A once-celebrated contemporary of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and a precursor of Schubert in the domain of the lied, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750–1817) is today almost unknown to the general public. Given the great success of his symphonies at the Concert Spirituel, he was probably the composer most frequently performed in Paris between 1777 and 1779. This famous and highly influental pianist and composer spent most of his working life at the court of Mainz, where his reputation attracted rising young talents like Beethoven and Weber, and wrote more than 700 works, including 400 German and Italian songs. On this new release, Els Biesemans and Meret Lüthi present a world premiere recording of some of his sonatas for fortepiano and violin, utterly disarming in their charm, inventiveness and refinement.

World Premiere Recording During his own lifetime, Sammartini was considered to be one of the most talented composers of his generation. John Hawkins wrote in 1776: "His singularities can only be ascribed to that boldness and self-possession which are ever the concomitants of genius." He ranked Sammartini's concertos and overtures at the same level as those of Arcangelo Corelli and Francesco Geminiani - and even held them in higher esteem than Georg Frideric Handel's. Yet, through an inexplicable twist of history, Sammartini has remained an unknown quantity for the general public. Les Muffatti have made a careful selection from among the plethora of Sammartini's masterworks in order to fully reflect their quality. They hope that this world-première recording of works in Sammartini's widely varying styles can do justice to this genius, and share the ensemble's enthusiasm for this unjustly underrated composer.

KEISER Brockes-Passion • Peter van Heyghen, Lionel Meunier, cond; Les Muffatti; Vox Luminis • RAMÉE 1303 (2 CDs: 120: 35 Text and Translation)


Barthold Heinrich Brockes was the son of a very wealthy Hamburg merchant and extremely active politically, financially, and culturally in his city. He was a member of the Hamburg senate, a campaigner for women’s educational rights, a translator, poet, sponsor of musical events, and librettist. In a Lutheran metropolis, Brockes fell towards the pietistic end of the scale; and the overwhelming impression left by his Passion text is of an intimate relation between Christ and the individual, conveyed in its first half largely through the very human, emotional reactions of Daughter Zion, and later for the most part through the Believing Soul.


His influence was such as to make this Passion something of a local favorite upon its appearance in 1712. As with his librettos, so with his religious text: It divides into recitatives, arias, and choruses, though the sheer wealth of content was meant to keep things moving, and prevent the work from displaying too many formalized, repetitive operatic elements. It’s a rare selection in the Brockes-Passion that lasts more than two minutes, and many run under a minute in length.


This is no impediment to displaying musical character in Keiser’s hands. He would have a considerable influence on Handel’s development, through his short, expressive, irregular melodic phrases and great instrumental detail. Here, Keiser goes for variety. He’ll launch a lengthy, complex orchestral introduction whose melody isn’t the one that’s subsequently sung (“Was Bärentazen, Löwenklauen”), and splinter the singing line over a galloping, gasping bass to signify Christ’s death (“Brich, brüllender Abgrund”). The tone is consistently lighter, early on—even during the deft, lightly contrapuntal entries where Jesus tells three of his disciples that his betrayer is near to hand (“So wachet doch”). Later pieces attain a greater emotional depth, though again, most of it is kept to a personal, rather than narrative (and dramatic) perspective. Keiser’s palette for diverse textures is broad: sparse chords to define the accompaniment of a bel canto melody (“Brich mein Herz”), an aria that becomes a duet with cello (“Die ihr Gottes Gnad versäumet”), a trio with recorder and violin (“Heil der Welt”), or one that launches with delicate, galant Italian rhythmic figures (“Lass doch diese herbe Schmertzen”). The text of Brockes is deliberately plain, but the music is an inspired mix of international elements.


