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Graupner’s focus shifted to sacred vocal music, which explains the sheer abundance of the 1,400-plus cantatas he composed. In 1723 the Leipzig city magistrates were looking for a new cantor at the Thomas School – and wanted him, above all. Alas, Graupner’s patron did not release him from his contract an so they had to hire Bach. Graupner, famous and widely celebrated during his lifetime, was soon thereafter forgotten. As we rediscover and hear more and more of his works, however, the judgment of his contemporaries would appear to us as increasingly germane. The present recording spans the liturgical arc from Maundy Thursday via Good Friday and Easter Sunday to Easter Monday and presents one liturgical work for each of the festive days – and each of them a world premiere recording!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell14_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eAs one might expect, even though the accompaniment is limited to strings, the emotional content of the words, appropriate for the season, are reflected in Graupner’s progressive music. The text is never obscured, and he takes great pains to insure that rhythmic and textural variations are done gracefully. The performance by the Pulchra Musica ensemble is quite exact, with good intonation and a sense of style that allows for the variety of the music to emerge easily. Conductor Christian Bonath keeps things moving along, and the chorus Capella Vocalis works well. Sebastian Hübner’s tenor and Johannes Hill’s bass have the lightness of sound and flexibility for this sort of music, and the richness of countertenor Jan Jerlitschka complements them well. My only concern is that the one-on-a-part strings are perhaps too thin, and there are times when the orchestral accompaniment fades almost into obscurity. The recording of these sensitive and lyrical cantatas would have been enhanced by a thicker orchestral texture. 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Both his life, characterised by extravagant and excessive behaviour, and his compositions left their mark on the history of music. Although best known for his secular music, he also wrote an almost equivalent number of sacred works that demonstrate his fervent faith. The Tenebrae Responsories comprise a set of pieces for Holy Week, in all twenty-seven motets for six voices, a psalm, and a hymn, published under his own supervision in 1611. As in his madrigals, the music is underpinned by many unexpected chromatic variations that create expressive images evoking tears, the earthquake, the despair of Christ on the cross, etc. The acoustics of the church of the village of Asciano in Tuscany, where the programme was recorded in 2011, create the perfect soundscape for this music.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  R E V I E W S:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent are masters of Renaissance polyphony, having produced go-to titles of this repertoire in their two-decade discography for Harmonia Mundi. Now recording for their own imprint, Herreweghe and company present a double-disc set of Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories. Infamously, the Italian nobleman had his wife killed after catching her in flagrante delicto with another; his works thereafter have a penitential dissonance that gives the music a modernist feel. If not as chromatic as his late madrigals, Gesualdo’s works for Tenebrae are more harmonically and rhythmically daring than those of, say, Lassus or Victoria. As atmospheric as a candle-lit ceremony, Herreweghe’s account of these richly textured works is beautifully sung and perfectly recorded.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  -- Bradley Bambager, Listen Magazine  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSynchronicity strikes again. Here, on the heels of Marco Longhini’s beautifully boxed set of Gesualdo’s secular madrigals (see my review above), is a release of the composer’s sacred music. As annotator Glenn Watkins puts it in the booklet, Gesualdo’s sacred music fell completely into oblivion. Watkins surmises that part of this may have been due to the fact that very few copies have survived, indicating (to him) that the print run may have been very small to begin with. Yet there may also be the barrier to non-religious listeners who simply do not respond to this type of music. As always, it depends on the quality of the music and the quality of the performances. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWatkins’s liner notes do not indicate whether or not the published copies of these scores call for the number of voices used here, which range between 13 and 19. (Herreweghe’s choir includes six female singers.) Nevertheless, the group is splendid. It has that rare combination of good vocal blend, transparency of texture and excellent diction that made Longhini’s madrigal performances equally exceptional. Moreover, as Longhini’s high male voices blended perfectly with the lower ones, so do Herreweghe’s female voices blend perfectly with the male, including four countertenors (two designated as “altus” and two as “quintus”) with equally exceptional voices. