musica Dei donum
CD reviews
Christmas music at St Thomas in Leipzig
[I] "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her - Weihnachtskonzerte aus Leipzig" (Christmas concertos from Leipzig)
Monika Mauch, Hanna Zumsande, soprano;
Franz Vitzthum, alto;
Sebastian Hübner, tenor;
Ekkehard Abele, bass
Chamber choir of the Christuskirche Karlsruhe; L'arpa festante
Dir: Peter Gortner
rec: Dec 22, 2019 (live), Karlsruhe, Christuskirche
Christophorus - CHR 77448 (© 2020) (67'16")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: (D)
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Sebastian KNÜPFER (1633-1676):
Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein;
Johann KUHNAU (1660-1722):
Magnificat in C;
Johann SCHELLE (1648-1701):
Actus Musicus auff Weyh-Nachten;
Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar
[L'af] Katharina Andres, Renate Duarte, oboe, Schryari;
Uschi Bruckdorfer, dulcian;
Thomas Scheiflinger, Raphael Pouget, trumpet;
Hans Jacob Bollinger, trumpet, cornett;
Matthijs Lunenburg, cornett;
Gerhard Schneider, Jürgen Sklenar, Thomas Baur, Katharina Gortner, sackbut;
Christoph Hesse, Johanna Weber, violin;
Ursula Plagge-Zimmermann, Franz Rauch, viola;
Anja Enderle, cello;
Haralt Martens, violone;
Toshinori Ozaki, lute;
Rien Voskuilen, organ;
Martin Homan, timpani
[II] "Machet die Tore weit - Weihnachtsmusik an der Thomaskirche" (Christmas Music at St Thomas in Leipzig)
Antonia Bourvé, Simone Schwark, soprano;
Johanna Krell, contralto;
Florian Cramer, Hans Jörg Mammel, tenor;
Markus Flaig, bass
Chamber choir of the Erlöserkirche Bad Homburg; Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble
Dir: Susanne Rohn
rec: Jan 16 - 18, 2020, Bad Homburg, Erlöserkirche
Christophorus - CHR 77449 (© 2020) (75'55")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: (D)
Cover, track-list & booklet
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anon:
Dies est laetitiae, hymn;
Johann Caspar HORN (1636-1722):
Es begab sich aber zu der Zeit;
Sebastian KNÜPFER (1633-1676):
Dies est laetitiae a 22;
Johann KUHNAU (1660-1722):
Frohlocket ihr Völker a 12;
Tobias MICHAEL (1592-1657):
Machet die Tore weit a 5;
Johann SCHELLE (1648-1701):
Machet die Tore weit a 12
[JRE] Tobias Jung, Astrid Brachtendorf, Ute Rothkirch, Christine Dobmeier, trumpet;
Thomas Hasselbeck, trumpet, cornett;
Julia Nagel, trumpet, sackbut;
Ulrike von Hagen, Kristina Filthaut, Susanne Kohnen, recorder;
Arno Paduch, recorder, cornett;
Alexander Brungert, Christoph Hamborg, sackbut;
Clemens Schlemmer, bassoon, dulcian;
Anette Sichelschmidt, Mareike Beckmann, Katrin Ebert, Irina Kisselova, Katharina Hardegen, violin;
Anke Hörschelmann, violin, viola;
Andrea Schmidt, Peter Achtzehnter, viola;
Ulrike vom Hagen, cello;
Matthias Müller, double bass, violone;
Petra Burmann, theorbo;
Jürgen Banholzer, Susanne Rohn, organ
In the 17th century, composers from Protestant Germany were strongly inspired by hymns, written by Martin Luther and others who followed his example, and by traditional songs. These were often arranged, for instance in relatively simple harmonizations, or taken as the starting point for sacred concertos, either small-scale or in large format, including pieces written according to the Venetian polychoral style. The two discs under review here both focus on what was written in Leipzig, especially by composers who for a part of their career occupied the position of Thomaskantor. In recent years their oeuvre has been given more attention, but there are still many parts of their output that wait to be discovered, performed and recorded. Unfortunately, both recordings include pieces that are already available in other recordings.
That goes especially for the first disc, which therefore is the least interesting. Three of the four items on the programme have been recorded before. That goes especially for the Actus Musicus auff Weyh-Nachten by Johann Schelle, who was Thomaskantor from 1676 until his death. This work, that one could compare with Heinrich Schütz's Christmas Historia (Historia der freuden- und gnadenreichen Geburt Gottes und Marien Sohnes, Jesu Christi), was first performed in 1683. The main difference is that Schelle included various Christmas hymns that were popular among the faithful in Leipzig. One of them is Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her. This hymn is a kind of thread across the programme, as it can also be heard in Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein by Sebastian Knüpfer, Schelle's predecessor as Thomaskantor. This piece seems to be a first recording, as I could not find any other. A posthumous copy refers to a performance on first Christmas Day of 1692. Knüpfer has set the last three stanzas of the hymn, and the instrumental ensemble is split into two choirs, for strings and wind (cornetts and sackbuts) respectively. In the opening piece, Schelle's Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar, the same melody is used. It is scored for 19 voices and instruments, which is reminiscent of Michael Praetorius's large-scale chorale arrangements. The voices constitute one choir, the instruments are divided into three choirs (strings, cornetts and sackbuts, trumpets and timpani). In the six verses soli and tutti alternate; they are separated by ritornellos.
