Christophorus

The new CD of the trumpeter Joachim K. Schäfer focuses on Bach and Dresden. Bach, who never actually worked at Dresden, had a close relationship with the Dresden court, and was influenced by the local preference for the Italian style. Bach adapted concertos by Vivaldi and Marcello, which Schäfer again arranged for his Dresden Baroque Soloists.

An invitation to experience music played in the court of Versailles – for Louis XIV and his successors. An imaginary story gives it its framework: A young provincial beauty comes to the court, is presented to the King and becomes his favourite, falls into disgrace through the intrigues of her rivals, but finally retrieves her honour.

Born in Florence, the cradle of the Italian language, Jean‐Baptiste Lulli was the first Italian musician to settle and be fully accepted in France, at the prestigious and illustrious court of Versailles, the centre of refined taste. Lully not only accepted the French style, even more: he created it. His sacred music is splendidly dramatic, the orchestra is full and sonorous, with important roles for the wind and percussion instruments, a feast of colours, driving rhythms and ornaments!

'Herzens-Lieder' [Songs of the Heart] – this title would certainly have appealed to the two librettists and four composers featured upon this CD. In terms of music and church history, they all – Johann Kuhnau, Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner and Johann Sebastian Bach – form part of the Lutheran church choir tradition.

Georg Philipp Telemann schrieb insgesamt 46 Passionen, von denen die hier aufgenommene Matthäus-Passion in der Behandlung der Chöre und Arien eine der schönsten ist. Sie entstand im Jahre 1730 und zeigt eine besonders illustrierende Schreibweise des Komponisten. Die zweistimmige Anlage der Chöre erweist sie sich mit dem Orchestersatz zusammen als eine überaus gekonnte Komposition mit einfachen Mitteln. Die Choräle sind als Gemeindegesang gedacht. Das Passionsgeschehen wird in Telemanns Matthäus-Passion in eine frohe Darstellung des dramatischen Geschehens als Freude über die Erlösung gekehrt.

One of the presumably unfixable problems in the classical recording industry is that the lesser-known works and composers receive the least marketing attention. So a recording, even a pretty good one, of sacred songs by 16th-century composer Balduin Hoyoul is likely to go totally unnoticed, buried in the early music bins of a handful of classical CD stores. It’s particularly unfortunate in this case, because the music, a collection of 20 motets (17 are performed here) titled Sacrae cantiones, is of a consistently superior quality, reaching its peak in the later works in six parts.

Lute music in Germany is closely associated with the name Silvius Leopold Weiss who influenced generations of lutenists with his outstanding compositions and was the cornerstone of German lute music. As his oeuvre has already enjoyed a wide distribution and substantial appreciation, this anthology only touches on a few individual works as reference points and places a greater focus on Weiss’s musical environment and legacy. A particular focus is given to Bayreuth which developed into a regional cultural centre for the lute thanks to the encouragement of the Margravine Wilhelmine, the sister of Frederick the Great.