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat Watkins does indicate, however, is that the religious music is not as harmonically daring as the last two books of madrigals: “the moderation of their most extreme harmonic language in the sacred works cannot fail to be noted. Yet while the insistent contrast between fast (diatonic) and slow (chromatic) music found in the madrigals is less obvious here, the sacred texts offer abundant images for an inflected musical response.” In addition, as the performances unfolded, I heard quite a bit here that was considerably more advanced than any other liturgical music of its time; and, more to the point, not only the music but its performance here was considerably more emotional and powerful than the Gregorian chant and\/or Palestrina music used at that time. Again, to quote Watkins, “Gesualdo’s introduction of such a powerful musical language into the ritual of Holy Week has been debated as a potentially disturbing contravention of the rules of post-Tridentine liturgical practice….We need only consider Gesualdo’s setting of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTristis est anima mea \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003efrom the Maundy Thursday cycle to note the difference….The flight at the beginning is flurried and quickly cut off by a rhythmic snap; the offering of his soul and body that follows is embraced by one of the most affective and passionately chromatic passages in the entire cycle….In the Holy Saturday cycle, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAestimatus sum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e … is drama of a high order and of a kind rarely attained in the world of sacred music before or after.” \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWatkins’s dry but accurate description of this music says as much as I could, thus I will allow his words to stand for mine here. From whatever viewpoint you approach this remarkable set of discs, however, it is a gem to be cherished. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Lynn René Bayley \u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"PHI","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49607492829464,"sku":"5400439000100","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2298625.jpg?v=1777676298"},{"product_id":"easter-with-solesmes","title":"EASTER WITH SOLESMES","description":"Since 1833, the research and study of Gregorian Chant by the Monks of the Abbey of St. Peter in Solesmes, France, has focused on making this sung form of prayer the finest possible offering for God, to whom it is addressed six times a day at the Abbey. These recordings include Introits, Graduals, Alleluias, Sequences, Offertories, Communions, and Hymns from Easter Mass and the Mass for the First Sunday after Easter as well as a Hymn from the Masses of Eastertide and the seven Antiphons of the Resurrection according to the Gospels. “Paraclete Press offers a superb list of outstanding Christian music which is magnificently performed by the monks of Solesmes. Each of these highly recommended exceptional recordings is flawlessly produced and showcases centuries of devotions, chants, celebrations, and the glorification of God.” (Reviewer’s Bookwatch)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“The most famous and ‘authentic’ recordings of Gregorian chant for generations have been those made by the Solesmes monks.”      \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“The music is utterly magnificent and the singing of this great choir is thrilling beyond words…it’s better to starve to this music than to live without it.”       \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Classic CD\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Supremely ethereal.”        \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—USA Today\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Paraclete Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49607493878040,"sku":"709887951466","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3794137.jpg?v=1777677793"},{"product_id":"averitt-easter-1906","title":"Averitt: Easter, 1906","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHistory is written by the victors” is a well-known quote often attributed to Winston Churchill. In war, that certainly is true, as the victors almost always write the history. In societal struggles, what seems to happen is that those who “come out on top” get to choose what is taught as history. With respect to racial matters in the United States, that decidedly has been the situation, as the struggles of people of color (whether Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, or African Americans) have, more often than not, simply not been a significant part of historical studies in American schools… \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLynchings were a deeply disturbing and immoral method of dominating, primarily, African Americans and terrorizing them into submission. Lynchings were widely practiced, particularly in a dozen southern states toward the end of post-civil war Reconstruction, beginning about 1877… Behind these exercises in mob violence lay frequently-invented claims of murder or, especially, of the rape of a white woman by a black man. The image of the out-of-control, savage, and licentious man of color, especially with respect to the unassailable chastity of white women, was and is one of the most established and recurring characteristics of white supremacy. