Lena Susanne Norin

Hermann Max's recording of J. S. Bach: Matthaus Passion with the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert embodies current orthodoxy in most respects: two choirs of 16 voices each are partnered by two orchestras of comparable size, with period instruments sounding at low (Baroque) pitch; tempos are mostly quite sprightly and textures light; ornamentation is sparing and discreet, but cadential appoggiaturas in the recitatives are mostly in place (though the latest fashion seems to be increasingly to omit them). Christoph Pregardien and Klaus Mertens are ideally cast as the Evangelist and Jesus: precise in diction, judicious in expression. The other soloists are more variable.

Hasse was 52 when he composed the Mass in D minor recorded here, but in every way – in form, affect, and aesthetics – Hasse belongs more to the generation of the much younger Haydn than to that of Bach. His Mass in D minor is thoroughly a work of the Enlightenment: symmetrical, lucidly rational, celebratory rather than penitent, 'public' rather than personal, a concert of elegant music rather than an outpouring of spiritual energy. It's not as great a work as Bach's – let us not be unclear about that – but it's a wonderful composition in its own way. If you have heard and appreciated the Haydn and Mozart masses, you'll find this mass quite as excellent as those. In fact, Hasse's mass sounds very much like Haydn at his best, in the masses that Haydn wrote 40-some years later for Esterhazy occasions.

Our collection of previously unknown Christmas oratorios is growing impressively and happily. After Joseph Eybler in October, I can even announce two trouvailles for this month. There is the Christmas Oratorio by Carl Heinrich Graun (1703-1759), the conductor of Frederick the Great. It was only recently found in Washington. A precise dating is not yet possible, but it certainly arose in Graun's pre-Berlin time in Dresden or Braunschweig. However, it is a masterpiece on the threshold of a sensitive style. The well-balanced alternation of melodically accented and contrapuntally rigorous choral movements, of soulful, colorfully orchestrated arias and harmoniously far-reaching recitatives is particularly impressive.

In an age of artistic conformity, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) had a refreshingly individual voice. In his own time he was described as 'a reserved, bigoted Catholic, but also a respectable, quiet, unassuming man, deserving of the greatest respect'. His music earned Bach's respect for its serious contrapuntal procedures; today's listeners, though, are more immediately charmed by Zelenka's quirky turns of phrase and flashes of original genius. There are plenty of these in the Passion oratorio Gesù al Calvario (1735), one of the composer's three late oratorios.

Wie weit komponierende Söhne und Väter stilistisch auseinander liegen können, wird oft an dem Vergleich Johann Sebastians und Johann Christian Bachs demonstriert. Nun, es gibt einen ähnlich gelagerten Fall: Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688–1758) und sein Sohn Carl (1736–1800).

Throughout his life Telemann collaborated with good poets who prepared sacred texts for him, usually to be set as annual cycles for the church year. This practice enabled him to design each of his annual cycles, as a rule consisting of seventy-two cantatas for each Sunday and feast day, on the basis of a unique overall idea. Annual cycles such as Geistliches Singen und Spielen, the »Annual Cycle in the Oratorio Style« and »Musicalisches Lob Gottes« not only lend expression to the artistic program and ideas of one of the most important sacred music composers of the eighteenth century but also document his deep religiosity.