Goldberg Baroque Ensemble Goldberg Vocal Ensemble Szadejko - Secular Cantatas - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Friedrich Christian Samuel Mohrheim was educated by the old Bach. The later Kapellmeister at St. Mary's Church in Gdansk combines the solid craftsmanship he received from the great Thomaskantor with the elegantly light tone of his time to great advantage. In the tenth installment of InchMusica BalticaInch, Andrzej Szadejko and his Goldberg Baroque Ensemble again present world premiere recordings, including cantatas from Mohrheim's oeuvre, yet another highlight in this series rich in surprising highlights. Mohrheim must have been very busy in Gdansk; about a hundred works are documented from his pen, most of which he composed before he succeeded his father-in-law Freislich (MDG 902 2209-6) in the position. Today, many of these works are lost or have survived only in fragments. For the great occasions in St. Mary's Church, he also composed works for several choirs, such as the magnificent cantatas InchUns ist ein Kind geborenInch (To us a child is born) and InchEhre sei Gott in der HöheInch (Glory to God in the highest) - entirely to the taste of his demanding Gdansk audience. But time and again Mohrheim finds enchanting timbres in smaller ensembles as well, from which the gallantly sensitive arias in particular benefit. Siri Karoline Thornhill, Franziska Gottwald, Virgil Hartinger and Stephan MacLeod once again provide an exquisite ensemble of soloists. The overwhelming sound in the Trinitatiskirche in Gdansk is also due to the large Merten-Friese/Wegscheider organ, which provides a rich foundation for the mighty choirs. The double-choir cantatas thus gain an almost unbelievable depth, which comes to the fore in an overwhelming way in the three-dimensional reproduction of this high-resolution Super Audio recording.

It must have been splendid when the Council was newly elected in Gdansk. Music was played on all organs in St. Mary's Church, and the responsible Kapellmeister had to deliver festive multi-choral works for the occasion. Andrzej Szadejko and his Goldberg Baroque Ensemble convey a fascinating impression of this baroque practice in a spectacular first recording this album presents works by Johann Valentin Meder, who was Kapellmeister at St. Mary's until 1698, including motets with up to three choirs. Elsewhere, multi-choir singing had long since gone out of fashion, but in Meder's music, this opulent and therefore harmonically mostly simple movement style of earlier times is combined with the highly topical concertante style of the Italian Baroque. This leads to idiosyncratic, extremely attractive results. And Meder was always at the forefront one of the first operas in German language was written by him. In his motets, too, he skillfully combines dialogue with commentary - particularly impressive in the motet InchThe infernal serpentInch. And the two chorale motets InchAch Herr, mich armen SünderInch and InchMeine Seele säufzt und stöhnetInch point far into the late baroque future in their imaginative and varied treatment of verses. A special highlight of this lavish production the large, recently reconstructed late baroque Merten-Friese organ on the rood screen of Gdansk's Trinity Church is also used for the three-choir motets. Together with kettledrums, trumpets and trombones, it completes the tonal triangle with the top-class vocal choirs on the right and left, using the full-sounding pedal work - an exciting sound celebration, which can of course be experienced most impressively in three-dimensional reproduction.

Szadejko / Smolka / Gottwald - Baroque Cantatas [SUPER-AUDIO CD] Hybrid SACD date 04/07/2017