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEaster, 1906 recounts one such event. It is the dramatic true story of the lynching of three innocent black men in Springfield, Missouri, over Easter weekend, 1906. Poet Robert Bode has collected material from historical documents of the period and created new poems that reflect upon this tragic event. In turn, Bode’s words are here set to music for double choir, soloists, spoken narration, piano four-hands, and two percussionists…” (William Averitt)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GIA","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49655349641496,"sku":"785147011729","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4041811-2788588.jpg?v=1777731198"},{"product_id":"choral-evensong-for-eastertide","title":"Choral Evensong for Eastertide","description":"A resurgence of interest in Choral Evensong is being experienced in England and throughout the Anglican Communion. This musical liturgy was first formulated for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, using elements of the monastic services of Vespers and Compline. The Choir of the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas sings this service using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, a rarity in the United States. Included in this recording is Herbert Howells’ last set of Evensong canticles (Magnificat, Nunc dimittis), which were commissioned by Larry Palmer for this choir. Scott Dettra, former organist of the Washington National Cathedral, is a brilliant choral director whose choirs have been featured on national radio broadcasts in the United States and the United Kingdom. He has prepared choirs for the National Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Orchestra, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet, among others.","brand":"Gothic","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49703511327000,"sku":"000334930820","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3778109.jpg?v=1777708936"},{"product_id":"christ-ist-erstanden-easter-chants","title":"Christ ist erstanden - Easter Chants","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Christophorus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704468939032,"sku":"4010072016126","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2027777-2582563.jpg?v=1738731539"},{"product_id":"easter-mass","title":"EASTER MASS","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn outstanding musical personality of the period around 1500, Heinrich Isaac (c 1450-1517) was one of the most universal and versatile of all the earlier composers and an important representative of the Netherlandish school. Altogether a cosmopolitan in the modern sense, he led a colourful life that is reflected in compositions in all the musical forms and styles of his time using the most important languages of Europe in a way that was comparable only with Orlande de Lassus almost 100 years later. The main work on this recording is Heinrich Isaac's six-part Missa paschalis. It comprises the Ordinarium, the 'ordinary' or 'regular' sections (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei) which are always present in the Mass. The Credo, however, is not set to music in the Missa paschalis. In its place, this recording presents a four-part composition by Isaac which is contained in Choir-book no. 33 in the Thuringian State and University Library in Jena. Heinrich Isaac's Missa paschalis is altogether in the tradition of settings of the Easter Mass. Such Easter Masses were based on the first Gregorian plainsong Mass, which was prescribed exclusively for the liturgy at Easter and on the following Sundays up to Whitsuntide. Like all Isaac's Masses using Gregorian models, the Missa paschalis follows the alternatim principle, the alternation between plainsong and polyphony. It is an exceptionally fine example of Isaac's settings of the Mass, and it is no coincidence that its Kyrie was one of few Mass settings he composed that found its way into the choir-books of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which has a tradition of performing such works unaccompanied. The unaccompanied choral performance presented by ensemble officium on this recording carries on that tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Christophorus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704474312984,"sku":"4010072773562","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2347920.jpg?v=1747161658"},{"product_id":"bach-j-s-passion-arias-easter-arias","title":"Bach, J.S.: Passion Arias \/ Easter Arias","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Haenssler Classic","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704483389720,"sku":"4010276018193","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1640998.jpg?v=1777830663"},{"product_id":"bach-easter-oratorio","title":"Bach: Easter Oratorio","description":"Consisting of 11 numbers, the Oster Oratorium begins with two purely instrumental movements taken from an earlier concerto. The third, a duet, was later transformed into a chorus and may have actually originally been the concluding allegro of the same concerto, is succeeded by a selection of different suite-based dance forms. Richly orchestrated and complete with trumpets and drums, this uplifting work, the first of 3 oratorios by Bach, is