German Baroque Cantatas, Vol.2 - Buxtehude
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Nicolaus Bruhns, Bernard Foccroulle
Label: Ricercar
Magazine Review Date: 1/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 170
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RIC048035/7
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Hemmt eure Trähnenfluht |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor James Bowman, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Guy de Mey, Tenor Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Woll dem, der den Herren fürchtet |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Jill Feldman, Soprano Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| De profundis clamavi |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Alleluja, Paratum cor meum |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Guy de Mey, Tenor Ian Honeyman, Tenor Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| O werter heil'ger Geist |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor James Bowman, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| (Der) Zeit meines Abscheids ist vorhanden |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor James Bowman, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Erstanden ist der heilige Christ |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Guy de Mey, Tenor Ian Honeyman, Tenor Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| (Der) Herr hat seinen Stuhl im Himmel bereitet |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Ich liege und schlaffe |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor James Bowman, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Mein Herz ist bereit |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Muss nicht der Mensch auff dieser Erden in steten |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor James Bowman, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| Prelude and Fugue in E minor No. 1, '(The) Great' |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Bernard Foccroulle, Composer Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer |
| Prelude and Fugue in G minor |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Bernard Foccroulle, Composer Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer |
| Nun komm der Heiden Heiland |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Bernard Foccroulle, Composer Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer |
| Prelude and Fugue |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Bernard Foccroulle, Composer Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer |
| Prelude and Fugue in E minor No. 2 |
Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer
Bernard Foccroulle, Composer Nicolaus Bruhns, Composer |
Composer or Director: Dietrich Buxtehude, Franz Tunder, Johann Hermann Schein, Anonymous
Label: Ricercar
Magazine Review Date: 1/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RIC046023
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam |
Johann Hermann Schein, Composer
Agnès Mellon, Soprano Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Johann Hermann Schein, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| O Jesu Christe, Gottes Sohn |
Johann Hermann Schein, Composer
Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Johann Hermann Schein, Composer Ricercar Consort |
| An Wasserflüssen Babylon |
Franz Tunder, Composer
Franz Tunder, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Ach Herr, lass deine liebe Engelein |
Franz Tunder, Composer
Franz Tunder, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme |
Franz Tunder, Composer
Franz Tunder, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Es ist g'nug |
Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Laudate pueri Dominum |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Agnès Mellon, Soprano Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfarth, Movement: Muss der Tod denn auch entbinden (Klag-Lied, 1v, 2nd continuo) |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Gen Himmel zu dem Vater mein |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
| Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Ricercar Consort |
Composer or Director: Dietrich Buxtehude
Label: Ricercar
Magazine Review Date: 1/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RIC041016
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Herr, ich lasse dich nicht |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Guy de Mey, Tenor Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
| Dialogus inter Christum et fidelem animan, 'Wo ist |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
| Nichts soll uns scheiden |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Henri Ledroit, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
| Ich halte es dafür |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
| Ich suchte des Nachts |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Guy de Mey, Tenor Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
| (Das) Neugeborne Kindelein |
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer
Dietrich Buxtehude, Composer Greta de Reyghere, Soprano Guy de Mey, Tenor Henri Ledroit, Alto Max van Egmond, Baritone Ricercar Consort |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Nicolaus Bruhns was a pupil of Buxtehude, and a gifted one too, and the small French company Ricercar have done him proud, with a three-disc set (for the price of two) comprising his entire surviving works. Two of the discs contain cantatas, in forms reflecting the various techniques employed by North German composers during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, while the third consists of organ pieces. I found the cantatas especially rewarding, both for their appealing and inventive writing and for their variety. Three of them, Hemmt eure Tranenflut, Muss nicht der Mensch and O werter heil'ger Geist are set in madrigal style and bear affinity with the earliest of Bach's sacled cantatas. Indeed, the recurring vocal fugal motif of Muss nicht der Mensch foreshadows the concluding fugue of Bach's Ich hatte viel Bekummernis (BWV21) so vividly that we can reasonably suppose the younger composer to have been familiar with Bruhns's cantata; and there are features in common, too, between the same Bach cantata and Bruhns's only concerto-aria cantata, Ich liege und schlafe.
