Casare ii 2017

Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II is the fourth album from the Ghost Train Orchestra. The album continues where the Book of Rhapsodies left off, with surreal new re-imaginings of early third stream music by composers from the late 1930s working with unusual instrumentation such as Alec Wilder, Reginald Foresythe, and Hal Herzon. The album was recorded in 2015 by Andy Taub at Brooklyn Recording Studios and mixed by Danny Blume and Brian Carpenter at Hidden Quarry Studios in Woodstock NY. Release date October 20 2017.

The three cantatas brought together here are from Telemann’s last printed annual cycle, which was published in Hermsdorf (near Hirschberg), Silesia, in 1749. Each cantata has a title page indicating the particular Sunday, registering the ensemble parts under it, and displaying a decorative figure modeled on a putto as an ornament on the lower half of the page. Since the putto was also understood as an angel, the cycle came to be known as the »Engel-Jahrgang« (Angel Cycle). In addition, the title contains a pithy motto that seems to be referring to Telemann: »You glorify the sweet harmony of the art of music and sanctify it.« As in his other annual cycles issued in printed form, the compositions were presented in Hamburg churches prior to their publication or along with it. These are joyful works of dancy verve to which Telemann supplied additional splendor in many movements through the use of trumpets.