Das Kleine Konzert

The gripping cantatas heard on this new CD, recorded during one of the Festival Days of Magdeburg, prove Telemann was the Eighteenth-Century’s most important composer of sacred music.

These are late works by Telemann, and each has an unmistakably individual character. In ‘The Day of Judgement’ Telemann shows masterly use of colour and instrumentation. The Thunder Ode is a Cantata in two parts for solo voices, choir and orchestra.

CPO has already released a disc of Overtures and Cantatas by Christoph Graupner with Hermann Max and his Baroque orchestra Das Kleine Konzert (9995922). For this festive release, they have joined forces again to produce a recording of Christmas Cantatas. These late Cantatas written in the 1740s show Graupner’s elegant late Baroque style.

Beethoven’s gifted pupil Ferdinand Ries was never entirely forgotten, but it is only in recent years that CPO and Hermann Max have dedicated themselves with great success to the rediscovery of this spirited late classicist and romanticist.

Ries’ oratorio Der Sieg des Glaubens (The Triumph of Faith), is heard here for the first time since 1829 where is was written in response to a commission for the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Aachen. The work develops a philosophical discourse dealing with the power of faith and the grace of God.

Today it is the Passions of J.S Bach which are most commonly known. The Passion Oratorio by J.S Bach’s nephew, godson and pupil Johann Ernst Bach is lesser known. On this Capriccio re-release his Passion Oratorio is performed alongside an Ode on the 77th Psalm for tenor, chorus and orchestra and a Motet for solo voices, four-part chorus, strings and continuo.

New on Capriccio this month is a re-release of choral works by Johann Adolf Hasse. Hasse enjoyed huge popularity during his lifetime but since his death his music remained mostly unperformed, with the exception of some of his sacred works. On this recording the Mass in D minor and the Miserere in C minor are performed by the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert under Hermann Max.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is nowadays deservedly recognised as perhaps the most talented and innovating son of the great Johann Sebastian.

Wilhelm Friedemann’s Cantatas are modelled on his father’s, but have a true individual style, influenced by the “Empfindsamer Stil” intended to convey true and natural feelings and encompassing sudden changes of mood. Excellent performances by German forces on period instruments. Including the complete Cantata texts.

Of Johann Sebastien Bach’s many children, three were composers of genius – C.P.E, J.C and W.F. Wilhelm. Friedrich remains the least understood, least known, and was possibly the most gifted of the three. He studied under his father, and it is thought that the Goldberg Variations were composed to show of his eldest son’s keyboard virtuosity. W.F was however a restless soul, who eventually abandoned music altogether. In 1750 it was W.F who managed his father estate after his death, and he had to sell off his father’s manuscripts to settle debts. His life was one of disorder, and although he managed to obtain several good positions, he fell into poverty, and ill health followed. It is possible that his last pupil was Sarah Itzig Levy, great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn. The cantatas on these discs contain some of W.F’s most forward looking and vocally demanding music. Firmly based upon the examples of his father’s cantatas (which W.F performed regularly) they are a strange and unique mix of the old fashioned and the new ‘Sturm und Drang’. In places the sound world of the young Haydn can be heard, in others the voice of J.S Bach sounds clearly.

This seasonal CD features Christmas Motets and highlights from Christmas Cantatas by this famous and amazingly musical family. Included are excerpts from J S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and J C F Bach’s The Infancy of Jesus. Available at a special price.

This oratorio for solo voices, four-part chorus and orchestra is based on a poem by Johann Gottfried Herder. Set to music by Johann Christoph Bach, the work was first performed in 1773 at the Bückeburg court, where the composer had become acquainted with high Baroque works. Conducted by Hermann Max.