On to the performers, and we’ll begin with the singers of Lionel Meunier’s Vox Luminis. I have nothing but praise for Zsuzsi Toth’s Daughter Zion. She’s a fine lyric with a bright top, well-equalized tone, and good agility. Sadly, much the opposite can be said of Hugo Oliveira, who sings two of the Believing Soul’s arias with approximate pitch and no agility. Soprano Caroline Weynants, whom I enjoyed in Falvetti’s Nabucco , is very fine in two others, though there’s a dry patch between her upper and mid-register. (The rest of the Believing Soul’s work is taken together by three singers performing largely as a chordal unit.) Jan van Elsacker has much recitative as The Evangelist, and delivers it stylishly, with a wealth of color and inflection. Fernando Guimarães huffs around the pitch as Peter, while Robert Buckland’s Judas speaks or shouts many notes—but displays good agility and tone when he remembers occasionally to sing. Peter Kooij’s Jesus is a deep bass that’s suavely deployed, while Sara Jäggi’s top notes as Mary become a vocalise that all too easily drifts off pitch. As I noted in two previous reviews, Les Muffatti, under Peter van Heyghen’s direction, combines precision with supple phrasing. It’s one of the best Baroque ensembles I’ve heard when it comes to finding a path between an anachronistic blend of all instruments, and one where every instrument stands off at rough angles from all the rest.


I’m less than thrilled with a number of the singers, but fortunately much of this work is given to the central role Toth assumes. That, plus Keiser’s fine work, and Ramée’s clear sound, make this Brockes-Passion compelling.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Today almost entirely forgotten, Reutter has been the most successful composer of opera in Vienna during the 1730s, and the single and most influential composer of church music in Vienna for three decades, enjoying the estimation of both Charles VI and Maria Theresia. The son of a court organist and music director at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Reutter studied with Antonio Caldara and, having returned from a period of study in Italy, was nominated imperial court composer in Vienna in 1730. He became first director of music at St. Stephen's im 1738, second Hofkapellmeister in 1747 and first Hofkapellmeister in 1769. His influential position in the musical life of Vienna led to conflicts with Durazzo and Gluck which escalated in 1761. Reutter is one of the few composers who composed for the Pantaleon (salterio). As Caldara had done before him, Reutter used the pantaleon as an obbligato instrument in several arias of his operas and oratorios. Our programme features four arias for obligato salterio. With this CD La Gioia Armonica will continue the endeavours of its first CD for RAMÉE, dedicated to original compositions for the pantaleon by Antonio Caldara (RAM 0405).

Includes work(s) by Johann Christoph Pez. Ensemble: Les Muffatti. Conductor: Peter Van Heyghen.

Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752) was probably something of a child prodigy and Ernst Ludwig Gerber records that he received an appointment as harpsichordist to the Prussian Court at Berlin by the age of 14. Regardless of this and other successes in the theatre, Pepusch was most highly esteemed in his own lifetime as a composer of concertos. Georg Philipp Telemann considered him as one of the best six German composers. As with Handel, later Germans and Britons both claimed Pepusch as their own. Pepusch is best remembered today for his contribution to The Beggar's Opera (1728), for which he composed a fine overture. Apart from that overture, none of his other pieces had received commercial recordings until today. It is our hope that this CD goes some distance to remind audiences why Pepusch was once so highly regarded across Europe as a fine composer of inventive and dramatic concertos.

Città della musica is an appropriate epithet for Venice if one imagines all the musicians working in religious and secular institutions during the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the hospitals and palaces of the city's patricians; not to mention the extent to which the music-publishing industry of the city spread across the entire world. If not the destination, Venice was at the very least an essential stopover for all who, in one way or another, maintained links, whatever their strength, with music. The music composed and heard in Venice and its surroundings was a model which every musician, whether Venetian, Italian or trans-alpine strove to know, if not imitate. Carlo Filago, whose works are performed here for the first time since the time of their creation, was without doubt one of the outstanding Venetian musical personalities of the first half of the 17th century, and one of the greatest organists of his time. First organist at St Mark's under the master of the chapel Claudio Monteverdi, he had at once the good fortune to work with one of the greatest musicians of the western tradition, and the bad luck to remain in his shadow, subsequently to be forgotten for centuries, despite being comparably gifted. Filago's work is like a magnificent, shimmering tableau, lying for centuries under the dust in an attic. Today, finally brought to light, it easily withstands exposure, as well as comparison with the works of the great masters of its time. The ambition of the present recording is to allow these treasures — otherwise hidden within the history of music — to be heard again.

