Mdr Kammerphilhamonie

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its chief conductor Philipp Ahmann present motets by Anton Bruckner and Michael Haydn. While Bruckner’s Locus iste, Christus factus est and Ave Maria enjoy great popularity and can be heard frequently in concerts, Michael Haydn’s contributions to the same genre are far less known. The younger brother of Joseph and successor of Mozart as Salzburg organist has, however, had a huge impact on religious composition in the German-speaking world, and particularly in Austria. As such, Bruckner’s motets, composed about a century later, are still firmly grounded in the tradition of Michael Haydn. By combining their motets, this album allows the listener to discover this uniquely Austrian church-musical style, while simultaneously showing how both composers’ gave a highly personal substance to it.

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its artistic director Philipp Ahmann present a collection of Felix Mendelssohn’s choral music, which arguably represents the pinnacle of German nineteenth-century religious music. Ranging across psalm settings, motets, Latin verses, the Deutsche Liturgie as well as the ethereal chorus Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen, which was later adapted and incorporated into his oratorio Elijah, the album highlights the unique stylistic range and expressive power of Mendelssohn’s choral output.

Cellist Matt Haimovitz, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies present the first commercial recording of Ukrainian unsung composer Thomas de Hartmann’s cello concerto. De Hartmann was an important compositional voice in his own time, connected to the greatest musicians and artists of his era, but has sunk into oblivion after his death in 1956.

Marek Janowski, the Dresdner Philharmonie and the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir present Haydn’s oratorio Die Schöpfung (1798), together with soprano Christiane Karg, tenor Benjamin Bruns and bass Tareq Nazmi. During his London sojourns, the aging Haydn was astounded by the audience engagement at performances of Handel’s oratorios, and he aimed to realize something similar in his own work. From the legendary breakthrough of light in the orchestral introduction all the way to the hymn to the almighty creator in the finale, Haydn offers a sweeping, colourful tableau of God’s creation of the world. As such, the work offers the apotheosis of the eighteenth-century oratorio while also serving as an inspiring example to nineteenth-century Romantic composers. Janowski and his forces realize both the Classical transparency and Romantic drive of this epoch-making piece.