Cordes

Both of the works on this 2024 release by pianist Éric Le Sage, violinist Daishin Kashimoto, and the Schumann Quartet have seen their fortunes rise in recent years as sumptuous late French Romanticism seemed somehow to resonate with the over-the-top luxuries of the present day. There have been several good readings of Chausson's Concerto for piano, violin, and string quartet, a unique work that combines the utmost lushness with considerable art in balancing the various forces involved. The work has attracted some big names, but this one, with Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster rendering the concerto's soaring passionate lines, can stand with any of them.

Yet another Christmas release features the Christmas vocal polyphony of Cristobal de Morales, who is regarded as the first significant Spanish composer of the Renaissance. Like most compositions for this Christian feast, his Christmas motets circulated and were performed throughout Europe, traveling far beyond Spain's borders. His archaic, mystical and expressive musical language, that one almost might term place-less and timeless, must have played a role in this dissemination. Moreover, Morales was active not only in Spanish cathedrals but also spent many years of his creative career as a papal singer in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

A new era in church music dawned with the creation of German-language sacred songs functioning as the counterpart to Latin Gregorian chant. The WESER-RENAISSANCE ensemble under its experienced conductor Manfred Cordes is now presenting a colourful selection of the most beautiful hymn settings from the Wittenberg first edition of 1524-25. The Urkantor Johann Walter was a close associate of Martin Luther and the founding father of the important institutional and artistic tradition of the Protestant cantorate.