Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks - Carissimi: Jonas; Monteverdi & Lasso - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The church music Franz Liszt composed in his later years was always innovative, radical, and thoroughly idiosyncratic, yet was frequently and unjustly overlooked in the repertoire. Now, the Bavarian Radio Chorus, conducted by Peter Dijkstra, has taken on the cycle VIA CRUCIS. It was never performed during Liszt's lifetime; the composer worked on it in the autumn of 1878 as a guest of Cardinal zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, not far from Rome. The new CD from BR-KLASSIK presents a live recording of an extraordinary concert from April 2025 at Munich's Prinzregententheater.Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, usually comprising fourteen stations of the Passion of Christ-from conviction to death to deposition to burial-has over the centuries been the subject of prayer at the traditional sites in Jerusalem, on pilgrimages, in Catholic churches worldwide, at roadside shrines, in outdoor chapels, and on Calvaries. In composing his version, Franz Liszt mainly had the Good Friday procession in the Roman Colosseum in mind, 'in that place whose ground is steeped in the blood of the martyrs.' He wrote his 14 Stations of the Cross for solo voices, choir, and organ (originally piano), yet was much taken with the idea of carrying a harmonium into the ruins of the Colosseum for his musical devotions to be sung there too 'I would be happy if those sounds could be heard there that only faintly reflect the inner emotion that overcame me when, on my knees with the devout procession, I more than once repeated the Latin words.' It remained a mere vision, however his late work VIA CRUCIS was neither rehearsed nor published, and met with firm rejection from the purists of the ultra-conservative Cecilian movement. It was not until fifty years later, on Good Friday 1929, that the work was finally premiered in Budapest.

The motets written during Bach's first years in Leipzig form a group of works in their own right, and stand apart from other sacred music because they were not composed for the regular church liturgy, but for private occasions instead. This is why they were tailored closely to clients' wishes or to Bach's own ideas. Taken together - and in contrast to InchmodernInch cantatas - they are conservative in style, and belong to the tradition of vocal polyphony that reached it's peak in the 16th century. The choir is backed not by an orchestra but only a simple instrumental accompaniment with basso continuo. To compensate for the missing orchestra, the vocal score is even more complex and finely detailed than usual the small space is occupied by all kinds of compositional techniques, contrapuntal and concertante, as well as with chorales and double choirs. With exceptionally reduced means, Bach thus created music that was every bit as significant and expressive as that of his much larger works. These motets were the first works to introduce the Bach InchRenaissanceInch, even before the revival of the St Matthew Passion in 1829, and they evince an unbroken performance tradition to this today - also because they were not only composed for church services but for early forms of popular festivities. To this day, for any choir, Bach's motets represent a special artistic and interpretive challenge. On this BR-KLASSIK album, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, under it's artistic director Howard Arman, sings a selection of Bach's most well-known motets.

The British composer Edward Elgar wrote a great deal more than just his InchPomp & CircumstanceInch marches his highly diverse oeuvre encompasses symphonies, concertos, chamber works, piano music and numerous choral works (oratorios, cantatas and partsongs). On this , partsongs by Elgar can be heard with and without accompaniment as part of a representative selection of live and studio recordings. The album begins with the song cycle InchFrom the Bavarian HighlandsInch op. 27; it's six cheerful numbers were written while Elgar and his wife were on holiday in Garmisch in 1895. Alice Elgar had sketched verses from Bavarian folk melodies, and Upper Bavarian songs and dances can be heard in her husband's settings. These were happy memories of carefree holidays in a region rich in music and full of fine landscapes. The Bavarian Radio Chorus, conducted by Howard Arman, sings the songs in their original version with piano accompaniment (the orchestral version came later). As a composer of English-language choral songs, Elgar is still little-known on the European mainland; in the United Kingdom, however, the situation is very different. The country has long had a lively choral scene, focusing primarily on English music - from Purcell and Handel to Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford and Elgar, all the way to Benjamin Britten and today's contemporary composers. The program on this has been compiled and conducted by the Englishman Howard Arman, one of today's most knowledgeable experts on British choral music and artistic director of the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and these recordings should do much to boost the popularity of this highly appealing music on the European mainland as well.