Four other cantatas of Bruhns; Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt, Mein Herz ist bereit, De profundis—not all Lutheran church music used German texts—and Der Herr hat seinen Stuhl im Himmel bereitet are strongly Italianate pieces for solo voice and instruments. The vocal parts, as in lauchzet dem Herren alle Welt, are florid and require virtuosity in execution. Erstanden ist der heilige Christ is a chorale-concerto which sets three verses of a fifteenth-century hymn, though without reference to any chorale melody, and the remaining cantatas Paratum cor meum, Wohl dem, der den Herren furchtet and Die Zeit meines Abschieds ist vorhanden are ensemble pieces for three or four voices with instruments.
The vocalists make up an impressive team. Greta de Reyghere and Jill Feldman are pleasantly matched and make a lively contribution throughout. James Bowman is on very good, though not, perhaps, always exemplary form and sings with warmth and authority. Guy de Mey is outstanding, as you can hear in Jauchzet dem Herren, and I liked lan Honeyman who sings however, in only two of the 12 cantatas. Max van Egmond turns in wonderfully sensitive performances, an inspired piece of casting. His account of De profundis is masterly from beginning to end.
The Ricercar Consort play stylishly and with real sparkle, though both intonation and ensemble occasionally are weak; but seldom did that mar my considerable pleasure in sympathetic performances of this often irresistable repertory. Bruhns's instrumental writing is such that we can only bitterly regret that none of his chamber music has survived. Concertante violin writing (Mein Herz ist bereit), and the trio ritornellos for violin and two bass viols (Paratum cor meum) are just two among numerous examples of his lively, idomatic style.
Bruhns is no less impressive as an organ composer as he is a vocal one, but there is considerably less of this aspect of his work, though it is rather better known. Bernard Foccroulle gives a fine account of the five surviving pieces on the Schnitger organ of the Ludgerikirche in Norden. The music is strikingly individual and we could easily guess, perhaps, whose pupil he was. The Prelude in E minor, chromatic, virtuosic and full of harmonic and rhythmic surprises is particularly impressive. To sum up, this is an issue of outstanding interest. Well documented, with full texts of the cantatas, well recorded and offering three discs for the price of two, the set is irresistible.
Ricercar, commendably, have not stopped with Bruhns but have also recorded three separately available discs (two of which have come to hand) of German sacred vocal music by his predecessors and contemporaries. The first consists entirely of vocal music by Buxtehude, the second of pieces (all but one) by Buxtehude, Schein and Tunder. The Buxtehude disc contains six works which, to a greater or lesser extent, fall into the cantata category. The texts are either biblical or poetical or a mixture of the two. Much of the music is strongly affecting and nowhere more so, perhaps, than in the lovely Ich halte es dafur with its unmistakable Pietistic leanings and the sensuous Ich suchte des Nachts whose text comes from the Song of Songs. This is a highly imaginative piece with many colourful details, such as the Watchmen's signal proclaimed by unison oboes. The performances are full of little insights with fine contributions from de Reyghere, the late Henri Ledroit, de Mey and van Egmond.
The music on the remaining disc of German baroque cantatas is more strongly orientated towards the chorale than that of the other discs discussed here. Two sacred concertos by Schein come from his Opellanova (1618) and reveal a personal means of expression as well as reflecting the modern Italian outlook of the time. The hymn settings are for one and two voices with continuo. Three more elaborately scored pieces are by Franz Tunder, Buxtehude's father-in-law and predecessor at Lubeck. Much of this music is deeply expressive with a freedom in the vocal writing which was futher developed by Buxtehude himself. I was especially struck by Tunder's florid vocal treatment of the hymn and its associated melody,Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme, in contrast with settings of the same melody and text by other composers of the period.
The remaining pieces include an anonymous lament recalling that of Bach's forbear Johann Christoph, and four short works by Buxtehude; among them is a sorrowful poem, probably by the composer, set to music by Buxtehude for his father's funeral,Klag-Lied, and in vivid contrast a radiant setting of Singet dem Herrn. Greta de Reyghere sings this haunting piece with sensitivity and with a natural feeling for the expressive contours of Buxtehude's vocal writing. She is partnered by Agnes Mellon in only two of the items of this disc, but the partnership is a rewarding one.
All in all, a remarkable quintet of CDs. If these are anything to go by, the third. recording of German Baroque Cantatas will be well worth finding. As with the Bruhns, texts are included—often appallingly mis-spelt. The music is well recorded. Strongly recommended.'