superbly performed.","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704710177048,"sku":"5028421943503","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1957345.jpg?v=1747168610"},{"product_id":"caldara-missa-dolorosa-crucifixus-motets-1","title":"Caldara: Missa Dolorosa - Crucifixus - Motets","description":"\u003cp\u003eAntonio Caldara's magnificent Missa dolorosa was among his last settings of the mass. First heard on the feast day of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, a week before Easter, the piece is characteristic of Caldara's seemingly effortless capacity for counterpoint writing. Written for the Habsburg emperor Charles VI, whose predilection for contrapuntal textures was well known, Caldara manages to weave emotional power into the music, using dramatic harmonies to underline the anguish in the text. Caldara's motets are also based on religious themes, using quotations from the Bible, plus psalms and well known prayers. The ten motets vary considerably in length, with some compact and others expansive; nevertheless, like the mass, they are all characterised by Caldara's expert contrapuntal writing. The English composer John Ravenscroft, who was based in Italy for most of his life, probably never met Caldara; however, their names were entangled when Ravenscroft's music was mistakenly published under Caldara's name in the 20th century. The addition of his dramatic Sonata – also an exercise in first-class fugal writing – is a tribute to an influence in common, as both men were likely pupils of Corelli. This thoughtful and interesting programme comes from the Dutch Ensemble La Silva and its artistic director Nanneke Schaap. Formed in 1984, the ensemble mainly performs Baroque music, including works by Bach, Handel, Frescobaldi and Telemann. They are interested in exploring new ways of performing, particularly pursuing the connections between music and dance. They have previously performed Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri in collaboration with a modern dance ensemble, with the singers singing from memory and moving alongside the dancers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704728363288,"sku":"5028421954820","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3577198.jpg?v=1777797525"},{"product_id":"passiontide-holy-week-in-the-courts-of-europe-1600-1745","title":"Passiontide: Holy Week in the Courts of Europe (1600-1745)","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Convivium Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49704969503000,"sku":"609722905305","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3759374-2546746.jpg?v=1777784121"},{"product_id":"mozart-masses-vol-2-mass-no-18-k-427-great-complet","title":"Mozart: Masses, Vol. 2 - Mass No. 18, K.427 'Great' (complet","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis second album of Mozart’s complete Masses (Volume 1 is on 8.574370) pairs one work of exceptional dimensions and ambition with a miniature example. The ‘Great’ Mass in C minor is one of Mozart’s most spectacular and cast on such a scale that it embraces every human and spiritual emotion, reconciling the Salzburg tradition with that of Italian opera. The Mass was left incomplete by Mozart– it is heard here in a performing version made by the German musicologist and Mozart specialist Franz Beyer. By comparison the Missa brevis in C major exudes a spirit of festive concision.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49705752592664,"sku":"747313441778","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4144559-2906089.jpg?v=1778803991"},{"product_id":"handel-brockes-passion-4","title":"Handel: Brockes Passion","description":"Barthold Heinrich Brockes was an influential German poet who added reflective and descriptive poetry into the texture of his Passion. Among several musical settings, the most famous is the one by Handel. This acclaimed staged version transports Handel's Brockes Passion into the opera house, widening the work's historical narrative to embrace the creation of the world, bringing a message of human greed and destruction into direct contact with the present day. The Handelfestspielorchester Halle, on period instruments, is conducted by Michael Hofstetter.","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49705752723736,"sku":"747313455270","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4397907-3320963.jpg?v=1777490656"},{"product_id":"handel-messiah-15","title":"Handel: Messiah","description":"\u003cp\u003eDescribed by librettist Charles Jennens with typical English understatement as “a fine entertainment,” Handel’s Messiah was initially controversial as a biblical oratorio written for secular theatres. Within years it was however being “received with universal applause” and its composer’s purpose in delighting and charming his listeners has made this masterpiece an international favorite ever since. This eye-catching, audiovisual recording of Handel’s masterpiece with its cast of renowned soloists captures the 2016 Easter concert in the impressive Baroque Basilica of Klosterneuburg, Austria.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos AudioVisual","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":49705760391448,"sku":"747313538751","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3703252.jpg?v=1777563118"},{"product_id":"russian-easter-festival-overtu","title":"RUSSIAN EASTER FESTIVAL OVERTU","description":"RUSSIAN EASTER FESTIVAL OVERTU","brand":"Medici Masters","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49706709582104,"sku":"827565022823","price":9.