Te Deum

The Emory Symphonic Winds, comprised of members of the Emory Wind Ensemble and the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, are American leaders in the commissioning of new music. Bruce Broughton’s In the World of Spirits was dedicated to the ensemble and is a work of action, dynamism and electric physicality. Christmas carols and hymns are explored by Gustav Holst while Jennifer Higdon charts the intangible beauty of music itself. Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music is a classic of symphonic band writing: rich, colorful and sonorous.

Includes christmas carol(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Utah Chamber Artists. Conductor: Barlow Bradford.

The WESER-RENAISSANCE ensemble had two goals in mind in its concert series “Breslau – A City in the Heart of Europe”: the first was to offer musical enjoyment and the second was to remember an old cultural environment that had been forgotten for many decades. The music manuscripts and printed editions discovered in the Berlin State Library attest to the great diversity and high quality of music culture in what was once the capital of Silesia. “Die Geburt unsers Herrn and Heylands Jesu Christi” (The Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ), a Christmas narrative by Tobias Zeutschner, who was active at Breslau’s principal churches St. Bernhardin and St. Mary Magdalene, forms the focus of the present selection from these sources in a program entitled “Weihnachten im Breslau des 17. Jahrhunderts – Festmusik in der Kirche St. Maria Magdalena” (Christmas in Seventeenth-Century Breslau – Festive Music in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene). This early example of a Biblical history composition is richly scored for eighteen voices.

The Sächsisches Vocalensemble under Matthias Jung has now recorded its second selection of Christmas gems for cpo from one of the most important collections of Lutheran church music, the St. Augustin School in Grimma, Saxony. The focus: festive, magnificent church cantatas (most of them including Christmas trumpet splendor) by composers from Central Germany who were famous musicians and held prominent posts during the years before and after 1700. To name only a few: Johann Schelle, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, and Johann Rosenmüller, as well as composers such as Christian Liebe or Gottfried Vogel who are no longer remembered today but whose music brings wonder to modern listeners.

Judith Clurman conducts her acclaimed chorus, Essential Voices USA, in Holiday Harmonies: Sounds of Christmas, the ensemble’s third recording for Sono Luminus. This holiday disc includes premiere recordings of new vibrant arrangements of seasonal favorites and new works that were written for the disc by some of America’s finest composers. Mezzo Soprano Jamie Barton, Soprano Maureen McKay, Pianist Tedd Firth, and Harpist Stacey Shames are featured performers. Traditional repertoire includes: “Angels We Have Heard on High” (arr. David Chase), “O Holy Night” (arr. Ryan Nowlin), “Silent Night” (arr. Tedd Firth and Judith Clurman), “The Virgin’s Slumber Song” (Max Reger), and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (adaptation Judith Clurman). New works include: “Whispered and Revealed” (Nico Muhly), “Love Came Down” (Jennifer Higdon) and “Merry Christmas Wishing Well” (Gene and Lorraine Gilroy, arr. Michael Gilbertson).

The tenth volume of the recording of Heinrich Schütz’s complete works presents the Weihnachtshistorie SWV 435 (Christmas Story). + Under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann, the Dresdner Kammerchor and the Dresdner Barockorchester perform together with renowned soloists. + The well-known Christmas Story is supplemented with additional pieces for the Christmas season, including the Magnificat SWV 468. + Founder of the Dresdner Kammerchor, Mr. Rademann is one of the most sought-after choral conductors and widely-acknowledged choral specialists in the world.

CHRISTMAS WITH MARILYN HORNE AND THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR

Classical Music

Classical Music