Constanze Backes, soprano
Gerlinde Sämann, soprano
Hermann Oswald, alto
Markus Flaig, bass

INSTRUMENTA MUSICA is specialised in German and Italian music of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque period, focussing on repertoire largely neglected until now. The ensemble concentrates on research into an historically appropriate instrumentarium, sometimes experimenting with new ways of using instruments well described in historical sources but often ignored in performance practice today. The copies of historical instruments used are as faithful as possible to their originals. The intention of the ensemble is to make the beauty and affective richness of the music of this period accessible in an authentic and intuitive way. Instrumenta Musica is closely connected with the Frauenkirche in Dresden, where the ensemble has regularly played since 2006 during the parish fairs, mostly performing works by Heinrich Schütz. Instrumenta Musica also works regularly with Officium (Wilfried Rombach), the chamber choir of the Dresden Frauenkirche directed by cantor Matthias Grünert, Sächsisches Vokalensemble (Matthias Jung) and Les Amis de Philippe (Ludger Rémy).

ERCOLE NISINI is one of the most sought-after trombonists playing on historical instruments. After having studied modern trombone with Abbie Conant in Trossingen and holding a position in the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under the direction of Riccardo Chailly he fully dedicated himself to historical performance practice. He completed his studies of historical trombone with Wim Becu at the Institut für Alte Musik in Trossingen with distinction. His interest in, and passion for, the repertoire and the instrumentarium of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque periods led him in 2004 to found the ensemble Instrumenta Musica. Ercole Nisini has performed in numerous concerts, CD and broadcast recordings throughout Europe with ensembles such as La Petite Bande, Marini Consort Innsbruck, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Moderntimes_1800, Capriccio Stravagante, Weser-Renaissance, and Musica Fiata. The central aim of his work is to rediscover and revive the trombone repertoire from the Renaissance to the Romantic period using original instruments — or faithful copies of them — and appropriate playing techniques.

Jealousy, tenderness, loneliness and longing, desire, unattainability, sensuality, frustration, love, lust and loss in all their configurations come together in OSSESSO. The old masters allow us no escape from the painfully vivid portrayals of their experiences. Tromboncino and Gesualdo exemplify the extremes of which obsessiveness is capable, in their music as in their lives; in this sense, they are precursors to Phil Spector, Sid Vicious, or Bertrand Cantat. This release is a selection of absolutely touching madrigals about love and affliction that represent the kaleidoscope of feelings and emotions of their composers, be it in the late Middle Ages or in the Renaissance, interspersed with some instrumental pieces.

A noteworthy fact: Marais, in his five books of Pièces de viole, published only two suites for two viols and continuo. Aside from the two suites for three viols (Book IV), all the other pieces are intended for the solo instrument with accompaniment of harpsichord, theorbo or a second viol in different combinations.

These two particular suites are both found in Book I (1686). The addition of a second solo viol reinforces the character of the various parts: especially in the slow sections, Marais ideally emphasizes the sound of the two viols with long sostenuto lines and poignant dissonances. The Tombeau pour Mr. Meliton constitutes the absolute height of this. After Mieneke van der Velden’s recordings Hommages and Images, Dialogues completes the picture of the imposing sound world of Marin Marais’s music, magnified by the collaboration with the master Wieland Kuijken.

The reign of the Catholic Monarchs - corresponding to the last decades of the 15th and the first decades of the 16th century - laid the foundation for Spain's power and prosperity in Early Modern Europe. Those were the days of Christopher Columbus's expeditions, but also the days of the War of Granada and the expulsion of Jews from Spain... This stormy period in Spanish history has left a rich musical legacy. An essential part of it is the vast repertoire of Spanish secular art song written to amatory, political propaganda, philosophical and devotional texts. Most of this repertoire was written down the manuscript widely known as Cancionero Musical de Palacio. With more than 450 pieces composed over several decades by several generations of both identified and anonymous composers, Cancionero Musical de Palacio 'towers above every other secular monument of Spanish Renaissance musical history' (Robert Stevenson). Arianna Savall, Petter Johansen, Corina Marti, Michal Gondko and Tore Eketorp join forces to bring their public the gems of this madly beautiful music, which - according to the contemporary witness - was once 'all the rage' among members of the aristocratic society of the Early Renaissance Spain. An extremely 'easy-o-the ear-going' programme, with Arianna Savall's touching singing coming straight from the heart.

It is difficult to decide what to admire most: the music or the performance. The combination of the two makes this disc a winner.

here are many ensembles which concentrate on the polyphony of the renaissance. Most of them don't pay that much attention to French music written in the second half of the 16th century. French ensembles like the Ensemble Clément Janequin concentrate for the most part on the secular chanson. The sacred repertoire is not fully explored. That is certainly the case with compositions written under the influence of the Reformation. The ensemble Ludus Modalis here set about redressing the balance.

