Euch ist heute der Heiland geboren - Christmas Cantatas
arcantus Musikproduktion
CD
$20.99Jun 27, 2025
Johann Philipp Kafer (1672-1728) was the predecessor of Johann Melchior Molter as court music director at the court of Baden-Durlach before he was dismissed in 1722 in a dispute over salary and leave. Many of his works have been lost, but this recording by La Protezione della Musica and Jeroen Finke aims to give a brief impression of his oeuvre. The cantata for Epiphany Das Volk, so i'm Finstern wandelt and two cantatas for Christmas Day, Es ist Euch heute der Heiland geboren and Der Herr laßet sein Heil verkundigen, are supplemented by instrumental works.
Auber: La Sirene / Reiland, Orchestre des Frivolites Parisiennes
Naxos
CD
$19.99Apr 12, 2019
Auber earned international adulation in the late 1820s for his revolutionary grand opera ‘La Muette de Portici’ and by the time he composed ‘La Sirene,’ the success of which inspired potpourris of its melodies, he occupied a central place in French musical life. The mysterious siren of the title is part of a plot that abounds in fantastic comedy, love, betrayal, farce, and festivity in the lineage of Italian popular theatre. The German poet Heinrich Heine wrote that “La Sirene was received with resounding bravos… The author and the composer know how to amuse us agreeably, and even to enchant us, or to dazzle us by the luminous facets of their spirit.”
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REVIEW:
The performances on this premiere recording are modest but engaging and entertaining as well. David Reiland secures bright and breezy playing from his appropriately named Orchestre des Frivolités Parisiennes. Jeanne Crousaud doesn’t quite live up the idealised Siren of the title but sings with charm, as do the two tenors, Xavier Flabat and Jean-Noël Teyssier. The lower men’s voices sing characterfully, as do Les Métaboles, even if some of their contributions get a little lost in the rough-and-tumble.
The music of Douglas Gordon Weiland - born, like Elgar, in Worcestershire, in 1954 - is one of the better-kept secrets of British musical life: very little of his substantial catalogue of orchestral, chamber and choral works has been recorded. This first volume in a projected series reveals a composer with an individual musical language, an angular lyricism informed by echoes of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Frank Martin, it's quieter moments having something of the autumn elegance of late Brahms and it's more propulsive passages the energy and rough humour of Nielsen and Robert Simpson. Weiland was himself a professional violinist for some years, moreover, and he writes for the instrument with deep understanding.
Amid the pomp of the court, the ear of the young Louis XIV was awakened to the charms of the harpsichord. Surrounded by the most illustrious harpsichordists, he explored a world where music was still a treasure passed from hand to hand. While French harpsichord making flourished, Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres published the first printed scores in 1670. From unmeasured preludes, to poignant tombeaux imbued with subtle melancholy, to delicate arrangements of popular airs, the harpsichord of Louis XIV echoes an era of unprecedented musical richness. Brice Sailly's sublime interpretation highlights the splendour and diversity of this golden age of the French harpsichord.
The Sun King’s Mass was without any doubt one of the privileged rites for the standing of the glory of the sovereign, as much because of its splendor, as for its ceremonial aspect, which brings time to a halt, solidifying the eternal image of royal power. The greatest composers of the kingdom distinguished themselves by making the holy service a veritable heavenly concert. The bell rang, the fifes and drums announced the arrival of the king in the gallery, the organ burst forth, the Grands Motets by Lully and Delalande enthralled under the golden vaults, the delicate and intimate petits motets by Couperin appear with grace in the alcoves of the Royal Chapel. The mass is performed here by Marguerite Louise and Gaétan Jarry.