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1206650.jpg?v=1777545668"},{"product_id":"crux-parisian-easter-music-from-the-13th-14th-centuries","title":"Crux: Parisian Easter Music from the 13th \u0026 14th Centuries","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Glossa","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49706806542616,"sku":"8424562225053","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2354767.jpg?v=1747168400"},{"product_id":"steinberg-passion-week-op-15","title":"Steinberg: Passion Week, Op. 13","description":"\"This second recording, atmospherically recorded at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of Holy Trinity New York, boasts marvellously committed fervent singing from the Clarion Choir under Steven Fox and deserves the widest possible dissemination.\" -  \u003ci\u003eBBC Music Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \"...the success of this recording has to be attributed to this excellent chorus, 30-plus voices who collectively project a serious love for this music with a vibrant, shimmering tone, perfectly judged dynamics, and consistently fine balance and intonation. We can appreciate the care that went into this production–not only in bringing this beautiful unknown work to the world’s attention–but also in the excellent engineering and notes, which happily include full texts and translations. Strongly recommended.\" -  \u003ci\u003eClassicsToday.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Passion Week is a long-lost choral masterpiece composed by Rimsky-Korsakov's favorite student, heir apparent and son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. A product of his interest in the sacred and mystical, it is a tour de force of the systematic use of medieval Church Slavonic chant melodies and shares with Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil the colorful use of choral textures. 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The \"Messiah\" is, essentially, nothing other than a biography of Jesus told in metaphors and described with the immense dramatic power, passion and religious emphasis of Handel. The concert given on Easter, 2016 in Kosterneuburg Abey, Lower Austria, by the Bach Consort Vienna, conducted by Ruben Dubrovsky, with the great Salzburg Bach Choir and the extraordinary soloists Hanna Herfurtner, Gaia Petrone, Michael Schade and Christian Immler marked a re-encounter with Handel's masterpiece and can now be relived with this live recording. The Bach Consort Vienna was in founded in 1999 under the baton of Ruben Dubrovsky and they soon grew into one of the most important Baroque Ensembles in Austria. Next to several performances at the Vienna Musikverein, the ensemble is ever-present on different European concert stages. Internaionally renowned artists, such as Bernarda Fink and Christophe Coin, are closely connected to the Bach Consort Vienna. The ensemble has always remained faithful to its original conceptual idea of chamber music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gramola Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49709655163160,"sku":"9003643991354","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3569906.jpg?v=1747148663"},{"product_id":"georg-philipp-telemann-easter-cantatas-2","title":"Georg Philipp Telemann: Easter Cantatas","description":"\u003cp\u003eOur album presents a selection of five works from the extensive, largely unexplored Easter Cantata oeuvre created by Georg Philipp Telemann during the course of his sixty years in Eisenach (1708-12), Frankfurt am Main (1712-21), and Hamburg (1721-67). Four of the works recorded here date from the 1720s and take us back to the years in Telemann’s creative life as a composer when he was the new music director of Hamburg’s five principal churches and was reorganizing the city’s church music and modernizing it in musical respects. The two cantatas from the “Annual Cycle without Recitatives” refrain from use of larger ensembles with brass and woodwind instruments and concertizing instrumental voices; the focus is on the arias and quotations from the Bible, and of these it is above all the opening dictum that is very extensive and often elaborated with rich counterpoint. On the whole, the annual cycle has an intimate, subdued character. Its music does not score points with tonal effects; instead, it generates appeal with refinements in the musical setting of the texts. The cantatas of the “Second Lingen Annual Cycle” are characterized by a fixed sequence of movement forms. The initial sinfonia is followed by an accompagnato recitative, and this weighty exordium is succeeded by two duets in alternation with chorale strophes. The duets are da capo arias and designed in such a way that one voice sings the A part, while the other voice sings the B part.