Not much is known about Paschal de l'Estocart. It is not unusual that a year of birth isn't exactly known, but in de l'Estocart’s case we don't even know when he died. All his music which has come down to us was printed in 1582; then he just disappears. There is some circumstantial evidence that he was still alive in 1587 but that’s about it.

His early years are also shrouded in mist. He was born in Noyon (Picardie) and lived for a while in Lyon, where he married in 1563. The next recorded landmark came in 1581 when he enrolled at Basle University. Here he came into contact with the Huguenot pastor Antoine de La Roche-Chandieu, one of the authors of the 'Octonaires de la vanité du monde', a collection of spiritual huitains, set to music by Claude Le Jeune and La Roche-Chandieu himself. The first and second book of the 'Octonaires' were set to music by L'Estocart as well. These were recorded in 1982 by the Ensemble Clément Janequin for Harmonia Mundi. There is every reason to believe that L'Estocart was at the very least sympathetic to the ideas of the Reformation.

The music on this disc is taken from the collection 'Sacrae Cantiones', which contains sacred music on both French and Latin texts. The fact that L'Estocart also used Latin texts gives food for thought that he could have been indecisive in his religious convictions. Composers had to think practically: the inclusion of motets on Latin texts increased the chance of commercial success. The texts of the motets included here (five of the total of 8) are certainly not in conflict with the ideas of the Reformation.

The French pieces belong to the genre called chanson spirituelle. Originally the chanson was mostly of a secular nature. In the wake of the Reformation the – often amorous – texts were replaced by sacred texts. After a while a new genre emerged: protestant songs with original texts and music. These were either metrical psalms (like those by Marot and De Bèze) or chansons spirituelles on non-biblical texts. Both genres are part of the 'Sacrae Cantiones' by L'Estocart.

The melody of a metrical psalm is used by L'Estocart in 'O combien et plaisant', a setting of Psalm 133 (O how pleasant and desirable to see brothers united, amicably). The melody, which appears in the tenor of L'Estocart’s setting, is sung unisono first.

The title of this disc refers to the chanson spirituelle 'Deux coeurs aimants' which is about love according to biblical principles: "Two hearts, in worthy and holy faith, cherishing the sweet pleasure, fidelity's reward". It gives some idea of the character of these chansons spirituelles, many of which are about sin and redemption.

The longest piece on this disc is the 'Ode en douze parties', a series of twelve chansons whose complete title declares the subject matter: "Ode, in which Jesus Christ, the very God and very man, reminds all Christians of the good they receive through him". Christ speaks in all of these pieces: six of the twelve begin with the words "Je suis" (I am). "The anaphoric construction (…) at the start of the strophes is set each time to a rising motif which spans a whole octave, possibly serving to symbolise the metaphysical distance between God and his creation"; so writes Anne Coeurdevey in the booklet. The twelve chansons span the whole of the Bible, beginning with "The work of the creation of the world", followed by "Jesus Christ came to redeem man", his death, resurrection and ascension to heaven and ending with an "Exhortation to Christians to seek all good in Jesus Christ, and uphold His holy word".

"The musical language of L'Estocart is influenced, as with all the French composers of his generation, by that of Lassus. The whole range of compositional techniques, from imitative counterpoint to homorhythmic chordal writing, are employed to serve the goal of expression, the neatness with which the musical syntax matches that of the text, rhythmic variety and the sense of movement (…), and the wide use of rhetoric figures (…)." A good example of chordal writing and use of rhythm to express the text is in the ninth of the chansons from the 'Ode en douze parties', on the text "I reduce the enflamed rage of haughty rulers to air, and dash their intrigues".

The ensemble is very profound in its approach to these compositions. As the chansons were meant to be sung at home, the ensemble have opted for a more intimate acoustic than in the motets. As one of the aims of the ensemble was "to allow the richness of the polyphonic writing as much space as possible" they have opted for a performance without instruments. The scoring of the pieces, written for four to seven voices, varies: "solo voices for the chansons spirituelles and at specific moments during the Ode; doubled upper voices for the psalms; and all doubled voices for the large-scale motets". They also chose to perform these pieces at - "historically justified" - low pitch and with the contemporary French and Latin pronunciation.