Four other cantatas of Bruhns; Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt, Mein Herz ist bereit, De profundis—not all Lutheran church music used German texts—and Der Herr hat seinen Stuhl im Himmel bereitet are strongly Italianate pieces for solo voice and instruments. The vocal parts, as in lauchzet dem Herren alle Welt, are florid and require virtuosity in execution. Erstanden ist der heilige Christ is a chorale-concerto which sets three verses of a fifteenth-century hymn, though without reference to any chorale melody, and the remaining cantatas Paratum cor meum, Wohl dem, der den Herren furchtet and Die Zeit meines Abschieds ist vorhanden are ensemble pieces for three or four voices with instruments.
The vocalists make up an impressive team. Greta de Reyghere and Jill Feldman are pleasantly matched and make a lively contribution throughout. James Bowman is on very good, though not, perhaps, always exemplary form and sings with warmth and authority. Guy de Mey is outstanding, as you can hear in Jauchzet dem Herren, and I liked lan Honeyman who sings however, in only two of the 12 cantatas. Max van Egmond turns in wonderfully sensitive performances, an inspired piece of casting. His account of De profundis is masterly from beginning to end.
The Ricercar Consort play stylishly and with real sparkle, though both intonation and ensemble occasionally are weak; but seldom did that mar my considerable pleasure in sympathetic performances of this often irresistable repertory. Bruhns's instrumental writing is such that we can only bitterly regret that none of his chamber music has survived. Concertante violin writing (Mein Herz ist bereit), and the trio ritornellos for violin and two bass viols (Paratum cor meum) are just two among numerous examples of his lively, idomatic style.
Bruhns is no less impressive as an organ composer as he is a vocal one, but there is considerably less of this aspect of his work, though it is rather better known. Bernard Foccroulle gives a fine account of the five surviving pieces on the Schnitger organ of the Ludgerikirche in Norden. The music is strikingly individual and we could easily guess, perhaps, whose pupil he was. The Prelude in E minor, chromatic, virtuosic and full of harmonic and rhythmic surprises is particularly impressive. To sum up, this is an issue of outstanding interest. Well documented, with full texts of the cantatas, well recorded and offering three discs for the price of two, the set is irresistible.
Ricercar, commendably, have not stopped with Bruhns but have also recorded three separately available discs (two of which have come to hand) of German sacred vocal music by his predecessors and contemporaries. The first consists entirely of vocal music by Buxtehude, the second of pieces (all but one) by Buxtehude, Schein and Tunder. The Buxtehude disc contains six works which, to a greater or lesser extent, fall into the cantata category. The texts are either biblical or poetical or a mixture of the two. Much of the music is strongly affecting and nowhere more so, perhaps, than in the lovely Ich halte es dafur with its unmistakable Pietistic leanings and the sensuous Ich suchte des Nachts whose text comes from the Song of Songs. This is a highly imaginative piece with many colourful details, such as the Watchmen's signal proclaimed by unison oboes. The performances are full of little insights with fine contributions from de Reyghere, the late Henri Ledroit, de Mey and van Egmond.
The music on the remaining disc of German baroque cantatas is more strongly orientated towards the chorale than that of the other discs discussed here. Two sacred concertos by Schein come from his Opellanova (1618) and reveal a personal means of expression as well as reflecting the modern Italian outlook of the time. The hymn settings are for one and two voices with continuo. Three more elaborately scored pieces are by Franz Tunder, Buxtehude's father-in-law and predecessor at Lubeck. Much of this music is deeply expressive with a freedom in the vocal writing which was futher developed by Buxtehude himself. I was especially struck by Tunder's florid vocal treatment of the hymn and its associated melody,
The remaining pieces include an anonymous lament recalling that of Bach's forbear Johann Christoph, and four short works by Buxtehude; among them is a sorrowful poem, probably by the composer, set to music by Buxtehude for his father's funeral,
All in all, a remarkable quintet of CDs. If these are anything to go by, the third. recording of German Baroque Cantatas will be well worth finding. As with the Bruhns, texts are included—often appallingly mis-spelt. The music is well recorded. Strongly recommended.'
German Baroque Cantatas, Vol.4 - Bruhns
German Baroque Cantatas, Vol.3
German Baroque Cantatas, Vol.2 - Buxtehude
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