Telemann: Sacred Arias

New chamber compositions by Telemann made available to the concert world by intensive research and in modern score editions form the focus of the Magdeburg Sunday Concerts, in German: the "Sonntagsmusiken." klassik. com described our first album with Advent and Christmas cantatas as "A treasure trove of brilliant sacred arias!" The arias on the second portion of this series involve pieces taken from "complete" sacred compositions and performed in Hamburg’s principal places of worship during the church year 1726-27. The two arias contained in a particular sacred composition were removed from their context for the purposes of publication. The Eisenach court secretary Johann Friedrich Helbig was the author of the texts for the church compositions and the arias included in them. Telemann packed a great deal into the concentrated aria space. We might say that he balanced the minimum of the ensemble with compositional intensity and complexity in respect of melodic formation as well as with the thematic design of the basses, forceful declamation and rhythmic scheme, and the large spectrum of keys and harmonic manifoldness.