This approach has certainly paid off. The result is a recording which is just wonderful: it is difficult to decide what to admire most, the music or the performance. It is the combination of the two which makes this disc a winner. The music is first-rate: how well did L'Estocart translate the texts into music and how well he used the compositional tools of his time to express the meaning of those texts. The ensemble is first-rate: the intonation is immaculate, the blending of the voices and the balance between the voices in the ensemble is excellent. The rhythmic flexibility, the dynamic shading and the communication of the text are most admirable.

I have very much enjoyed this disc, and I sincerely hope Bruno Boterf and his colleagues will record more pieces by L'Estocart.

-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International

LE PARLER ET LE SILENCE: Music for Flute Consort and Lute from the Late 16th to the Early 18th Centuries • Attaignant Consort; Nigel North (lt) • RAMÉE 1206 (68:33)


Works by: PALESTRINA, BASSANO, LUZZASCHI, ANON., GUAMI, FRESCOBALDI, SWEELINCK, PILKINGTON, MORLEY, DOWLAND, LUPO, GIBBONS, BALLARD, TESSIER, BOËSSET, GUÉDRON, R. DE VISÉE, LAMBERT, J.-M. HOTTETERRE, BOISMORTIER


The Attaignant Consort wisely refrains from explaining what they mean by “Speaking and Silence.” Is it the music that speaks, the notes preceded and followed by silence? The tradition of polyphony that would shortly give way to the primacy of homophonic music? The fantasias and arrangements of vocal works, soon to give way to more thoroughly structured works composed for winds? The Renaissance and Baroque flutes (heard here in instrumental families styled after 16th and 18th century models) that would be stilled with the advent of newer models? Regardless, the Attaignant Consort supplies a fascinating program to illustrate the subtitle of their latest release.


As with their earlier albums, Le Parler et le Silence follows the modern practice in many live performances of forming discrete groups of selections that espouse some form of common identity along with internal and external contrasts. An example is the three Sweelinck arrangements—two witty bicinia or teaching pieces, each in two parts, based on French texts, followed by a learned but sweet five-part setting of Psalm 9. These three pieces, with their high order of imitative art, in turn lead into a section of five English works, the break of continuity illustrated by leading off with an arrangement of Francis Pilkington’s strictly homophonic madrigal My choice is made . The English pieces are in fact a microcosm of secular Elizabethan English music media, presenting madrigals, lute songs, and consort fantasias with variations in diminution. Each succeeding section in turn reveals careful attention to programming for formal diversity and central ideas, whether by nation, individual composer, or (as the program ends with a sonata da chiesa by Boismortier) increasingly formalized structure. In short, this isn’t one of those albums that sports an undifferentiated-four-recorders-as-one sound, but a program of diverse origins, thoughtfully explored by anywhere from solo instruments to full ensemble.


The Attaignant Consort appears not to have been reviewed in these pages, before. It was formed in 1998. Three out of four of their original members are still in the group. While recorder consorts aren’t exactly rare, this ensemble brings both a textural variety and touch of class to everything they do. Lutenist Nigel North’s eloquent performances contribute to the former; unpressured tone and sculpted phrasing, to the latter. The engineering is reasonably dry, close and balanced, with the lute never getting lost behind the Attaignants. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

LEDESMA Violin Sonatas: No. 1 in A; No. 3 in E?; No. 2 in F; No. 5 in A; No. 4 in D • Blai Justo (vn); Elisa Joglar (vc); Bernard Zonderman (gtr) (period instruments) • RAMÉE 0901 (68:40)


Blai Justo’s own notes to his program of “Spanish Violin Music from the Time of Ferdinand VI” make clear the position of Juan de Ledesma (c. 1713-1781), who led the viola section (in preference to playing violin) in the Spanish Chapel Royal. A pupil, during the end of his student years, of Michele Geminiani (Francesco’s brother) and therefore a musical descendant of Arcangelo Corelli, Ledesma represented the Italian tradition, though nuanced, as Justo points out, with Spanish inflections.