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell7_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eTelemann has an almost inexhaustible facility for good melodies, piquant harmony, and a colorful yet discrete orchestration. To pull this off requires considerable focus and attention by the performers, and here Michael Willens knows his stuff. The tempos are all carefully chosen, the phrasing precise, and the sound clear. Soprano Johanna Winkel, who doesn’t have a great deal to do, has a clear and rather lyrical voice, while alto Margot Oitzinger is richer but not too dark in terms of tone. The real vocal work is done by Georg Poplutz, no stranger to this style of music or the composer, but the hero seems to be bass Peter Kooij, whose rich tone and vocal dexterity are evident from the start. In short, these are terrific works, varied and yet copacetic with each other, and the excellent performance of the Kölner Akademie produces a disc that should win kudos, even from jaded Telemann enthusiasts.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- Fanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CPO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49709767721240,"sku":"761203542529","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3992016-2730329.jpg?v=1777697630"},{"product_id":"praetorius-easter-mass-1","title":"Praetorius: Easter Mass","description":"\u003cp\u003eBased on the Wolfenbüttel Church Constitution of 1569, this performance recreates the form of an Easter Mass drawn together from compositions by Michael Praetorius, and sung in the order used during Praetorius' time as the chapel master.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CPO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49710075805976,"sku":"761203995325","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1973819.jpg?v=1747233007"},{"product_id":"graun-c-h-easter-oratorio-1","title":"Graun, C.H.: Easter Oratorio","description":"\u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eGRAUN \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eOsteroratorium \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Michael Alexander Willens, cond; Nina Koufochristou (sop); Dagmar Saskova (alt); Jan Kobow (ten); Andreas Wolf (bs); Kölner Akademie \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e CPO 7777942 (64:08 \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eText and Translation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eAs with much of the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eoeuvre\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e of Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–59), the date of composition of his \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eEaster Oratorio \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eis unknown. Based on stylistic grounds, it probably belongs among his earlier works composed in Dresden or Braunschweig (Brunswick), before he moved to Prussia in 1735 and ultimately became Kapellmeister to Frederick II. It survives in a single manuscript copy by an unknown hand from the later 18th century, and the librettist is not named. It is divided into four sections, for performance respectively on Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, and the First Sunday after Easter in the liturgical calendar. Except for two brief verses taken from the Bible, the text consists of poetic meditations on Christ, his resurrection, and the import of those for the true believer. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eToday, Graun remains remembered almost solely for his Passiontide oratorio \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eDer Tod Jesu\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e, which was performed every Good Friday by the Berlin Singakademie for a span of almost 130 years (see my review of the Pál Németh recording on Hungaroton in 34:1). The redoubtable CPO label is primarily responsible for what little more knowledge most of us have of the composer’s music, having previously issued recordings of the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eChristmas Oratorio\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eGrosse Passion\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e, the opera \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMontezuma\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e, and single discs of sacred motets and instrumental concerti. The Harmonia Mundi label also issued a recording of the opera \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eCleopatra e Cesare \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003econducted by René Jacobs. Reactions to these additional works by the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e critics who have reviewed them—Bertil van Boer, Michael Carter, Henry Fogel, Ronald E. Grames, David Johnson, and David L. Kirk—have expressed sharply divided views on their merits. Some have found Graun to be a dull \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eKapellmeister\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e and routine note-spinner, whereas others have expressed pleasure at the restoration of a skilled if second-rank composer to living memory. