Rias Kammerchor Wolfgang Rihm Astralis & Other Choral Works

Following the album Arias, her much-acclaimed debut album on Sony Classical, the German soprano returns to Bach with three famous cantatas she has never recorded before. Regardless of their extraordinary musical beauty all of these cantatas are concerned with religious considerations of grief, guilt and farewell. Based on the Italian model of solo cantata which reached its peak in the extensive output of Alessandro Scarlatti, these melodious and touching pieces highlight Schäfer´s outstanding vocal abilities and musical taste. The arias offer most delightful duets with various instrumental solo parts such as flute, oboe and violin. Christine Schäfer is accompanied by the Berliner Barocksolisten, a first-class ensemble of players from the Berlin Philharmonic who perform on modern instruments in historically informed style.

The narrative of Christ’s Passion as retold by Barthold Brockes (a dominant figure in early 18th-century German literature) is of such dramatic power that it was set to music by 13 different composers (including Handel, Keiser, and Mattheson)! Telemann’s version, premiered on 2 April 1716, became so famous that J. S. Bach, no immature youngster at the time, copied it out in full 23 years later . . . René Jacobs has striven to restore this quite extraordinary score to life in all its rich complexity.