Ledesma’s five sonatas, rediscovered by Lothar Siemens a quarter-century ago, and so recherché as not to receive even a mention in William S. Newman’s comprehensive study of the Baroque sonata, fall into three movements bearing Italian tempo indications (except for the finale of Sonata No. 3, marked Minué ). According to Justo, the unfigured basses suggest that the harpsichord could be omitted; in its place, he substitutes guitar, which he believes doesn’t challenge the dominance of the violin and cello. Bernard Zonderman plays on a Baroque guitar in the sonatas in A Major (No. 1) and D Major and a “pre-Romantic” one in those in E-flat Major and A Major (No. 5); in the Sonata in F Major, only cello accompanies the violin.


The program opens with the First Sonata; its moderately paced first movement, in its forward looking style, sounds a great deal like the sonatas of Giovanni Battista Somis, a composer who, though Corelli’s own pupil, looked forward rather than backward as did his fellow student, Francesco Geminiani (as in Somis’s sonatas, too, the majority of Ledesma’s sonatas begin with a moderately paced introductory movement followed by an expressive slow one and a strutting finale). Justo encrusts its chunky lines with spiky ornamentation, plays the second movement with bracing energy, and imparts jaunty verve to the technically more challenging finale (adding harmonics, perhaps a personal touch, for extra buoyancy). The violin and cello toss motives back and forth in the slow movement of the Sonata in E-flat Major, providing opportunities for cogent dialogue between Justo and Joglar (the movement ends only after a brief cadenza). As in Somis’s sonatas, the composer imparts extra energy to the finale by means of running passages in triplets. Tartini’s sonatas, roughly contemporaneous, often employ basses that look so simple as to suggest that they might be omitted with little loss to the musical argument (Andrew Manze played the “Devil’s Trill” unaccompanied on Harmonia Mundi 907213, Fanfare 21:5). Justo and Joglar play Ledesma’s Second Sonata with such alertness in the dialogue, and the composer has created such full sonorities for the two instruments that listeners may hardly miss the guitar. The Fifth Sonata, at more than 15 minutes the longest, explores perhaps the most sensitive affects in its slow movement; Justo graces its finale with brilliant off-the-string ricochet-like runs, more reminiscent of the 17th-century German school than of the 18th-century Italian one (including the works of such advanced technicians as Corelli’s violinistically exhibitionistic pupil Pietro Locatelli). The duo (without the guitar) plays the Fourth Sonata’s Andantino dolce with pointed, though genial, wit.


Justo plays the program on a Baroque-style violin made by Dmitry Badiarov in 2003 (from which he draws a tone that falls closer to that produced on modern instruments than it does to the once signature whining and wheezing of Baroque ones); Elisa Joglar plays a 1758 Benoit Fleury cello, and Bernard Zonderman plays a 1996 five-course guitar modeled after a 17th-century Italian prototype and a 1995 six-string guitar modeled on guitars by an 1800 Parisian maker. The engineers have balanced these instruments (while making the guitar sound more discreet than do the two outer parts); all seem somewhat distant, re-creating the aural impression a listener might receive in a live performance. Warmly recommended generally and urgently recommended to aficionados of the Baroque era’s violin literature.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg variations were published in 1741 and named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who was possibly the first performers of the work. The work consists of an aria and a set of thirty variations. It is seen even today as one of the most significant examples of variation form. Harpsichordist and historical music interpreter Pascal Dubreuil performs these works for this recording.

When Johann Hermann Schein became Kantor at the church of Saint Thomas in Leipzig in 1616, he had, on the one hand, to satisfy the liturgical demands of his Lutheran parish and, on the other, compose music that was truly contemporary, sensible to the new style coming out of Italy. Schein exploited the new possibilities brought by the basso continuo, demonstrated his mastery of musical rhetoric and wrote extremely ambitious music of great expressive force. The instrumentation calls for instruments such as the cornet, trombone and dulcian, Schein drawing his musicians from the forces of the Stadtpfeiffer and Ratsmusiker, guilds of instrumentalists attached to the City of Leipzig since the 15th century. For this musical portrait of Schein, one of the greatest German composers of the 17th century and one of J. S. Bachs most talented predecessors, InAlto presents an itinerary to the sources of the German cantata and testimony to the extraordinary tradition of city musicians perpetuated over the centuries. In addition to Scheins music, this heritage is represented here by Johann Schelle, Gottfried Reiche and J. S. Bach.