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eIn this instance, at least, my vote joins those in the second camp. This is a lovely and delightful work, which astonishes by its remarkable stylistic similarities to Handel in its harmonic and melodic contours. Indeed, had someone played selected parts of it for me and told me it was a recently rediscovered work by Handel from a German source, I would have believed it. The orchestration is somewhat more brilliant than Handel employs in e.g., \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMessiah\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e; the 24 members of the instrumental ensemble include pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, and horns, plus three trumpets, timpani, organ, and strings. The superb quartet of vocal soloists—a veritable model for recordings of such repertoire, even if tenor Jan Kobow is not quite as suave of voice as his colleagues—also serves as the chorus when needed. The Kölner Akademie is likewise beyond praise, and conductor Michael Alexander Willens exploits every bar of the score to fullest expressive effect. CPO provides its usual copious booklet notes and stellar recorded sound in addition to a complete German-English text. (Very oddly, in the English texts there are a number of words printed with random single space gaps dividing them into two parts.) For anyone looking to go beyond Bach and Handel for worthy exemplars of late-Baroque sacred music, this recording should be a prime choice; highly recommended. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: James A. Altena \u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"CPO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49710076821784,"sku":"761203779420","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2165816.jpg?v=1747165098"},{"product_id":"bach-easter-oratorio-magnificat","title":"Bach: Easter Oratorio; Magnificat","description":"San Francisco-based Cantata Collective continues it's exploration of J.S. Bach's major choral masterworks with a third in the ongoing series, pairing the composer's Easter Oratorio and Magnificat. Released in time for Holy Week, both works are lavishly scored and feature some of Bach's most festive and popular vocal writing. With celebrated baroque music specialist Nicholas McGegan on the podium, and a roll call of today's finest early music vocal soloists, this release is poised to build on the auspicious previous releases - a \"bold and beautifully constructed\" St. John Passion (BBC Radio 3 Record Review), and \"an exemplary performance\" of the Mass in B Minor (American Record Guide).","brand":"Avie Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49882215547160,"sku":"822252275629","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4402467-3324036.jpg?v=1777488426"},{"product_id":"messiah-choruses","title":"Messiah Choruses","description":"Handel's Messiah needs no introduction. This mighty yet majestic masterpiece is the most popular oratorio ever written and includes, arguably, the most famous chorus of all time-the iconic Hallelujah! Handel was a master chorus writer and for Messiah he certainly pulled out all the stops, placing the choir front and centre throughout.    Although it has become synonymous with Christmas, Messiah was originally written as an Easter offering, bursting onto the stage of the Musick Hall in Dublin in April 1742.     Taken from it's Award-winning 2008 complete recording of Messiah (COR16062), this collection from The Sixteen celebrates the wonderful choruses that have given so many singers, both amateur and professional, such joy and inspired an enduring love for this epic work.","brand":"Coro","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49882223870232,"sku":"828021621123","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4404957-3329322.jpg?v=1777487931"},{"product_id":"handel-la-resurrezione","title":"Handel: La Resurrezione","description":"Handel composed his oratorio La Resurrezione in 1707 with a libretto that provided a dramatic canvas for his new work: lamentation on Christ's death contrasted with violent exchanges between the Angel and Lucifer. It inspired the young Handel to compose music of lavish richness and expressive drama. In this historically informed performance, conductor Attilio Cremonesi has done extensive research into the work's 1708 premiere in Rome.","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49882224066840,"sku":"747313462476","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4402537-3324016.jpg?v=1777488126"},{"product_id":"membra-jesu-nostri-3","title":"Membra Jesu Nostri","description":"Goteborg Baroque  Magnus Kjellson    The long-awaited release of Goteborg Baroque's recording of Dietrich Buxtehude's \"Membra Jesu Nostri\" is finally out! This legendary musical work has been interpreted countless times, and yet Goteborg Baroque brings something new to the table. Recorded in arstads kyrka outside the Swedish town of Falkenberg, artistic director Magnus Kjellson and his group of musicians succeed in delivering an intimate and genuine rendition of \"Membra Jesu Nostri\", with the unmistakable quality that the ensemble has become acclaimed for: the live feeling, that of being in the room with the musicians even when listening to a recording. Goteborg Baroque is pleased to share a most human and heartfelt interpretation of one of the most wondrous works in music history.","brand":"Proprius","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49882225246488,"sku":"822359003330","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/4405030-3329321.jpg?v=1777488172"}],"url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/collections\/easter-titles.oembed?page=4","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}