Dominus Pro

Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga from 1914 to 1916 and in Königsberg from 1928 to 1933, after which he left Germany in protest of the new Nazi regime and worked in Switzerland.

Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga from 1914 to 1916 and in Königsberg from 1928 to 1933, after which he left Germany in protest of the new Nazi regime and worked in Switzerland.

Michael Haydn’s colourful and inventive music is uplifting and expressive in equal measure, but his music has been eclipsed by that of his elder brother Joseph, and by Mozart. Sacred music is central to Michael Haydn’s oeuvre and was considered by some contemporary critics as superior to Joseph’s. Encompassing a broad range of textures and styles, parts of the Missa Sancti Nicolai Tolentini demonstrate Haydn’s music at its most exhilarating and energetic, and his supreme gift for empfindsames (‘sensitive’) lyrical writing is also to be heard in the Vespers.

Here is a throwback to one of the earliest recordings ever made by Michel Corboz: a pioneering version of the Vespro della Beata Vergine.

Agostino Steffani is one of the most remarkable figures of the European Baroque period. He was not only a composer, but also a priest and diplomat. He directed the Hanover Opera and influenced some of the most important musicians of his time with his work. This recording combines his Psalmodia vespertina (1674) with the posthumously published Stabat Mater. The psalms are notated for double choir and organ, but are presented here in a richer instrumentation with strings and wind instruments as well as alternations between solos and tutti.

Agostino Steffani gehört zu den bemerkenswertesten Gestalten des europäischen Barock, war nicht nur Komponist, sondern auch Priester und Diplomat.

In the less than ten years since their founding, The Gesualdo Six and their director Owain Park have earned an outstanding reputation for consistently smartly assembled and impeccably executed programs.

In a selection of motets woven affectingly throughout the glorious five-part Mass, The Gesualdo Six perfectly captures all the power and tenderness of Byrd’s compositional voice.