The disc ends with a setting of the Magnificat by Johann Kuhnau. This text was originally connected to feasts of the Blessed Virgin and it also made its entrance in the Vesper liturgy. However, with time it became also associated with Christmastide, and in Leipzig this was emphasized by the insertion of traditional Christmas songs, so-called laudes, referring to the old tradition of Kindelwiegen. Bach did so in his Magnificat in E flat. In Kuhnau's setting they are absent, but it is assumed that his Magnificat was intended for a performance at Christmas, given the scoring which includes three trumpets, timpani and two oboes. In his recording, as part of CPO's Kuhnau project, Gregor Meyer included the same carols that we find in Bach's Magnificat. These have been preserved in Kuhna's oeuvre as a cantata for Christmas, Vom Himmel hoch. The present disc follows this practice, but whereas the CPO recording refers to an edition by David Erler, this is not mentioned in the booklet to this disc.
Even though this disc mainly includes pieces available in other recordings, I would welcome it if the performances had been really satisfying. Not that there is anything wrong with the singing and playing as such. The five soloists deliver excellent performances and the instrumental ensemble is first-class. The choir is a good ensemble, but, with its 42 voices, it is far too large, and that is the main downside of this recording. The whole concept of soloists (who don't participate in the tutti), choir and orchestra is anachronistic. At that time music was written for a vocal and instrumental ensemble, whose members took care of solo episodes. That is the way an ensemble like Weser-Renaissance approaches this kind of repertoire. The tutti are too massive and lack transparency. That is a shame, as otherwise this disc has much too offer.
As far as the repertoire is concerned, the second disc is of more interest, as it includes two pieces that are new to the catalogue. One of them is Machet die Tore weit by Tobias Michael, who was appointed Thomaskantor in 1631, one year after the death of his predecessor Johann Hermann Schein. The scoring is rather unusual: five voices, three sackbuts and two recorders, instead of cornetts. It is preceded by a setting of the same text by Johann Schelle, and the contrast in the way the text is treated is quite interesting, showing the stylistic development in the course of the 17th century. Whereas Michael sets four verses from Psalm 24 (7-10; 7 and 9 have the same text), Schelle uses only one verse (7/9) for the opening chorus, which is repeated at the end. In between are verses for the four voices (soprano to bass), separated by ritornellos. Every verse consists of two sections, the second is always the same.
Another first recording is Dies est laetitia by Sebastian Knüpfer. It is an example of a large-scale sacred concerto, scored for 22 voices, separated into three choirs with a cappella ad libitum. The entire ensemble is only involved in the opening sinfonia, which is repeated at the end of the piece. It is quite remarkable that eight performances of this piece are documented between 1682 and 1719 at Christmas. At that time it was rather unusual to perform 'ancient music'. The work opens with a sonata, then the entire ensemble sings "Dies est laetitiae", which was also known in a German version (Der Tag der ist so freudenreich). Then the soloists sing the next three stanzas in different combinations (B/SS/ATT).
Es begab sich zu der Zeit by Johann Caspar Horn is a setting of a fragment of the Christmas story as told by St Luke: the decree by emperor Augustus, the birth of Jesus, the appearance of an angel to the shepherds and the choir of angels. Horn was from Austria and was a physician by profession. As a composer he was an amateur. For most of his life he lived in Leipzig, where he was member of a fraternity of amateur musicians under the direction of Knüpfer. In this piece the words of the Evangelist are divided among various singers - a usual practice, which we also find in Schütz's Christmas Historia. The scoring is for four voices, with a cappella ad libitum.
The disc closes with a cantata by Kuhnau, which opens with a chorus in ABA form and ends with a much shorter chorus. In between are two pairs of recitative and aria, for tenor and alto respectively. Notable are the two obbligato parts for violin and organ in the tenor aria. This cantata once again proves that the generally-held view that Kuhnau was an archconservative and opposed to the modern fashion of writing cantatas in a form derived from Italian opera, is based on prejudice.
With regard to performance practice, I could repeat here what I wrote about the previous recording. With 36 voices, the chamber choir of the Erlöserkirche Bad Homburg is not substantially smaller than the chamber choir of the Christuskirche Karlsruhe. This partly explains why in Kuhnau the tempi are slower than in CPO's Kuhnau Edition (29'45" vs 26'01"). However, the recitatives are also too slow and rhythmically too strict. Schelle's Machet die Tore weit is also substantially slower here than in previous recordings (11'00" vs 9'22"/9'26"). The soloists are just as good as those on the previous disc, and that goes in particular for Markus Flaig, Florian Cramer and Johanna Krell. The latter has a nice voice, which is a bit too weak in comparison to the other voices, though. The balance between the voices is less than ideal. Choir and instrumental ensemble are very good. Despite the issue of the size of the choir and the anachronistic concept, this disc is an important addition to the discography of Christmas repertoire.
Johan van Veen (© 2021)
Relevant links:
Ekkehard Abele
Antonia Bourvé
Markus Flaig
Sebastian Hübner
Johanna Krell
Hans Jörg Mammel
Monika Mauch
Simone Schwark
Franz Vitzthum
Hanna Zumsande
Chamber choir of the Christuskirche Karlsruhe
Chamber choir of the Erlöserkirche Bad Homburg
Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble